Dickens uses a lot of Pathetic fallacy throughout A Christmas Carol. I good representation of this is in the quote ‘The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms’ This is on a par with Scrooge who is also deep, dark and miserable. When Dickens describes the houses as being 'mere phantoms' in the fog, it introduces the theme of ghosts and spirits into the rest of the novel.
When Scrooge's nephew appears in the novel we see Scrooge's attitudes in action. His nephew's first words are, 'Merry Christmas uncle, God save you!' Already we see a contrast in characters as his nephew is cheerful and warm, ‘He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again’ This is a complete contrast to the earlier description of Scrooge who ‘carried his own low temperature always about with him’. Scrooge reminds the reader of his bitter personality when he says, ‘Bah! Humbug!' which is his response to anything to do with Christmas etc. Scrooge's nephew exploits the difference in character and warms up the story. Scrooge displays his way of thinking when he says in response to his nephews’ good humour 'What reason have you to be merry? You are poor enough.' this shows that all Scrooge cares about is money and wealth. His nephew then says, "What reason have you to be morose? You are rich enough', again showing the contrasting characteristics and using Scrooge’s own logic against him. Scrooge displays his extreme dislike for Christmas and everything associated with Christmas when he says ‘Every Idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart’. This shows how mean and nasty he is. It also reinforces the contrast between him and his Nephew. His Nephew understands Christmas completely (which he demonstrates when he says that Christmas is a ‘kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time’). Scrooge however doesn’t get Christmas or love, which we see later in the conversation with his nephew, ‘’Why did you get married?’ said Scrooge. ‘Because I fell in love.’ ‘Because you fell in love!’ growled Scrooge, as if that were the only thing more ridiculous than a merry Christmas.’ The reader again sees Scrooge's ignorance and anti-social behaviour when he dismisses his nephew. The nephew is wishing Scrooge a Merry Christmas and inviting him to his home, but Scrooge keeps interrupting his nephew with the words, 'Good afternoon.' Overall Scrooge's nephew represents the true spirit and meaning of Christmas and he is a symbolic character. His attitudes and actions show a very clear, obvious contrast to Scrooge; this ties in with the symbolic nature of the novel.
The next display of Scrooge comes when two charity workers come to Scrooge's workplace and ask for a charity donation. Scrooge replies with comments such as, 'Are there no prisons?’ ‘And the Union workhouses?' and, 'The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour then?' When the charity workers explain to Scrooge that they are, but they wish they were not, and that many people cannot go there, and many "would rather die", which is why they are seeking charity donations, Scrooge replies with, 'If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.' This shows the arrogance and lack of social responsibility Scrooge has. He then dismisses the charity workers with no charity donation again showing his greed and lack of compassion. 'Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself', showing that Scrooge thinks that he did well not to make a charity donation and thinks he did the right thing. The two charity workers are described as 'portly', showing that they have a natural appetite and love life, again contrasting with Scrooge's icy appearance. Charles Dickens describes the scene and setting of the novel very well in the first chapter, this helps to show the reader the conditions people live in and also it is a comparison to Scrooge. 'It was cold, bleak, biting weather, foggy withal, and he could hear the people in the court outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement-stones to warm them.' This shows how cold and unpleasant the weather was, which reflects Scrooge's personality. When the Carol Singer comes to his door ‘Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost’ the mention of the ‘Congenial frost’ is another example of pathetic fallacy.
The description of Scrooge's home and lifestyle is very shocking for the reader. The first thing which is said about his home is described in an extended metaphor, 'They were a gloomy suite of rooms in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek, and have forgotten the way out again.' This is a very effective description as it makes the reader think and see what is being said, it also tells us how dark and eerie Scrooge's house was; it also reinforces what an isolated and lost figure Scrooge has become. We also find out about Scrooge's lifestyle as he only lit one candle and only ate 'gruel'. This is shocking as Scrooge is a very wealthy man and the reader expects him to be enjoying his money not letting it sit in a bank and not be spent. This also emphasises the futility of Scrooge's life; his money benefits no-one, even himself. The ghostly and supernatural events cause tension leading up to and during the appearance of Marley's ghost. Things such as the appearance of Marley's face on his door knocker, the sound of him shutting his door resounding through the house like thunder, and the sighting of 'a locomotive hearse going on before him in the gloom', all introduce and build up the appearance of Marley's ghost. Then the bells start to ring and he hears the sound of, 'dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine merchants’ cellar'. This also creates tension through vivid descriptions and the things Marley says. It says Marley is chained up with one made, 'of cash box keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel’; this is symbolic and is a sign of the material wealth he collected in his life but did not use to help others. Tension is built upon during this discussion. We hear of Scrooge's doomed afterlife unless he changes his ways and Marley warns him of the three Spirits who will visit Scrooge that night. This also creates a feeling of expectancy for the reader and makes them want to read on.
From Scrooge's encounter with Jacob Marley's ghost we learn that Scrooge is beginning to change. At first Scrooge tried to be rational and explain away the ghost by calling him an, 'undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato'. He then says, 'There is more of gravy than grave about you, whatever you are', showing that Scrooge is trying to joke about the situation. But at the end of the conversation Scrooge seems to understand what Marley is talking about and shows regret. He is also, even so early on, showing signs of change. ‘He tried to say ‘Humbug!’ but stopped at the first syllable.’
Throughout Staves 2, 3 and 4 he shows little signs of change, remorse and regret. When the fist spirit takes him back to where he was brought up as a boy Scrooge starts to cry. ‘‘Your lip is trembling,’ said the ghost. ‘And what is that upon your cheek?’’ This display of emotion from scrooge is completely unexpected, as we (as readers) did not know he was capable of it before. He also shows remorse/regret at his actions earlier that day ‘There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all.’ Another display of remorse at his actions is shown when he says ‘I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! That’s all.’
On page 55 there is evidence that Scrooge had previously been a good, happy, kind man; but he started to change and I cost him his fiancé. When the ghost shows him this he shows even more of the previously unknown emotion. ‘No more. I don’t wish to see it. Show me no more!’ The ghost then shows Scrooge how his life could have been, if only he had stayed with her. ‘Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter. The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count’ It later continues when the father of the children had come home. ‘And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring time in the haggard winter of his face, his sight grew very dim indeed’. One again Scrooge is crying and showing emotion which previously he appeared incapable of.
The second of the three spirits arrives and the change in Scrooge is becoming even more obvious. When the Spirit gets ready to take Scrooge on his continuing journey Scrooge says ‘Conduct me where you will. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it’ This Shows that he is learning that money is not the only way to profit by something.
Scrooge becomes very distraught and devastated in a great show of emotion when he learns of the possibility that tiny Tim will die. The ghost, in order to get his point across about this quotes Scrooge’s own words which leaves Scrooge ‘overcome by penitence and grief’.
When Dickens describes the two children that the ghost of Christmas present brings forth from his robe with a list of adjectives ‘wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable’ these evoke emotion from the reader as well as from Scrooge so that the reader shares his surprise/ sorrow. When Scrooge asks ‘Have they no refuge or resource?’ the spirit Returns ‘Are there no prisons?’ ‘Are there no workhouses?’ these were the very words scrooge had used earlier when talking to the charity workers who came to his office looking for donations.
I sign that Scrooge had truly changed was when the Ghost of the future arrived ‘I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But, as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.’ Previously he would never have said this; he never did anything with a thankful heart or wished to spend time with anyone but himself. The Ghost of the Future e showed him his death, though he did not yet know it was his, and the people were glad he was gone. ‘She was thankful in her soul to hear it’. Scrooge then asks to ‘see some tenderness connected with a death.’ The spirit then takes him to the Cratchit’s house where Tiny Tim has passed away. Bob Crachit ‘broke down all at once. He couldn’t help it.’ Scrooge is next taken to the death of the person which everyone rejoiced at. Before he sees the name on the gravestone he asks ‘are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they the shadows of things that May be, only?’ This shows that he is afraid of what will happen, and he doesn’t want it to happen. When he discovers that it was his death that no-one mourned and many were glad he again shows emotion, ‘Am I that man who lay upon the bed? He cried, upon his knees.’ He then cries out ‘I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?’ This shows that he is truly changed, no longer changing, but changed. He wants to know whether he has a second chance and asks the Spirit to ‘Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!’ On the final page of Stave four he says ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present and the future. The spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.’ This is something that he would never have tried/ wanted to do before.
In Stave 5 the change is complete in scrooge. He is ‘reborn’. There is a total contrast between how he was in Stave 1 and how he is now. He shows lots of emotion (‘laughing and crying’) and Dickens uses simile’s to highlight this. ‘I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel; I am as merry as a school boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man.’ Scrooge then cries ‘A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New-year to all the world!’ This is totally the opposite to before when he said ‘Bah! Humbug!’ to everything to do with Christmas. More contrast is between how he now ‘frisked’ instead of ‘growled’. He also laughs a lot. ‘It was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!’ Again this is a contrast to how he was before.
Dickens uses onomatopoeia to get across the mood, when describing the church bells. ‘Clash, Clang, hammer, ding, dong, bell. Bell, dong, ding, hammer, clang, clash!’ When Scrooge is rediscovering the world, dickens once again uses pathetic fallacy but it is in contrast with the previous uses because it is happy and bright ‘No fog, no mist: clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold cold, piping for the blood to dance to; golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh glorious, glorious!’ Dickens also uses repetition of the word ‘chuckled’ which is the opposite of growled, as Scrooge releases his happiness. Scrooge also displays other frivolities such as dancing, something which he would have scorned and laughed at before. Dickens describes the words Merry Christmas as being the blithest of blithe words. Even though many considered them normal, they were extra special to him.
There is also a language contrast to his previous ‘Bah! Humbug!’ He now says ‘Hallo! Whoop! Hallo here!’ instead.
Throughout the remainder of Stave 5 there are lots of examples of Scrooge feeling Guilt/Remorse. ‘It sent a pang across his heart’, ‘A merry Christmas to you, sir!’ and the most unexpected is when he says ‘Not a farthing less’ when donating to charity, which he had absolutely refused to do the day before, instead suggesting that the people should just die. He’s sorry about that and apologises ‘Allow me to ask your pardon.’ He is clearly a very changed man he ‘patted children on the head’ and ‘everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk – that anything- could give him so much happiness.’
The next day shows the biggest change of all as he raises bob’s salary, endeavour’s to help his struggling family and allows bob to make up the fires and buy another coal shuttle. ‘Scrooge was better that his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him’ ‘His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.’
The structure of, 'A Christmas Carol' is very effective. The use of metaphors in the novel sends out a political message, for example, Scrooge represents business and capitalist men who make huge profits and exploit the poor, where as Bob Crachet represents the poor and needy at that time. The establishment of key themes in the first chapter really prepares the reader for the rest of the novel. The theme of poverty is introduced with Bob Cratchet and the talk of the workhouse, charity with the appearance of the charity collectors, supernatural with the appearance of Jacob Marley's ghost, Christmas and its spiritual nature with the settings, attitudes and events in the chapter, and social-responsibilities with the charity collectors and the ways in which Scrooge denies his social-responsibility. The themes of religion and the afterlife are also present with the references to 'Cains and Abels', 'Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of Sheba, angelic messengers descending through the air'.
One of the main themes is that of redemption. Scrooge has the chance to change himself to gain his freewill, but in a much different way of that in, 'Romeo and Juliet' where it is about religion and destiny from the Elizabethan age. The Victorian period was very scientific and Scrooge is trying to redeem himself from his lack of social responsibility to avoid his doomed afterlife. Overall I think that chapter one of, 'A Christmas Carol', sets the reader up very well for the rest of the novel. The use of symbolism establishes the political messages displayed in the novel and the introduction of many key themes shows the reader the true reason behind the book. It also shows a change in Scrooge as at first he was selfish and miserable but towards the end of the chapter we see a glimmer of hope for Scrooge as he shows signs of regret and understanding. This makes the reader become very involved in the novel and wants to continue reading.
