Christmas Carol Essay In the beginning of a story called A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is a greedy, cold hearted, and unfriendly. One way we know Scrooge is a greedy and cold hearted man is because when a man asks him for money to donate to the poor, Scrooge refuses to give any. Instead he asks whether or not the work prisons are still in business, he then says if the poor would rather die than go to prison, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. We know Scrooge is unfriendly because the story says “To edge his way along the crowded path of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing one call ‘nuts’ to Scrooge.” On the night of Christmas Eve Scrooge arrives home to see his doorknocker turn into his late coworker Marley. This shakes Scrooge but he dismisses it. When Scrooge arrives to his room the ghost of Marley …show more content…
appears. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghosts. The Ghost of Christmas past, The Ghost of Christmas present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. These ghosts will show Scrooge what will happen and what is happening because of his ways. The Ghost of Christmas Past is the first to ghost to visit Scrooge. This ghost takes Scrooge back to his childhood. In Scrooge’s childhood he was somewhat sad. He did not have friends which may have contributed to his coldness. Another thing Scrooge was shown was his old girlfriend Bell. Bell and Scrooge were supposed to get married but she left him due to his selfishness and love of money. That can be another reason why Scrooge is unfriendly and doesn’t have any relationships with people. The next ghost that comes is The Ghost of Christmas Present.
Present takes Scrooge to the poor Cratchit household. When Scrooge is at the household, Bob Cratchit his employee, wanted to toast to Scrooge. Mrs. Cratchit angry at this action, she did not believe that Scrooge deserved to be toasted to. She says, “It should be Christmas Day, I am sure. On which one drinks the health of such an odious, stringy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge. You know he is, Robert. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow”. Present tells Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die in the near future due to his sicknesses. The next place Present and Scrooge visit is Scrooge’s nephew, Fred. Here Scrooge sees Fred and his family making fun of him. Even though they were making fun of him, at the end of it Fred makes a toast to Scrooge saying, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he is. He wouldn’t take it from me, but many he have it, nevertheless. Uncle Scrooge!” These gesture makes Scrooge feel light hearted knowing that someone cares about him, but also sad and uneasy knowing that Tim will soon
die. Finally the last ghost to come is The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, or The Ghost of Christmas Future. As you can assume Future takes Scrooge into the future. Future takes Scrooge to when he dies. If Scrooge does not change his actions and alter the future, no one will care when Scrooge dies and his grave will not be tended to. This scares Scrooge. Scrooge also sees that Tiny Tim died, because of Tiny Tim’s death Scrooge feels sad for the Cratchit family. He also feels scared and worried about Tiny Tim knowing that he will have a say on when he dies since he is the employer of the Cratchit family. When all three of the ghost visits are over, Scrooge has learned his lesson. He learned that he needs to be kind, loving, generous, helpful to people, and thankful for what he has. On Christmas day Scrooge wakes up a new person, he went to his nephew's house for Christmas dinner and send the Cratchit family the largest turkey there was. The following day he even raised Mr. Cratchit’s salary! Which is huge considering how selfish he once was. Thanks to the three ghosts Scrooge changed for the better, and is now known to be one of the kindest people in London.
Dickens displays guilt as the main form of how Scrooge’s character develops into a compassionate person by the end of the novella. As Scrooge feels this quilt, it's purely based on the visions that the ghosts provide which further causes Scrooge to realise the consequences of his actions. His alienation from specific characters that he used to love such as Belle, “...has displaced me…” whom left Scrooge, due to his desire for money and wealth which grew. This desire grows with him as he is rejecting the christmas joy and spirit as he continuously states that Christmas is a “humbug,” but by stating this it provides comparison. Dickens depicts that Scrooge has become a better person because of fear but in the end he has become kinder. As the
Scrooge was and owner of a factory and made a whole bunch of money, but he did not care about anyone else. “Merry Christmas said his nephew, what right do have to be merry you are poor enough”. This shows that scrooge is mean to family and does not care about Christmas.
Scrooge's attitude to homeless/poor people was the typical stereotype for the
In the beginning of the play in spite of being selfish Scrooge is also cheap, cold-hearted, and cruel. Scrooge behaves in this manner to his nephew, Fred. One way of proving this is when Fred said “Merry Christmas.” Scrooge replied salty saying “Humbug Christmas is just a time for spending and wasting money.” Not only he treats Fred badly but many more people. For instance take one of his quotes towards the Gentleman Visitor, “Are there no Jails for the poor, are there no
In the story, “A Christmas Carol”, Scrooge goes through many changes, one of Scrooge is him being one of the most closed minded people in his hometown to the most thoughtful person. This happened when the Ghost of Christmas Present visited Scrooge and showed him Cratchit and his family. Little did Scrooge know one of Cratchit’s children, Tiny Tim, was dying. Him seeing this showed Scrooge what his little pay to Cratchit was doing. As a result, Scrooge began to feel a little more thoughtful and raised Cratchit’s salary in hopes of being able to raise enough money to cure Tiny Tim and to support his family. Doing this, Scrooge became like a second father towards Tiny Tim.
The theme of social responsibility in A Christmas Carol is played out in various aspects throughout the story, it truly is a underlying subject of the entire novella. In the third chapter, we begin to see Scrooge have a change of heart as he begins to understand his own responsibilities in regards to the poor and those feelings are projected onto the audience. The Ghost of Christmas Present used Scrooges own words against him to help bring about the change; for example, when the ghost reminds him of when the people asked him for a charitable donation for those in poverty, Scrooge told them that, “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” (Dickens, pg. 6); the Ghost used this same statement when
“Bah Humbug!” (Dickens 3) To some people, money is their only thought in life, or in other words, they’re greedy. He or she would need a life lesson to allow their mind to set straight on what’s right and what’s wrong. In A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, you see a man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who lives out as the person getting a lesson by play and movie. Sounding different, yet the same story, these two do have some minor differences, as well as major similarities in the climax, conflict, and resolution.
The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the kindness of his former employer Fezziwig. Scrooge realizes how he has been a terrible employer to his own clerk Bob Cratchit. Scrooge denied Cratchit even simple pleasures and showed him no kindness or generosity. Scrooge is later visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present and is shown the effect of his greed on the Cratchits. Scrooge learns that Bob Cratchit has an ill child called Tiny Tim. He is grieved to find out that if the future is not changed then Tiny Tim will die. Scrooge wants to change the future for Tiny Tim, but the Ghost of Christmas Present reminds Scrooge of what he said to the collectors when they came to ask for a donation for the poor, by saying “If he like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’” (pg. 52). Seeing Tiny Tim makes him realize that he was wrong and that those he might consider to be unnecessary, could very well be like Tiny Tim. Scrooge is later visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and finds that Tiny Tim has died. Scrooge regrets having not treated Bob Cratchit better and for having a hand in the death of Tiny Tim. He regrets that his lack of generosity will have resulted in the death of the sweet child and probably others who needed his
On page 64, we see how Scrooge shows sympathy in the quote, “There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something. That 's All.” After being shown a memory of himself as a boy, Scrooge regrets being harsh to the boy caroling and not giving him any money. Seeing his own sadness as a child made him realize it would have been nice to give the boy something to make him happy. He will probably do nicer things in the future because he now realizes that the boy would have been upset because of how Scrooge turned him away so harshly. He is changing his actions, and regretting bad actions in the past. He wants to fix what he did wrong, and he feels sympathy for the boy. People want to be shown compassion, so in the future if he helps people out and is kind, he will not be as isolated. Another quote to show how he becomes less detached from humanity is on pages 92-93, ‘”Spirit,” said Scrooge, “Tell me if Tiny Tim will live.” Scrooge feels sorry for Bob Cratchit because the spirit says if the future remains unaltered he will die. He feels upset that Tiny Tim will die, and sympathy for Bob because his son will probably die. He probably regrets not giving Bob more time with his son. He had made a comment earlier that if someone will die they better go and die to decrease the population, when the donation collector
During the story, Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts from Christmas past, present, and future, who shows the ill-tempered Scrooge how to be feel compassion towards others human beings. A large quantity of the story revolves around money, and it plays a large role, to contrast how generosity is viewed in society. Scrooge is incredibly wealthy, as he lives a l...
A morality play, not unlike some of the popular plays I have seen. I think we all have seen this familiar theme many times over the years. As we head into the Christmas season, where reflective thinking becomes this very theme. I can compare this play with some of these seasonal plays. The play that comes to my mind immediately is, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
In the fictional play, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, by Israel Horovitz, Scrooge’s first impression is not very good. He refuses to donate to the poor, he dismisses family who want a relationship, and he is miserable and tries to make others the same way. When two men come to see Scrooge, they were asking for donations for the poor. Scrooge, being one of the wealthiest people in the community, is very dismissive, wrongfully so, and asks the two men to leave empty handed. When Scrooge asks if there are workhouses for the poor to go to, the men explain that most people would rather die than to go there. In response Scrooge states, “If they would rather die, than they had better do it and decrease the surplus in population.” (649) When
Money can very easily take control of even the humblest of people. Initially, Scrooge was a humble person who loved and cared for people, but money changed that all. Scrooge encountered a large fortune when he was with his sweetheart. It transformed him into a miserable miser who thought Christmas was a humbug. Throughout the play A Christmas Carol, you see how Scrooge has to reevaluate his treatment of others, or face the dire consequences that await him.
An example of this is shown in his bitter attitude towards the cheerfulness of his nephew Fred and by thinking Christmas a "humbug." And then, moments before he bitterly declines his nephew's friendly invitation to come dine with him, he says crossly to him, "'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.'" Lastly, an instance that illustrates the cold heart of Scrooge is when he speaks of the poor, "'If they would rather die, they better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'" By these demonstrations, Scrooge exposed the coldness of his own
...t, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within [him]." With this still resonating in his mind, he jumps out of bed and immediately begins setting things right. He buys a turkey bigger than Bob Cratchit's son and sends it to him, and instead of being rude to the Poulterer, he pays for a cab to get them to Cratchit's home. He then goes out with joy in his heart and bumps into a man who asked him to donate money to the poor the day before. As opposed to being unkind and cruel, the new and improved Scrooge donates a large sum of money to the cause happily. This kind, happy, and generous man is a complete change from the stingy and unkind Scrooge from Christmas Eve. If someone this awful can change, anyone and everyone can do the same. They just need a little push in the right direction.