The Redemption in A Christmas Carol In the novel A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens vividly illustrated Scrooge's guilt and then redemption, inspired by his experience with each ghost. In a city that was shrouded with fog, coldness, and darkness, there was a stingy man called Ebenezer Scrooge in his counting-house. It was the Christmas eve in London, England during 1840s. Scrooge was a businessman who had lost all sense of humanity. He was regardless of other people's conditions, especially those people who were less fortunate than him. However, the ghost of Scrooge's friend, Jacob Marley and other three ghosts brought him to change and regret. At the outset, before the ghost of Marley and other phantoms come, Scrooge was originally a stingy, …show more content…
After Marley's visit, the ghost of past came. Although Scrooge was puzzled, annoyed, and unwilling to go, the ghost still took him. First, they went to see Scrooge when he was a kid and he was isolated. Scrooge started to regret that he did not treat the caroler well. Then, Scrooge saw his sister but she had already died in present. He regretted that he was awful to his nephew because his nephew was Scrooge's sister's son. The ghost also showed Scrooge when he was young and the party that his boss had. Scrooge felt bad because he paid low salary to Bob Cratchit and was not being nice to him. The last thing that the ghost of past showed Scrooge was when he broke up with his girlfriend, Belle. She thought Scrooge cared more about money than his love for her. Then, Belle had a family. Scrooge was trying to escape because the trip with the ghost of past was a torture for Scrooge and said "Spirit! Remove me from this place." in a broken voice. He regretted not having a family and realized love is stronger than money. Scrooge's attitude towards the spirits changed and he was more willing to go because he knew the lessons were good for him. The ghost of present brought Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house. Scrooge learns poor people's life and Tiny Tim's misfortune. He felt sorry that he did not donate money for poor people and regretted his words to them.
After the previous spirit disappeared, Scrooge looks up to find the final spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The phantom remains silent and simply takes Scrooge toward the city, where they eavesdrop on a few conversations between people. One of them was between two men who were talking about how someone had recently died. They retorted about how nobody liked the man and, consequently, they expected nobody to show up to the funeral. The twain continued to another pair of businessmen who had also heard the news that someone had died, but did not care. Scrooge, oblivious as to who they were talking about, tries to ask the spirit some questions, in which the spirit doesn’t respond. The phantom just drags Scrooge to a nearly abandoned
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
On Christmas Eve , Scrooge is gone by a progression of ghosts,starting with his old business accomplice, Jacob Marley. The three spirits follow,the Ghosts of Past , Christmas present and Christmas future ,show how his ,mean conduct has influenced everyone around him. Toward the finish of the story ,he is soothed to find that there is still time for him to change and we see him changed into a liberal and kind hearted person.
In the play, Mr. Scrooge is a greedy man who thinks Christmas is “Bah Humbug!” (Dickens 3). His family has always wanted him to join them for a Christmas feast, but Mr. Scrooge has never wanted anything to do with Christmas. Marley, Mr. Scrooge’s old business partner, didn’t want Mr. Scrooge to end up like him with chains of greed attached to him when he died, so he sent Mr. Scrooge three spirits: Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
work for a long working hour and not get any break or time off at any
We see that he is immediately very touched when he sees this scene before him, which is exactly the reaction the ghost hoped for. After this scene, Mr. Scrooge sees his sister telling him that their father has given his consent to let Scrooge come home. We learn that she is now dead and that she left a child:
Money is a first priority for Scrooge, and this is easily shown in multiple areas throughout the first section of the book. The rising action included a hallucination of Marley’s face on the doorknob, that was used on the door that led into Ebenezer’s household, which gave Scrooge such a fright that it left him astonished. Little did Ebenezer Scrooge know, this was going to be the kickoff to a substantial journey on his Christmas Eve night. The ghost of Christmas past had the appearance similar to a child, yet it had some characteristics comparable to a lit candle. This ghost took Scrooge to all of his most painful memories leading up to his present day position.
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...
Just like the play, Ebenezer Scrooge is the main character in the story. He is a mean, cold-hearted man that has no Christmas spirit whatsoever. All that Scrooge cares about and will ever care about is his wealth until he is taken on a journey. He is lead by 3 ghosts of his past, present, and future as he was in the play. These ghosts show him what Christmas spirit is and try to force it upon him. All of this finally hits him once he is taken to the future and witnesses his own grave. Scrooge pleads for a second chance to change his bad ways. Once he wakes up in his bedroom after all of this craziness, he jumps for joy and makes many new friends while mending with some old friends. He fixes many of his wrongs and lives out the rest of his life as a happier, friendlier, and a generous
Marley showed Scrooge a sense of fear, a fear of becoming what Marley has become. Marley gave him an ultimatum basically; change or become the thing that Marley has become. An apparition that roams the earth seeing the wrongs that people do, but is helpless to save them from the hell they are approaching.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens is a tale of the morality changes of a man. The uncharitable, cold heart of the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, melts with ardent love as he receives visitations from three Christmas spirits who enlighten his soul with wise lessons and bring a warm change to his heart. In the beginning of the novel, Scrooge expresses his vices of greed and cold heartedness by his words and actions, but as the story unfolds, his life is renewed by these Spirits who shed light and truth upon him, resulting in making him become a better man, portraying the virtue of charity.
When the first spirit appears the first night, Scrooge seems bewildered by the fact that he wasn't day dreaming when he saw the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley, which he blamed on rotten food. For example he blames some undigested cheese or a partially undercooked potato. Although when this ghost visits him he remains set in his ways as it was showing him how he once was. He was a kind young man who had thought he had found love at the party held at Mr. Fezziwig's warehouse. Only to lose what he thought he loved to greed a few paragraphs later.
In "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a transformation as a result of his encounters with three ghosts and becomes a kind, happy, and generous man. His greedy, cruel, and grumpy demeanor is replaced seemingly overnight, but he doesn’t just wake up and decide to be nice. It takes three Spirits to change his outlook on life - The Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. The Ghost of Christmas Past makes Scrooge begin to regret his selfishness, and the Ghost of Christmas Present begins to teach him about others. This second Ghost helps to make him realize that money doesn't buy happiness. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, however, teaches the most profound lesson of all: unless he changes, no one will care if Scrooge dies. Because of the Ghosts, by Christmas morning Ebenezer Scrooge is a completely different person from the man who went to bed on Christmas Eve.