Greed In Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'

Greed is an excessive desire, especially for wealth or possessions. It lives in everyone, but in varying amounts. When greed overpowers, people can become very lonely and unhappy. All they think about is their money and possessions. A prime example of this kind of behavior is the world-famous play, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Both the original play and the movie have many similarities in their plot, but there are some prominent differences as well.
In the play, A Christmas Carol, the plot unfolds as it moves forward. The conflict begins with a greedy man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is very mean to his employee Mr. Bob Cratchit and keeps him freezing with little pay. He thinks Christmas is a “Humbug!” (Dickens 2). His dead business

partner, Jacob Marley warns him that three spirits will visit him. They are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. They show him his life and the life of others from another point of view. Finally, at the climax, when Future shows him his own growing gravestone, Scrooge pleads for mercy and promises to do better. He is then sent back to resolve his mistakes on Christmas day. He becomes a merry man with an abundance of Christmas cheer. The play ends with Tiny Tim atop Scrooge’s shoulder saying, “God Bless Us, Every One…”(Dickens 36).
The movie has a very similar plot to the drama.

Ebenezer Scrooge, who has a perpetual scowl, is overworking his freezing employee, Mr. Bob Cratchit. To Scrooge Christmas is a Humbug and an excuse. Jacob Marley, his ghostly deceased business partner, visits him and warns him that three spirits will visit him.They are spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. They show him how his life was affected and how the life of others is affected by him and his choices. When he finally wipes the snow off his grave and he attacks Future, the movie hits its climax. The next morning, Christmas morning, he gets up, a changed man. He rights as many wrongs as he can. This new, jovial Scrooge shows exactly what Christmas spirit is. The movie ends with the voice of Tiny Tim saying “God bless us, every

one.”
Though these two mediums and versions of this story are very similar, there are some major differences.

At the beginning of the play, Marley is onstage introducing the story, whereas in the movie, it is only his voice. In the play, Tiny Tim is not shown until the Present Cratchit scene, but in the movie, he appears right when Cratchit comes out of work. In the movie, Scrooge meets the do-gooders on the way to his house, when in the play, they come to him at work. When Scrooge is unlocking his door in the movie, Marley sticks his face through the door knocker, while in the play, the knocker morphs into his face. In the movie, Marley says the spirits will come at one, two, and three, but in the play, he says they will come at one, one, and twelve. Scrooge, as a schoolboy, cries in the play, he reads in the movie. When Past takes him to Fan bringing him away, the play gives a short dialogue after which the Schoolmaster comes and says goodbye. In the movie, it is a much longer dialogue, the Schoolmaster never comes, and you get to see his father. After the party at Fezziwig’s, a scene is inserted where Scrooge and Dick talk. When young Scrooge is talking to his betrothed, in the play it is a short dialogue. The movie has a much longer dialogue in which the play’s lines are scattered throughout. There is an extra scene in the movie about the woman and what she became. Before Present arrives in the play, Marley makes time go forward and backward, but in the movie, time is more

settled. Before Bob gets home in the play, Martha hides, unlike in the movie. When Present shows Scrooge Fred’s party, it is already in full swing in the movie, but the play gives him some alone time with his wife first. In the movie, an extra scene is inserted before “Man’s children” appear. In fact, though they are dolls in the play, Ignorance and Want are filthy children in the movie. In the play, Scrooge’s tombstone grew, whereas he only wipes off the snow in the movie. In the movie, Scrooge comes in to Fred’s party before many of his guests have arrived and he makes the comment about the answer being “a drum.” (Video, 1984). But since there are no word games in the play, that part is not included. The differences between the mediums are striking.
With many plot similarities in the play and movie, they have some quite obvious differences. The theme of greed changing someone for the worse is constant in any medium. The ghosts help Scrooge see that a generous life brings happiness. The change from greed to generosity was also a big change in how Scrooge felt about the world and Christmas. If everyone could be like the transformed Scrooge, the world we be a much better place.