How Is Scrooge Presented In A Christmas Carol

Examination and analysis of “A Christmas Carol”

The principal purposes of this essay are to analysis the development of the character Scrooge and evaluate the language techniques and practices demonstrated in the novels text. In addition, to this investigation, we will also reconnaissance the similarities between Dickens personal experiences and that of the characters. Furthermore we will take a brief look at how dickens uses his characters to express his beliefs.

In order for the reader to genuinely understand the relationship between Charles Dickens and the novel in question, it`s necessary to understand the aspects of his life, which inspired the conception and influenced the creation.

Charles John Huffman Dickens was born on the 7th February

1812, in Portsmouth, England. Charles began his education at the impressionable age of 9, however it was soon interrupted when his father was recalled to work in London. Here Charles was to put work at a local Blacking Factory to help his family’s finance. Charles efforts went in vain however, because one year later his farther was imprisoned for debt in early 1824. These humiliations are believed to have inspired Charles life ambitions. Progressing into Charles`s adolescent years, he completed his schooling age 15 and soon established himself as a freelance reporter in 1830. By 1940, he had not only published his first short publication, but was a household name, not only for the books he had written such as Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers, but for his establishment in the media industry. In 1842 Dickens departed for the United States. This journey is believed to have heavily encouraged dickens to write an alternative piece of literature. When Dickens returned, he wrote his first Christmas story, “A Christmas Carol”.
The novel which dickens wrote is based upon an old protagonist named, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Scrooge is a thrifty old man, with a passionate abhorrence toward Christmas and all the season brings, noted by his renowned saying 'Bah, Humbug!'. Christmas Eve arrives, and Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his prior business partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob is constrained in chains, which he explains is his punishment for a life of misery, un-gratefulness and brutality to the poor. Scrooge is then visited by 3 ghosts the same night. The first Ghost shows him his Christmases past, where we begin to understand that Scrooge was not always bitter. The Second Ghost shows him the Christmas present, where Scrooge perceives an insight into his secretary’s life, who has a large family and a nephew, who is even poorer than he. Scrooge also sees the miserable life conditions of the unfortunate and deprived. However both situations are shown as cheerful, in spite of being awful, in contrast to bitter Scrooge. He is then visited by the final Ghost, of Christmas future, who shows him his grave, as well as the community not being concerned about his passing, even auctioning his possessions and additional demoralising occurrences. Scrooge then comprehends the possibility that he may have already departed. However to his overwhelming ecstasy, he wakes up to discover that it is in fact Christmas Day, and sets about abetting the poor, including his secretary, and appreciating life and celebrating Christmas forever more.
Dickens envisioned his novel to be a story of morals and focus upon the redemption of an insufferable character. In order to achieve this aspiration, Dickens constructed a simplistic plot that would subdue the audience to such a narrative. Furthermore Dickens presents his character as materialistic, impolite, enraged and isolated; using language such as 'Warning all human sympathy to keep its distance”, exhibiting his main character as meticulously repulsive. However as we know, the intention of the novel is for Scrooges amendment, and through this Dickens is conveying that no matter how harsh, stiff, old, unpleasant and hostile you are, there is opportunity to change. Fundamentally using his novel as a platform to convey his personal belief in one’s self redemption.
Scrooge's character was a metaphor, for the difficulties in Victorian England. At the beginning of the story, he is portrayed as a cold, unsympathetic, heartless man. 'Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out a generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.' When analysing this text we uncover, that flint is quite a fervent rock, and Dickens’ is verbalizing that even though steel is a robust object, it's not tough enough to breach the outer layers of its surface. Furthermore, oysters live in an inhospitable environment, forever alone, scared of a word other than their own, hiding away in their shell, unwilling to interact unless being involuntary forced to do so; just like Scrooge. He is also established as a 'squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scrapping, clutching, covetous old sinner'. Dickens converses the coldness of Scrooges bearing. Utilising language such as 'He carried his own low temperature with him', “His atmosphere is like constant winter” and most importantly 'No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Dickens is associating Scrooge to repugnant weather, pronouncing Scrooges hostility, voracity, and indignation, by using alternative, metaphoric and perhaps subconscious language techniques and methods.

Analysing the Story
Dickens continues to demonstrate the ruthlessness of his character Scrooge throughout the early stages of the novel; such illustrations include 'Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so much very smaller that it looked like one coal' Dickens persists that Scrooge is so stringent, that he will not even spare a few pieces of coal for his unfortunate, freezing clerk, whom has to work in the arctic conditions throughout the day. Furthermore I would like to note, that it wouldn’t be unwise to possibly perceive that Charles Dickens’s Farther, John Dickens, may have suffered similar conditions while working as a clerk in a Royal Navy Pay Office, and Dickens father’s experiences, may have inspired this particular part in the novel.
Almost immediately after Dickens demonstrates Scrooges immoral standards, seclusion, depression, melancholy and self-regard. He introduces a foil character. This character is deployed as a comparison between both characters personalities and general attitudes towards life. Although Dickens uses the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come, to expose scrooges many faults, imperfections and mistakes. It would be easy to underestimate the impact of a tool/foil character like scrooges nephew Fred. Fred is “continually cheerful, relentlessly happy and delightful to be around”; a polar opposite to scrooge’s character. Furthermore a good example of Dickens delivery is noted in the following "What's Christmas to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer” of which his nephew replies 'a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time'. This is the first notable comparable between the two characters attitude’s to life. Additionally It’s impeccable to understand, that the relationship between nephew and uncle, is used as a measure for the reader to see change in scrooges actions and behaviour, as the novel progress, and we start to see Scrooges amendment.
Finally, by stave one Dickens has fully developed his Character Ebenezer Scrooge into the desired perception, by exercising the language distinguished and character implements such as, his Nephew (Poor but happy in contrast to scrooge), his clerk (who he treats terribly), charitable gentlemen (who scrooge say he would rather the surplus population die than donate money). So far in the novel, the audience have seen scrooges attitude to life, what the community think of him, his mistreatments his nephew and the people surrounding him and how he responds to the charitable gentlemen in his office. Now the story of morals and amendment can begin.
On Christmas Eve night while Scrooge is home alone, he hears a knock on his door.

To his absolute astonishment, he sees the face of his deceased friend and ex business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge endeavours a dismissal “pooh, pooh' however the audience is well aware that Scrooge is truly horrified. Scrooge feels an 'inexplicable dread'. Furthermore the ghost says to Scrooge “you don't believe in me” then Scrooge replies that “he doesn't”; Scrooge unconvincingly tries to convince the ghost that he believes he is merely 'undigested piece of beef' which he suggests would give him hallucinations; the audience knows he is frightened and simply attempting to deny the Ghosts existence, as a coping method. "I wear the chain I forged in life," pronounces the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" Within these quotes, Dickens is exploiting Marley, in such a way that contradict Scrooge, because these are all entities Scrooge desires no part of. Dickens however wishes the audience to understand that Marley is attempting to widen Scrooges perspective on the world; beyond

wealth.
After many attempts to dismiss the ghosts, Scrooge is forced to accept the spirit's existence.

Marley’s ghost informs Scrooge, of the misery, of which is his death and to be 'captive, bound and double-ironed'. Scrooge’s obligation is to learn about the misery and fortune of other individuals. The ghost's responsibility is to awaken Scrooge from his ill-advised, ignorant mind set, convey peace to the world in the midst of it`s being and inculcate with Scrooge that he has 'misused' 'life's opportunities'. Scrooge is informed by Marley that two more ghosts will visit him during the night, the ghost of Christmas present and then the ghosts of Christmas yet to come.

Charles Dickens exploits each of the three ghosts (past, present and future) to construct Scrooge recognition of his faults and utilises the ghosts as a philosophical literature tool, to deliver his opinions, on the notion of being able to visit the past in addition to recognizing your mistakes, to have the ability to see one’s self in a different light in contemporaneous time and foresee the end of the path, one`s self is currently following in the

present.
Despite Scrooge's anxiety and fear that the spirits will frighten him, Scrooge in fact appears delighted to revisit his childhood, 'why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see this?' However Scrooges inexplicable joy is soon devastated into misery. The ghost of Christmas past visits takes scrooge to his childhood, and has revealed to him, a sight of sadness, scrooge as a child, alone in the schoolroom, on Christmas Eve. The sight of this sense distresses scrooge. It is the contrast between himself and the happy children outside that makes him feel sorrowful.
'Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be'. Scrooge discloses that as a child, he had the ability to feel suffering and pain. Dickens, uses this language to convey to the audience that Scrooge has to some extent, been consciously awakened into comprehending the sympathy he lacked as a child, is what causes him, to not offer any sympathy as an adult either. Dickens shows us conformation, of a changed in scrooge, in the following quote, 'there was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something'. Dickens uses language, which allows us to think, that scrooge is regretting his previous actions.