Scrooge As An Outsider Analysis

At the beginning of the novel, Dickens presents Scrooge as an outsider by describing Scrooge as physically Cold hearted and unemotional person. This is seen in the quote, "A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him.". The words ‘frosty’ and ‘wiry’ shows the uses of adjectives and metaphor. Dickens uses these figurative techniques to emphasize to the reader how Scrooge has secluded his soul against society as a result of his own actions. Dickens uses dramatic irony here effectively to symbolise how the rich who are characterized as the construct Scrooge, who is presented as a gothic and supernatural being. This is ironic as the rich in Victorian society are

typically seen as prosperous and charming people. Scrooge is a contrast to their lifestyles. Dickens is using gothic and supernatural beings to reinforce the juxtaposition between Scrooge and the Victorian society. The Poor represented by the Cratchit family contrasts to Scrooge, who, in spite of all of his wealth, is not able to share the warmth of love and affection shared by the Cratchit family overlooking their poverty. This is specifically important as it links to Dickens message of how the rich are cruel to the poor and how resulting in such ignorance turns themselves into monsters and becoming to reflects their icy inner being with the harshness of the weather. This is seen when Dickens shows how he is ‘colder’ than anything the weather can throw at him: heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet […] they often came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did.” Dickens establishes Scrooge being naturally isolated and cold as if he doesn’t feel the heat and bad weather this seem intensely inhuman and suggest Dickens builds Scrooge into a gothic and supernatural creature. The words ‘came down’ and ‘heaviest’ show how Dickens uses the figurative technique of personification to suggest supernatural qualities of Scrooge. The words suggest how the weather has more humanity than Scrooge does.