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A christmas carol literary analysis
A christmas carol literary analysis
A christmas carol literary analysis
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Consider Dickens’s portrayal of Scrooge’s change in attitude in a
Christmas Carol What message do you feel Dickens Conveys to the
reader.
The essay will discuss the moral messages, which can be interpreted in
the novel. It will examine the main character Scrooge, and his
attitude towards life, his mean, grumpy and selfish character and his
lack of Christian charity. It will explain the transformation of
Scrooge and why the transformation occurred.
Scrooge's mean attitude was demonstrated when he said to his nephew,
“What right have you to be Merry? You're poor enough"
This is the first indication that Scrooge was not in the Christmas
spirit as he was not joyful. This is also an indication that Scrooge
was greedy and mean with his money. He thought that you can only be
merry by becoming wealthier.
Scrooge said,
"… Christmas time… time for paying bills without money… and not an
hour richer"
This quotation enforced the comment that Scrooge was not in the
Christmas Spirit. It also tells us Scrooge was worried about paying
bills and making money and becoming richer.
Scrooge's lack of Christian charity was visible when two charity
workers asked for donations and Scrooge refused. Scrooge said,
“Are there no prisons…workhouses?"
“I can't afford to make idle people merry"
These two quotations refer to poor people; Scrooge did not have any
compassion towards these poor people. He called them idle people,
which re-enforced his lack of Christian spirit. It also shows that
Scrooge is not a true Christian as true Christians give money to
charity. Scrooge is angry with poor people for no apparent reason and
said that they should die and
“Decrease the surplus population"
These quotations sh...
... middle of paper ...
... the
beginning of the novel. It showed that he had transformed into a kind
and loving man. The moral message is to be inspired by Scrooge's
transformation and try to transform you into the 'new' Scrooge.
Dickens tries to encourage people to educate the poor; he is trying to
show the effects if we do not help the poor.
Conclusion
'A Christmas Carol' is undoubtedly a moral novel. This was visible in
many parts of the novel. There are both indirect and direct moral
messages. The why many people find it moralistic. Many people in the
world can relate to issues discussed in the novel. These include
greed, not donating to charity, helping poor and needy, regret,
compassion, Scrooge was given a chance but many in reality will not be
given one The novel changes from telling how not to behave but also
tells them how to behave through the character of Scrooge.
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
the book A Christmas Carol. Dickens wanted the reader to understand the businesses in life. Is to respect others in life the way you want to be treaded. Scrooge was a mean man who was full of money and did not care about others.
things to feel happy about in life. If we want to live a happy life,
'I am here tonight to warn you, that you have a chance and hope of
The first reason he said what he said is because of what the Spirit of Christmas Past said to him. One of the first things he showed him was when he went to a party with his girlfriend and proposed marriage. She said yes. This was before he was greedy and mean. This showed him that being pleasant and kind pays off. The spirit then shows Scrooge another part of his past, where his wife
In this essay I will be talking about how Dickens presents Scrooge’s fear in A Christmas Carol. It is about how Scrooge’s change throughout the novel through various techniques Dickens uses to convey this.
Attitude Toward the Poor in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Dickens encourages readers to change their views by showing what scrooge is like before, during and after the ghosts have visited him. " A Christmas Carol" is about a horrid old accountant and how people react around him on Christmas Eve. He is visited by 3 ghosts and they try and change his wicked ways. Dickens knows what it is like to work in factories because, as a child. he used to work in one, putting labels on shoe polish bottles.
The title to the novella 'A Christmas Carol' this suggests that the story will be a joyful Christian message. 'Christmas' is a time for celebration and togetherness. It is the time for forgiveness, kindness and charity. 'Carol' is a chant which a group of people sing Christmas and Christian songs, so this is meant to be a time where people have fun and are united with family and friends.
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
“hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse.” “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!” (Dickens, Stave 4, Page 84) Finally, Scrooge changed for good.
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
He is like Victor and chooses to be isolated for how he treated others. For example, Scrooge says, “I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry” (Dickens 16). Scrooge is showing the reader that he is an ungrateful and a non-friendly man. The author wants us to know that he has no Christmas sprit and is selfish man that is also very stingy with his money. He also is rude to the people that come to his store. Charles Dickens describes him in A Christmas Carol as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel has ever struck generous fire; secret, and self contained, and solitary as an oyster” (Dickens 12). This description of Scrooge shows that he is a very negative person, that chooses to isolate himself, and keeps things all to himself. He does not care about anyone other than money and himself. He loves money and also watching his clerk; “the door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk” (Dickens 13). Scrooge was always watching what his clerk was doing; he was not a friendly guy. There is an example of this in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein also, where Victor was being watched constantly by the monster, everything victor did the monster was watching. Scrooge
Prior to the publication of A Christmas Carol the ideas and concerns of various reform bills sparked increased debate over political and social issues. Whether or not Dickens had A Christmas Carol specifically in mind, it is clear that the Industrial Revolution was an important factor in making his Christmas story a tale for the times. Dickens was concerned about the working and living conditions during the Industrial Revolution, when the book was written. These are reflected in Ebenezer Scrooge.
I think that Charles Dickens message was to inform the rich, rude people to change their views on people that were underprivileged because they are poor it doesn’t mean that they are not human beings you treat them the same way just the way you would like to be treated. In the Victorian times if you were rich you were rich if you were poor you were poor nobody cared for each other. Dickens message in the Victorian Era was extremely important as Dickens tried to help the unfortunate ones by trying to change rich people’s scrutiny on them so they might help them in life.
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.