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Charles Dickens and his influence
Charles Dickens and his influence
Charles Dickens contribution to English literature
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Did you know that 174 years ago the story A Christmas Carol was published and is still popular? Ebenezer Scrooge, protagonist of A Christmas Carol trilogy by Charles Dickens, is ferocious and understanding . Before he is softened by the three ghost Scrooge was ferocious and greedy to others, he thought that the homeless were to be put in workhouses and prisons. Readers can detect that Scrooge’s understanding is a feature that develops and increases as he meets each ghost. Lastly even Scrooge doesn’t really care that he is so cruel to everyone that he meets, and how much kinder he needs to become for people to like him. Scrooge’s ferocious and understanding attitude towards others will determine whether he is a kind or disappointing person …show more content…
to others around him. Scrooge’s ferociousness is viewed when he is at work, home and out and about but develops better actions later on.
We notice that Scrooge is ferocious when he barks at his assistant Cratchit, almost daily shown in the future and the present, he acts in this way when, Cratchit asks to get Christmas day off. Scrooge says to Cratchit , “ It is not convenient it’s not fair. If I was to deduct half a crown from your salary for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, day’s wage for a day of no work. I feel that this evidence proves that Scrooge just wants people to listen to him and that he is the only person in the world that matters. He also cares about money and that is it he just wants to have all the money he can have, so that he control how much he has and gets. He also shows cruelty and ferociousness when he asks for frank, his nephew to leave. Show on pages 253 and 254 when Fred asks Scrooge if he wants to come over for Christmas dinner. Scrooge starts to complain about how Christmas is such a terrible holiday and that there is no point of coming over. Scrooge says to Frank , “ What else can I be when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! What’s Christmas to you but a time for paying bills without money, a time for finding yourself year older and not an hour richer….” This is showing that Scrooge has no gratitude for others or for his family. It also proves that Scrooge only cared about people not paying the bills so that he could have the money that he loved so
much. Scrooge’s attitude changes from rude to understanding at the end of the story after seeing the three ghosts. You can see that he changes all through scene 6 but you can notice that he changes a bit on page 270 scene 5 when he notices that no one came to his funeral, but he also notices that Tiny Tim has past away and that Cratchit isn’t the same. Cratchit comes home from a long days work and as he settles in and has conversation with his family he says’ “ Well, it will happen, one day, but remember, when that day does come as is must we must none of us forget poor Tiny Tim and this first parting in our our family.” Scrooge realizes that Tiny tim has died and he reacts with him saying, “ He died!? No, No! Scrooge is just so shocked and worried for his Assistant Cratchit. Scrooge also shows that he is understanding when, he gives Bob a raise and gives Bob’s family food and toys so that they are happy. On page 274 Scrooge gives money to the poor and visits the Cratchit’s. Scrooge says to the Gentleman, “ Say nothing! Accept it. Come and See me. Will you come and see me?” He is showing that he wants to give and he wants people to actually interact with him instead of leaving him alone. Scrooge becomes a good many and changes the way he acts with people around him.
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
Scrooge was and owner of a factory and made a whole bunch of money, but he did not care about anyone else. “Merry Christmas said his nephew, what right do have to be merry you are poor enough”. This shows that scrooge is mean to family and does not care about Christmas.
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.
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
Some traditional stories are so influential, they are born again in modern-day books. Such as, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge lives in London in the 1800’s. He is selfish and greedy. His ex-partner comes to visit him as a ghost. He warns him that he will be visited by three spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Just like A Christmas Carol, How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, The Grinch is mean. He tries to steal the Who’s, from the imaginary town of Whoville, Christmas spirit and happiness. Cindy Lou Who helps The Grinch become a better person. And of course, The Grinch’s dog, Max, tags along.
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
Charles dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol” endorses the notion that “Generosity involves more than the giving of money, it’s also about the giving of one's goodwill, compassion, sympathy, empathy and kindness. By taking his seemingly irredeemable protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey, Dickens’ intends to convey to all of society the importance of generosity. He proclaims that generosity of the spirit defines Christmas, and goes a large way towards defining true humanity for him as well.
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
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.
In the timeless tale, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens focuses upon the extreme transformation of a character named Ebenezer Scrooge. The fact that several moralistic themes can be applied throughout the novel confirms why it is a classic.
Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol because he believed that he can have an influence on the situation in England in the 19th century(Bio). He included the character’s greed and want that are a part of Scrooge during his visits with the Ghosts of Christmas.
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.