Theme Of Greed In A Christmas Carol

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.

The novel introduces Scrooge as a man of greed. This is shown in the first stave when Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit can barely keep warm by such a small fire "that it looked like one coal." Because of Scrooge's greed, he insists on storing up on his wealth by burning less coal, despite it's lack of warmth. Furthermore, one can notice Scrooge's greed as he refuses to give any donation from his surplus wealth to the poor and destitute that the collectors were raising money for. Scrooge's selfish response to the collectors was, " 'I wish to be left alone...I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry..."

In the second stave, Scrooge's greediness is further exemplified when he chooses his gain for money over his young love for Belle. The ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge a memory of this where Belle confronts him on the issue of how he changed from when they were young in love and how a golden idol has displaced her. She tells Scrooge,"'I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you."' Thus it is evident, Scrooge was one of greed.

Throughout the story, Scrooge expresses his vice of cold heartedness.

An example of this is shown in his bitter attitude towards the cheerfulness of his nephew Fred and by thinking Christmas a "humbug." And then, moments before he bitterly declines his nephew's friendly invitation to come dine with him, he says crossly to him, "'Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.'" Lastly, an instance that illustrates the cold heart of Scrooge is when he speaks of the poor, "'If they would rather die, they better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'" By these demonstrations, Scrooge exposed the coldness of his own

heart.

Approaching the end of the novel, one can see the remarkable change in Scrooge as he becomes a great model of charity. One can see this come to pass when he purchases the prized turkey and charitably sends it to Bob Cratchit's family on Christmas Day. Scrooge also extends his charity to the donation collectors and offers to give a great sum of money to the poor. Consequently, the day after Christmas Scrooge surprises Bob Cratchit by giving him a raise in his pay and a promise to help his struggling family. In the end, Scrooge is a great man of charity.

In the novel, A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens tells the story of a man who changed for the better. In the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a greedy, cold hearted man, but as he receives three visitations from Christmas spirits, he comes to realize his foolish ways and demonstrates the virtue of charity in his life. Thus, Scrooge proved that any man can change for he was a wretched man that became one of goodness.