A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
Quote Bank: Social inequity: Victorian society
|
Quote |
Character |
Stave |
|
“Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” |
Portly gentleman |
1 |
|
“Sending out a meagre servant to offer a glass of ‘something’ to the postboy, who answered that he thanked the gentleman, but if it was the same tap he had tasted before, he had rather not.” |
Narrator |
2 |
|
“I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these people’s opportunities of innocent enjoyment.” |
Scrooge |
3 |
|
“‘There are some upon this earth of yours,’ returned the Spirit, ‘who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.’” |
Ghost of Christmas Present |
3 |
|
“Then up rose Mrs Cratchit, Cratchit’s wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence.” |
Narrator |
3 |
|
“It should be Christmas Day, I am sure [...] on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge. You know he is, Robert. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow.” |
Mrs Cratchit |
3 |
|
“There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker’s. But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time.” |
Narrator |
3 |
|
“They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility.” |
Narrator |
3 |
|
“They are Man’s [...] and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”’ |
Ghost of Christmas Present |
3 |
|
“They were men of aye business: very wealthy, and of great importance. He had made a point always of standing well in their esteem: in a business point of view, that is; strictly in a business point of view.” |
Narrator |
4 |
|
“The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offenses of smell, and dirt, and life, upon the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery.” |
Narrator |
4 |
Download a free Sample Essay
A Christmas Carol
Sample Essay
Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, begins with the death of Jacob Marley (Ebenezer Scrooge’s former associate). The two men had operated a firm together known as ‘Scrooge and Marley.’ Scrooge is now left
as the sole proprietor.
Scrooge’s nephew Fred enters the countinghouse on the 24th of December, Christmas Eve, wishing Scrooge a merry Christmas. The two men engage in a debate over the merits and demerits of Christmas, with Scrooge bitterly denouncing it as a “humbug.” Scrooge firmly rejects his nephew’s invitation to dine at his house on Christmas Day.
Two charitable gentlemen then enter the countinghouse, seeking donations for the “Poor and destitute” of London. Scrooge resentfully refuses to offer his funds, despite his renowned wealth within the city.
Scrooge’s third interaction occurs with his employed clerk Bob Cratchit. Bob belongs to a poor family of humble means, who struggle to support their sickly child Tiny Tim. Scrooge unwillingly permits Cratchit the day off on Christmas, angrily commenting on the injustice of paying “a day’s wages for no work.”
The introduction of the novella thus sets up the characterisation of Scrooge: an ageing, wealthy, selfish, and bitter old man who fails to see the value and joy in Christmas.
Upon returning home, Scrooge is then confronted by the ghost of his old companion Marley, who warns Scrooge of the perils of living a frugal and uncompassionate life. Marley’s ghost himself is weighted with heavy chains of metal, symbolising the consequences in the afterlife of pursuing a life of egotism and opportunism.
Though initially unconvinced by the ghost’s warning, Scrooge is told that he will be visited by three spirits, sent to teach a moral lesson to which Scrooge is blind.
Scrooge is first frequented by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him through various events from his childhood and adulthood. Scrooge, who at first is presented to the reader as an entirely grave and unemotional character, is sympathetic towards these memories, reminiscing on events he had once suppressed in his mind.
He is then confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows Scrooge the celebrations of various Londoners on Christmas Day. Here, Scrooge is awakened to the community members’ unsympathetic opinions of him, viewing his harsh nature as cruel and oppressive.
Lastly, Scrooge is guided by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, and is horrifically confronted by the future prospect of his very own death. Scrooge is perturbed by this final imagery, pleading with the spirit and pledging to amend his ways and treat Christmas with the same joy and generosity that the ghost itself preaches.
Scrooge is surprised to awaken on Christmas Day with the teachings of the spirits firmly ingrained in his conscience. He pledges to amend his previous wrongdoings, and to go forth with a new outlook of benevolence, sending the “prize turkey” to the Cratchit household, donating a generous sum to the “Poor and destitute” of London, and celebrating with his nephew’s family.
The novella thus concludes with an idealistic perception of what Christmas should be: a celebration of thanksgiving and prosperity, devoid of the selfishness and spite previously fostered by Scrooge.
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