Stave What Happens 1 Marleys ghost appears to

Stave What Happens? 1 Marley’s ghost appears to Scrooge to tell him he will be visited by three ghosts. 2 The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to see himself as a lonely child in school; to see his old boss, Fezziwig; and to see his former fiancée breaking off their engagement. 3 The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to see the Cratchit family and his nephew, Fred, at Christmas. He also shows Scrooge the children Ignorance and Want. 4 The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge characters reacting to his death and the Cratchit’s mourning the loss of Tiny Tim. 5 Scrooge sends a huge turkey to the Cratchit family, wishes everyone a ‘Merry Christmas’ and donates money to the poor. Scrooge increases Bob’s wages and visits Fred’s for Christmas.

Brief Context • Charles Dickens was born in February 1812. When he was 12, his father was imprisoned for debt and he was sent to work after his father was released, he trained as a law clerk before h began writing. He wrote a Christmas Carol in 1843 to draw attention to the difficult live England’s poor led.

A Christmas Carol’s Key Characters and Quotes

Scrooge Main Character. Money lender. Cruel. • • • ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, covetous old sinner!’ ‘Secret, and self-contained, and as solitary as an oyster. ’ ‘Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. ’ ‘Scrooge was the Ogre of the family’ ‘I am not the man I was. ’ ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year

Ghost of Christmas Past Constantly changes in appearance. Carries extinguisher as a hat. • ‘like a child: yet not so like a child as an old man. ’ • ‘its hair… was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it. ’ • ‘from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light’ • ‘a great extinguisher for a cap’

Ghost of Christmas Present Fills any space. Carried horn of plenty as torch. Sprinkles from it. • “Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry… great joints of meat, long wreaths of sausages…there sat a jolly Giant”. • “Are there no prisons… are there no work houses? ”

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Silent. Scares Scrooge. • • ‘The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached… the very air through which this spirit moved seemed to scatter gloom and misery’ • ‘it was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form and left nothing visible save its one outstretched hand. ’

Jacob Marley Scrooge’s dead partner. Regrets choices made when alive. Warns him. • ‘Old Marley was dead as a door nail’. & ‘sole friend, sole mourner’. • chain: ‘cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses’ • “I made it link by link, and yard by yard… of my own free will I wore it” • “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business. ”

Bob Cratchit Scrooge’s employee. Kind, family centred. • ‘the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle. ’ • ‘went down a slide on Cornhill…then ran home…to play blind-man’s buff. ’ • ‘“Mr Scrooge!” said Bob; “I’ll give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast. ”’

Fred Scrooge’s nephew, son of Fan. Always kind to Scrooge. • “A merry Christmas, Unce! God save you!” ‘he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled’ • “What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough!’

Tiny Tim Bob Cratchit’s youngest son. Weak and poorly. • ‘he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame’ • ‘“God bless us every one!” said Tiny Tim, the last of all’

Ignorance and Want Spirits below the robe of Ghost of Christmas Present. • • “They are man’s. . . 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. ” • ‘a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. ’

A Christmas Carol’s Key Themes

Poverty • Dickens felt strongly that Victorian society ignored the poverty of its underclass. On the one hand were the rich who enjoyed comfort and feasting at Christmas, and on the other were children forced to live in dreadful conditions in workhouses.

Redemption • Redemption is the idea of being saved from sin or evil. Scrooge is transformed from greedy and selfish into generous and good-natured. The ghosts that visit him show him his mistakes. The moral message of the novella is that all human beings have the opportunity to behave in kinder ways towards each other.

Christmas • Christian celebration of the birth of Christ. It is a time when families and friends come together to share food and exchange gifts; Dickens uses the ideas of generosity and compassion that we associate with Christmas to highlight the transformation of the main character. The structure of the story is broken into staves/verses like a Christmas carol song.