Context

• Industrial Revolution (I)


  Immense change between 1760 - 1840

  Change from farming to factories - industrial state / machinery

  Symbol of progression as Britain was gaining both domestic and foreign power

  Class divide was exacerbated with the lower classes subjected to dehumanising conditions
• Industrial Revolution (II) - Link to Novella


  • Dickens is critical of the industrial revolution and the overzealousness of money that was a by-product of the the revolution
  • He was scathing at the idea of Britain becoming the pinnacle of excellence when it neglected the most vulnerable
• Charles Dickens and the Poor (I)


  Dickens was empathetic of the poor - Dickens himself grew up in poverty, he first hand experienced its exploitation

  Critic G.K Chesterton characterised Dickens as the "spokesman of the poor"

  Witten in response to the Report of Children's Employment Commission - exploitation of Children during the Victorian era
• Charles Dickens and the Poor (II)


  Dickens wrote a pamphlet to spread awareness about the plight of the poor. He then turned this into a novella as he is aware fictional tales would galvanise more support
• Charles Dickens + Poor (III) - Link to Novella


  • Cratchits and Tiny Tim's death are characters Dickens constructed to carry this message about exploitation of the poor
  • Bob was exploited by Scrooge, his superior in the workforce whilst Tiny Tim was left to die due to neglection he faced from society
• Thomas Malthus (I)


  Influential British Economist

  Malthus believed poverty was inevitable consequence to the increasing population - increase in food demand

  Dickens makes Scrooge have hyperbolic views towards Christmas and the poor. He shows throughout the novella the detrimental effects of having an ignorant Malthusian mindset and vilifies it through the presentation of Scrooge at the beginning
• Thomas Malthus (II) - Link to Novella


  • Dickens political diatrabe can be seen as an anti- Malthusian tale
  • He directly indicts the Malthusian idea of the scarcity of supplies through the ghost of Christmas present who sits on an abundance of food
• 1843 Poor Law (I)


  New Poor Law (1843) introduced workhouses

  The poor were sent to the workhouses, they were intended to be there to provide shelter and food for the poor in exchange for work

  They exploitered young children in belligerent conditions and splitted families - 10% of people admitted there would die
• 1843 Poor law - link to Novella


  • Dickens first hand experienced the belligerent conditions and aimed to criticise the humanity of the poor law
  • He uses Scrooge's ignorance to replicate the ignorance of the upper class : "are there no prisons..."
• Religion (I)

  Victorian society was extremely religious and its foundations were built on such beliefs

  Redemption is instrumental: - God provides redemption when sins are confessed

  Salvation: salvation of mankind from Jesus' resurrection

  Seven deadly sins were the route of all evil : pride, greed, envy, wrath, glutton, lust and sloth
• Religion (II) - Links to Play

  • Redemption and salvation is pivotal in Scrooge's transformation.
  • His redemption and salvation is seen in stave 5 when he is reborn into a "baby" showing he is redeemed and given another chance