Ebenezer Scrooge

• Scrooge doesn't seem to care about anything except money

  1. At the start of the novella, Scrooge is portrayed very negatively, as someone who only cares about money - he's described as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"

  2. He's so miserly and mean that he begrudges Bob Cratchit his Christmas wages, and won't allow him a decent fire

  3. In a vision of Scrooge's past, his fiancee, Belle, says that Scrooge sees money as an "Idol", and that it has "displaced" her in Scrooge's affections. This suggests that Scrooge worships money as if it's a god, and his love for it is greater than his love for Belle

  At the start, Scrooge is:

  bitter: "No wind that blew was bitterer than he"

  cynical: "What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money"

  isolated: "secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster"
• He's cold-hearted and unfeeling

  1. Scrooge is unsympathetic towards other people, so he has no interest in helping the poor. He refuses to donate to charity - he think he's done enough by paying taxes to support the prisons and workhouses

  2. He's indifferent to how poor people might feel, and he believes it's not his "business" to care about them

  3. Dickens describes Scrooge using cold and icy language - there's a "cold within him" that "froze his old features", and he's described as having a "frosty rime" (a frosty covering). This association with the cold emphasises Scrooge's cold-hearted nature
• How does Scrooge's past influence his present personality?

  His past events contribute to his coldness
• What does Scrooge's childhood reveal about him?

  He was a lonely boy at school
• Why was Scrooge left at school during Christmas?

  His father wouldn't let him come home
• What does Scrooge's relationship with his sister suggest?

  He had a close bond with her
• Why might Scrooge isolate himself from Fred?

  Fred reminds him of his lost sister
• How does Scrooge react to the vision of Belle leaving him?

  He feels distressed and pleads for mercy
• What does the vision of Belle's happy family signify for Scrooge?

  It intensifies his feelings of heartbreak
• What theme does Scrooge's past illustrate regarding human nature?

  People can have goodness despite their past
• What are the key aspects of Scrooge's past that shape his character?

  • Lonely childhood at school
  • Abandonment by his father during Christmas
  • Close relationship with his sister
  • Heartbreak from losing Belle
• Scrooge has to see himself as others see him

  1. Throughout the visions, Scrooge is forced to see how other people talk about him when he's not around:

  . Mrs Cratchit calls Scrooge an "odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man"

  . Fred says he's "a comical old fellow", and "not so pleasant as he might be"

  . A businessman calls Scrooge "Old Scratch" - a nickname for the devil

  . A couple, who owe Scrooge money, call him "merciless"

  2. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is selfish - he doesn't care about how his attitude to life affects others. However, the spirits show him the way other people talk about him, which makes him realise his faults and convinces him to change his attitude
• Tiny Tim shows Scrooge that the poor are people too

  1. Seeing Tiny Tim helps Scrooge to feel empathy again. Scrooge asks the spirit if Tim will die, with "an interest he had never felt before" - Tim's situation makes Scrooge start to care about other people

  2. The Ghost of Christmas Present uses Tim to show Scrooge how wrong his beliefs about "surplus population" are, and to force him to think about poor people as individuals. Scrooge is saddened by how cruel his opinions were

  3. Scrooge is "overcome with penitence and grief" when he realises how wrong he's been. He starts to accept that helping people like Tim is his responsibility
• Scrooge's values change

  1. Scrooge's character changes completely by the end of the novella. He laughs at himself and says he's "as merry as a school-boy"

  2. He also learns to be charitable. He buys the Cratchits a Christmas turkey and makes a large donation to charity

  3. Scrooge completely changes his mind about Christmas - the narrator says that he "knew how to keep Christmas well"

  4. The spirits teach Scrooge to value family and companionship, so he embraces his nephew's family and becomes a father figure to Tiny Tim

  Scrooge becomes:

  generous: "I'll raise your salary"

  happy: "Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile"

  sociable: "Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity"