Other Characters

• The charity collectors have a sense of social responsibility

  1. The charity collectors are two "portly", "pleasant" men who visit Scrooge's offices looking for donations to the poor

  2. They have compassion for the poor, and they show the importance of charity at Christmas - a time when "Want is keenly felt" amongst those in poverty

  3. The charity collectors convey Dickens's beliefs that prisons and workhouses weren't acceptable places to send the poor - and that many people "would rather die" than go to one. They point out how important it is for people to understand their social responsibility towards those who are less fortunate
• Joe and the thieves are as greedy and ruthless as Scrooge

  1. Joe runs a seedy, disreputable shop in a filthy part of the city. Theme - Poverty: Dickens's description of the area around Joe's shop - which "reeked with crime, with filth, and misery" - is brutal and shocking. He doesn't romanticise poverty here.

  2. The three thieves who are there have stolen Scrooge's possessions to sell to Joe. They feel justified in doing so - it's "no sin" because Scrooge was such a "wicked old screw" whilst he was alive

  3. They're disrespectful about Scrooge - they laugh about the thefts, and one of them has even taken the shirt from Scrooge's corpse - she says it would have been "wasted" on him

  4. By isolating himself from friends and family, Scrooge has ensured that his possessions end up in the wrong hands. Instead of helping deserving people like the Cratchits, Scrooge's wealth is profiting thieves
• The wealthy London businessmen don't care about Scrooge

  1. The merchants Scrooge sees in Chapter Four are obsessed by wealth. They play with "great gold seals" and jingle the money in their pockets. Like Scrooge, they represent the greedy rich people of Victorian society

  2. They don't care about Scrooge's death - they don't even use his name, and one says he will only attend the funeral for the free lunch

  3. One merchant has a "monstrous chin" and another has a growth on his nose that "shook like the gills of a turkey-cock". These details dehumanise the men and reflect the ugliness of their attitudes