scrooge stage 5

• redemption and rebirth - “i am as light as a feather“

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  • elation at chance to live the life he once wished away,
  • the triple simile: “I am as light as a feather, happy as an angel, merry as a schoolboy”
  • “feather” is the antithesis to simile in Stave 1 “as hard and sharp as a flint”
  • juxtaposing similes highlight how Scrooge feels liberated now feeling “light” from his burden of carrying his cold
• redemption and rebirth - religion

  • biblical illusion - redemption led him back to a path of God and faith
  • previously embodying cardinal sin
  • redemption idea (restoration of religious morals) important to Victorian society
  • infantile language indicates rebirth
  • both “baby” and “schoolboy” connote innocence and youth
  • repeating- he has regained innocence and ability to see the world through an untainted light
  • an old sinner to most innocent form of human life - ultimate rebirth
  • idea of rebirth is salient in Christianity- emotional connection with God
  • significance to Jesus Christ being reborn to provide salvation for mankind; Scrooge’s rebirth will provide salvation and relief for others
  • seeks solace from God following redemption - “he went to church”
  • syntax of church highlights he has now understood the importance of religious teaching, and how it provides an integral moral foundation to an individual
• weather

  • constant pathetic fallacy and reflection of stagnancy and progression
  • fog is a symbol of institutionalised oppression and scrooge reusing to seek clarity in the reasons of his misanthropic way
  • no longer existent in stave 5 - ”no fog; no mist; clear, bright jovial”
  • symbolic of how if parsimonious upper class individuals changed alike to scrooge them institutionalised oppression would be eradicated and society would live in harmony
  • london would not be governed by greed but love
• acts of atonement

  • scrooge becomes altruistic and benevolent
  • acts of atonement are exemplary towards cratchits
  • “i’ll send it to bob cratchits” - scrooge symbolises social reform
  • his transmogrification in attitudes to the poor resembles how easy social reform would be if everyone took responsibility
  • scrooge is microcosm of upper class to make them reflect on positive impact of a social conscience
  • deprivation of poor can be alleviated with help of rich
  • highlights uniting classes and consequently eliminating social ills
  • would make society alike to a family rather than segregated groups
  • paternal “second father”
  • dickens wants society to recognise and tackle what disraeli called “two nations”
  • social remedy is compassion and empathy
  • without it society would continue to victimise and deprive those who needed the most help