marley

• dickens as social commentator

  • uses Marley as a mouthpiece to be scathing of pervasive social ills and to challenge the upper class notion that materialism can mask injustices.
  • uses conventional gothic elements to supernatural as Victorian gothic literature was prevalent.
  • explores mortality in a way interlinked with supernatural, uncanny realm of endless possibilities.
  • characters indicate social ills and significantly misanthropic nature of upper class.
  • fictional gothic characters carry indictment about misers that pervade the upper class
  • allows reader to immerse fiction whilst simultaneously being scornful of immoral traits
• dickens as social commentator - “mankind was my business”

  • used marley as his first mouthpiece to explore the need for a collective social conscience
  • explores desperate need for upper class to realise their neglection of the poor is the plight of poverty and injustice
• imprisoned by selfishness topic sentence

  Marley is symbolic of the eternal consequences of a pursuit of materialism. In his life he has shunned poverty, indulging in avarice, thus in the afterlife experiences spiritual poverty.
• imprisoned by selfishness - “long and wound about like a tail”

  • Dehumanising and animalistic image
  • “wound long and wound about like a tail”
  • Simile “like a tail” implies his egoism and selfishness has bound him to an eternity of animalistic treatment in hell.
  • His disregard for others has led to him being reduced to an irrelevant stain in afterlife goals.
• imprisoned by selfishness “dragging a heavy chain”

  • Chain symbolises restriction.“dragging a heavy chain”
  • Chain is a motif for restricting and eternal consequence of being parsimonious.
  • Tiresome verb “dragging” exacerbates the eternal punishment he is enduring.
  • Spiritually bound to the consequence of his social injustice.
  • Physical and metaphorical representation of repercussions of avariciousness.
• scrooges denial - ”slight disorder in the stomach”

  • Dismisses Marley’s return
  • “a slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats”
  • Vehemently opposed to supernatural entities
  • he would be forced to change rigid and parochial views on the world.
• scrooges denial - “fell upon his knees”

  • Horrified by gothic supernatural presentation
  • “Scrooge fell upon his knees … clasped his hands before his face”
  • Marley conforms to archetype of supernatural — pained in suffering.
  • Try to elicit a reaction from Scrooge to catalyse a change.
  • Worth as an individual as synonymous with worth and value in business.
  • Ignorant and capitalist mindset — cannot comprehend Marley’s suffering.
• scrooges denial - “a good man of business“

  • “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.”
  • Comma after “business” emulates his confusion to why Marley is suffering despite immense financial abilities.
  • Evokes pity as Scrooge cannot see the world without viewing it through a monetary lens.