Staves:

• Stave 1:

  • Scrooge is a parsimonious man who refuses to celebrate Christmas, or anything positive in life.
  • We see his interactions with Fred to which he shows his miserly traits. Fred is the antithesis to Scrooge as he is positive and jovial.
  • Scrooge dismisses two philanthropists because he believes the poor should be put in prison or the workhouses instead.
  • Scrooge returns home where he is visited by the first ghost - Marley.
  • Marley is draped in chains, symbolising that eternal punishment, and tries to warn Scrooge that if he continues on this greedy and selfish trajectory he will end up the same as Marley.
  • Scrooge is terrified and petrified, he puts seeing Marley down as a "disorder of the stomach". Marley tells him 3 other ghosts will come visit him.
• Stave 2:

  • The Ghost of Christmas Past visits and he looks like an old and young man simultaneously. He is a bright light and wears a cap, and a white tunic.
  • Brings him back to his hometown, to which we see an emotional reaction from Scrooge - first time hes humanised.
  • Shows Scrooge at a boarding school, and being united with his younger sister Fanny. Is revealed that she has formerly passed away.
  • Scrooge is also taken back to a positive time where he was an apprentice for a man called Mr. Fezziwig. We see a jubilant young Scrooge who admires Mr. Fezziwig and see him at a vivacious and flamboyant party hosted by Fezziwig.
  • A more dark flashback is shown by the ghost - the end of Belle and his marriage. She speaks about how Scrooge idolises money over love and was not the man she was once engaged to. This is a painful memory for Scrooge and he gets an "extinguisher cap" and puts it on the Ghost to try eradicate him.
• Stave 3:

  • 3rd Ghost to visit Scrooge appears (Present)
  • Appears to look like a mix of Santa and God. Surrounded by Ivy and is sat on top of a pile of food. Represents abundance and is there to contrast Malthusian views.
  • Shows the joyous celebrations of Christmas as Fred's house. We see them making jokes at Scrooge's expense, yet Fred shows compassion and says how he's not judgemental towards his actions in life.
  • Takes Scrooge to the scene of the Cratchits'. Despite their poverty, Bob and his family express a deep level of gratitude for the little they have. Bob crowns Scrooge the "founder" of their meagre feast. We see the fragility of Tiny Tim and the Ghost alluding to his death.
  • At the end of the stave, the Ghost shows Scrooge two animalistic looking children and names them 'ignorance' and 'want'. These are symbols of the neglected lower classes because of the upper classes ignorance and exploitation. Scrooge is disturbed.
• Stave 4:

  • The last Ghost, the most terrifying of them all, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
  • The Ghost is draped in a dark black cloak and replicates the grim reaper. He doesn't speak, instead uses his hand and finger to point.
  • He shows Scrooge at first some rich upper-class men talking about a funeral and speaking about this dead individual in economical terms. They are speaking of Scrooge.
  • Scrooge's servant is shown to have taken his belongings, even the curtain of his death bead, to sell them to a man called Old Joe. This whole stave shows the carelessness of people towards Scrooge in his death - a harrowing realisation for Scrooge.
  • We are taken back to the Cratchits' home and they are all devastated by the death of Tiny Tim.
  • The last scene Scrooge is shown in his neglected grave. He pleads the Ghost for a chance of redemption and salvation, and whether these events can be reversed if he alters his behaviour.
• Stave 5:

  • Scrooge wakes up on Christmas Day and is overjoyed that he has been given a second chance at life. His movement is as 'light as a feather' and he seems to have been born into a new man - regressing back into a jovial and magnanimous individual.
  • He sends a prize turkey to the Cratchits as a token of his gratitude for them, he then goes to spend the day with Fred's family.
  • The next day at work, he pretends to be his same miserable self to Bob, scrutinising him for his lateness. Instead he gives Bob a raise for his hard work and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim.
  • Scrooge continues to be a charitable and magnanimous individual, embodying communal spirit.