Dickens travelled extensively in Europe & America & spoke out against the Slave Trade – he was a champion of what we would call 'human rights' & his works have a strong moral undertone
Dickens shows his disgust with the Malthusian principle that population will always grow faster than food & should be controlled by diseases & starvation
Divided into classes; upper, middle, working class. The upper class were the ruling class & were afforded luxuries & everything you need to succeed in life, namely a good education & access to health care
The result of the expansion of manufacturing processes & the need for coal was child labor. Children as young as 6 worked 12-14 hours per day, many dying of disease or being killed or maimed in accidents
Introduced to reduce the cost of looking after the poor. After this, if people in poverty wanted help they had to go to the workhouse to get it. The poor were terrified about the prospect of the workhouse as the conditions were appalling
Set up by well-meaning people for the poor in cities, offering free education. For many children this was the only education they received. The need for proper education was a priority for Dickens
Stave 1 - Ebenezer Scrooge is at work in his counting house. Scrooge's turns down his nephew, Fred's, invitation to his Christmas party & the request of two men who want money for charity. Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley, who tells Scrooge that, due to his own greedy life, he has to wander the Earth wearing heavy chains. Marley tries to stop Scrooge from doing the same. He tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit him during the next three nights. Scrooge falls asleep.
Stave 2 - Scrooge wakes and the Ghost of Christmas Past soon appears to him - they embark on a journey into Scrooge's past. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days; his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named Fezziwig, & his engagement to Belle, who leaves Scrooge as he loves money too much to love another human being. Scrooge sheds tears of regret before returning to his bed.
Stave 3 - Scrooge anticipates the second ghost, sitting up in bed waiting. He is surprised when no spirit arrives. Instead, he follows a light & finds himself in a transformed version of his own room. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge Christmas as it happens that year. Scrooge sees the Cratchit family eat a tiny meal in their little home; Bob Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, whose kindness & humility warm Scrooge's heart and Fred's Christmas party. Toward the end of the day the ghost shows Scrooge two starved child-likefigures; Ignorance & Want. He vanishes as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming.
Stave 4 - The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes Scrooge through a sequence of scenes linked to an unnamed man's death. Scrooge is keen to learn the lesson. He begs to know the name of the dead man. He finds himself in a churchyard with the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone & is shocked to read his own name. He is desperate to change his fate & promises to change his ways. He suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.
Stave 5 - Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a turkey to the Cratchit house & goes to Fred's party. As the years go by, he continues to celebrate Christmas with all his heart. He treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, gives gifts for the poor & is kind, generous & warm.
"What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough."
"I have always thought of Christmas as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time"
"Don't be angry Uncle. Merry Christmas!"
"If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is I should like to know him too."
"Scrooge's offences carry their own punishment. Who suffers? Himself!"