A Christmas Carol

• 3 Main Big Ideas

  1. Dickens conveys the message that everybody is capable of redemption

  2. Dickens emphasises the need for social responsibility and charity

  3. Dickens highlights the importance of family and friendship
• Context


  - He was born into a poor family and his father was sent to a debtors prison and he was at 11 sent away to a blacking factory to gain income for his family.

  - 1834 Poor Law act this meant the poorest in society were sent to workhouses. This act was meant to discourage the perceived laziness of the poor.

  - Thomas Malthus was the person that developed Malthusian Theory which was that reproduction should be limited as there is not enough resources to keep up with the growing population.
• Each Stave on how Scrooge progresses


  Stave 1 - Rude and miserly

  Stave 2 - Nervous and confused

  Stave 3 - Respect for the ghost and guilty of his actions

  Stave 4 - Respectful towards the ghost and wanting to redeem himself

  Stave 5 - Happy and excited to have a second chance.
• Scrooge Quotes - Before Transformation


  'As hard and sharp as a flint'

  'As solitary as an oyster'

  'A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner'

  'No warmth could warm, no wintry weather could chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he'

  'I don't make myself merry at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry'

  'Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
• Marley Quotes


  'Marley was dead to begin with'

  'I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our counting house.'

  'I wear the chain I forged in life'

  'Death-cold eyes'

  'Shun the path I tread
• Ghost of Christmas Past


  - Used to push Scrooge on his path to redemption by letting him reflect on his past actions.

  'It was a strange figure, like a child, yet not so like a child as like an old man.'

  'From the crown of its head there sprang a bright clear jet of light.'

  'Would you so soon put out, with worthy hands, the light I give'

  -Motif of light here

  'A small matter... to make these silly folks so full of gratitude' (about fezziwigs party)
• Fezziwig


  'Organ of benevolence'

  'comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice'

  'skipping down from the high desk with wonderful agility'

  'He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil.
• Ghost of Christmas Present


  - Used as a mouthpiece for Dickens to emphasise the need for social reform and to challenge the Malthus theory.

  'A jolly giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch'

  'Come in and know me better man'

  'Sat on a kind of throne' - of food

  'It was clothed in one simple deep green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur'

  'Its genial face, its sparkling eye'

  'If he had like to die, he better do it quick to decrease the surplus population
• Ignorance and Want Quotes

  'From the folding's of its robe it brought 2 children, wretched, abject, frightful, hideous miserable'

  'They were a boy and a girl. yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish, but prostrate, too, in their humility.'

  'Spirit are they yours?' said Scrooge. 'They are man's ' said the ghost
• Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come


  - To show Scrooge the consequences of his past actions and that this will be his fate if he doesn't intervene.

  'Lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a mist along the ground towards him'

  'The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached'

  'It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible, save one outstretched hand.'

  'Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it
• Fred Quotes


  'His offences carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him'

  'His wealth is of no use to him. He don't do any good with it
• Scrooge Quotes - After Transformation

  'Tell me if Tiny Tim will live'

  'Not the little prize Turkey : the big one?'

  'As merry as a schoolboy'

  'As light as a feather'

  'I'm quite a baby