the ghosts

• "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom"
• "I wear the chains I forged in life."
• the ghost of christmas past:

  • riddled with contradictory images - distant and close, old and young
  • strong arms - "as if its hold were of uncommon strength" - depiction of a memory
  • shots of light from its head
  • "tunic of the purest white" - angelic
• the ghost of christmas present:

  • dressed in green - reminiscent of St Nicholas
  • greets scrooge with a drink - kindness
  • long description of the luxurious christmas fare he is seated upon
• the ghost of christmas yet to come:

  • a "spectre" dressed in black
  • silent, enigmatic nature
  • semantic field of death throughout his description
• scrooge's reaction changes:

  past - "The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand"

  present - "He put them every one aside with his own hand"

  future- "Lead on! Time is precious to me"
• "Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business"
• "there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch"
• "The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached."