In Stave III of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge confronts the Ghost of Christmas Present for supposedly wanting businesses closed on the Sabbath. As a result, the text shifts from its secularized nature into a more religious tone. This change signifies that another transformation is taking place; Scrooge’s attitude and presence is becoming more ideal to the other individuals in the text. However, in Dickens’s efforts of implying that Scrooge is improving his holiday spirit, the text also implies that Scrooge is not a spiritual individual towards the beginning of the story. On the other hand, Scrooge agrees to remember the Ghost of Christmas Present’s statement, which represents Scrooge giving himself to a higher power. Dickens protest of the Anglican …show more content…
In Stave II, the Ghost of Christmas Past, emblematizing memory and influence, revealed young Scrooge. Young Scrooge is someone readers can sympathize with and he also gives an insight into why the much older Scrooge was not in the Christmas spirit. On the other hand, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come embody Christ-like figures. In Stave III, Scrooge states, “…It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family” in response to the Spirit exclaiming that he “seeks to close [the] places on the Seventh Day.” This part of the dialogue hints at the Ghost of Christmas Present being either God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. The word choice here suggests that the text is actually beginning to incorporate …show more content…
— It is Christianity To Do Good always — even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbour as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them Do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to shew that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in Peace. [The Life of Our Lord, Ch. 11, p. 474 of The Everyman
Dickens uses the supernatural as a method of holding a mirror up to Scrooge who is forced to confront the error of his ways. Dickens shows us that if Scrooge fails to do this it will result in him having a similar fate to Marley. Dickens uses the ghost to emphasize that there is a chance of redemption for Scrooge “that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate”. Dickens’ use of the supernatural continues throughout the story as a means of arousing nostalgia, thought, fear and action by Scrooge. All of these emotions, which Dickens shows us Scrooge is feeling, demonstrate the gradual change in Scrooge throughout the book, and as these changes take place, our thoughts and feelings towards the relationship we have with Scrooge also changes; we begin to understand him and see under his hard outer shell.
In this stave, the ghost of Christmas Past come to visit Scrooge, and takes him to some memories of the past. As Scrooge observes some past events of his life, he is mostly filled with shame and regret as to why he would do such a thing. On page 50, it talks about why his fiance, Emily, breaks up with him because she thinks he’s replaced her with money, and the need to be wealthy. At seeing this occur, he immediately fills up with regret and overall shame. This stave is mainly bringing up all the things that Scrooge has done during Christmas, and trying to make him regret and be shameful so he can change his way of living before it’s too
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come frightens Scrooge into submission and humbles him. Scrooge cannot change until he accepts the fact that he was wrong. By scaring and intimidating Scrooge, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is able to accomplish that. Scrooge says to the spirit, “‘Ghost of the Future! I fear you more than any spectre I have seen’”(Stave IV, 2). In reaction to the spirits frightening demeanor, Scrooge becomes humble saying “‘I shall not leave its lesson, trust me.’” (Stave IV, 11). The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come’s lessons have the most impact on Scrooge because the spirit scares him into wanting to change. The ghost scares him because he represents the worst consequences. Finally, Scrooge learns he was wrong and begs the ghost, “‘Good Spirit,’” “‘Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life’”(Stave IV,
Scrooge is changed from a humpy old man to a kinder nicer man, each stave represents a step in the transformation process. In stave one, two men come into Scrooge’s shop and ask for a donation to help poor people in need, Scrooge gives them no money and asks why these people are not in “prisons” or “Union workhouses” (Dickens 7). He feels by paying his taxes he has done enough to help the poor. Scrooge goes on to say “If they rather die…they had better do it and decrease the surplus population” (Dickens 7). But in stave 3, Scrooge sees that Tiny Tim, a young innocent boy, will pass away in the future. Scrooge begs the second of the three spirits to spare his life, but the spirit says “If
Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserable and greedy old man, who focuses mainly on his business and continues with his greedy ways on Christmas Eve. He is always grumpy and yells at his employees, and most of all at Bob Cratchit. Scrooge’s desire is to be by himself on Christmas Eve, and rejects his nephew Fred’s, invitation for dinner. One night, the ghost of Jacob Marley, a former colleague of Scrooge, who has passed away seven years ago, visits the old man. Marley reminds Scrooge of his cruel lifestyle and encourages him to change it before it is too late. He tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. When Scrooge falls asleep, The Ghost of Christmas Past visits him first. The Ghost shows him scenes from the past the reveal Scrooges’ live; from a lonesome young boy to a man who has allowed greed to overcome his life, a man who does not know love and compassion. Scrooge is touched by what he has seen and even allows emotions to overcome his stone-cold heart. Secondly, the Ghost of Christmas Present visits Scrooge. The Ghost takes Scrooge to several Christmas celebrations, including the party at Fred’s house. Also the Ghost takes Scrooge to the Crachit’s house, and warns him that unless the future is changed the crippled young son of Bob, Tiny Tim will die. The ghost warns Scrooge to be carful of his ignorance. Lastly the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come visits Scrooge. The old man becomes aware that several people discuses the death of someone. At last, he learns that this is
The Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge many happenings from the people Scrooge knows, but the Ghost also showed him people he doesn’t know and probably never will, people who are suffering themselves. After the Ghost showed Scrooge the Cratchit’s household and his nephew’s house, he showed him people far from home, people in jails, people in hospitals, and people who were simply struggling. The Ghost blessed each of those people, the people that he had no relation to, the people whom he knew nothing about. Their struggles were relieved, the struggling more patient, the sick healed, and so on. In doing this, the Ghost showed Scrooge that although Scrooge was not magical, one person’s blessing can impact many people. He showed Scrooge that kindness and generosity can make the biggest difference, and caring about others, caring about all others, can create a big change and be beneficial to everyone.
The first of the three spirits was the spirit of Christmas past. The spirit of Christmas past took ol’ dolorous Scrooge to see his past childhood. The text states that “they passed through Scrooge’s wall, and stood upon an open country road, with fields on either end.” This city had vanished in present time. “Good Heaven! Said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, as he looked about him. ‘I was bred in this place, I was a boy here.” The significance is that Scrooge learns to not be such a gargantuan jerk. Scrooge’s feelings are as if he is being tortured by the spirit of Christmas past. As you would expect, Scrooge hated watching his childhood past, and begs the spirit of Christmas past to dispel him from his childhood. Scrooge very much is gargantuanly odious of watching his childhood, as he cannot bear it. The ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is a story of Christmas spirit and repentance. Ebenezer Scrooge is a hard-hearted businessman who thinks that the less attention he pays to mankind’s problems the better. He is cruel to his clerk, feared by almost all, and repulses the friendly advances of his nephew. However, on Christmas Eve, Scrooge gets a start that begins to jolt him into seeing the errors of his ways. He sees the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley, who is doomed to walk the earth in a chain that he made in his unkind dealings with mankind, and who tells Scrooge that, in order to have hope of avoiding this, he will be visited by three spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows him memories of the man he used
By this part in the novel, dickens introduced the next Ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Present. The ghost of Christmas present takes Scrooge to his clerk`s house. Here he witness the unfortunate conditions of their Christmas, however, it doesn’t appear to be so unfortunate at all; although Scrooge notices how Tiny Tim is crippled and at deaths door. He is moved by this sight, and that of his clerk’s family. He had never imagined their lives to be like this before; however it’s astonishing to him, that although extremely poor, they are full of joy and happiness. He notices the simple pleasures of family life as well. Furthermore something strange begins to happen, he sympathises with Tiny Time, who Scrooge understands will die without financial help. Dickens has showed us how scrooge is changing and learning to sympathise, a “skill” he previously didn’t have. "Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live." ' Dickens once more showing us scrooges new found affections. Additionally when the Spirit predicts “an empty chair if things do not change”, Scrooge is quite
The Ghost of Christmas Present in “A Christmas Carol” takes Scrooge to various locations to demonstrate the different ways people celebrate the time of Christmas. Although these people lack the material wealth and security that Scrooge has obtained,
Using the first spirit, Scrooge was forced to face the fact that people viewed him as greedy and selfish, and began to open him up to the fact that he needs to change. The second spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Present, arrived and took Scrooge to the home of a worker of his, Bob Cratchit. It showed the family content, despite barely getting by. When Scrooge saw Bob’s sick son, he began to show worry that he would not survive. When the spirit told him that the son would not make it to next Christmas, this made Scrooge want to help him. This kind of emotion was unlike him, showing that he was changing (CC40). The spirit then took him to several other Christmas gatherings, where he enjoyed himself and played many games, even though he was merely in a dream. This spirit was used to open up Scrooge and showed his inner want to be around people. These thoughts for Scrooge were different than his from the beginning of the novel, showing that the spirits were being used to teach valuable lessons to Scrooge. The final spirit arrived, but would not answer when asked if he was the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge plead with the ghost to share his lesson with him, fearful of becoming like Marley (CC51). The silent spirit took Scrooge to a series of strange places, showing people discussing the death of a dead rich man. He then began to understand the
Title: Change in A Christmas carol Change can either be good or bad depending on what the change is. In Scrooge And Marley: A Christmas carol, Scrooge is sent three ghosts from Jacob Marley that helps him change. After being reformed by the spirits of Christmas Scrooge becomes friendly, nice, generous, considerate, and an all around great person. First, The Ghost of Christmas Present retaught Scrooge the generosity and respect he had to know long ago. The spirit had shown Scrooge when his old boss Fizziwig through an enormous party.
In stave two of Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, the greedy and pessimistic Ebenezer Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Past and re-experiences his Christmases both prior to becoming a “scrooge” and at the onset of his pessimism and greed. Scrooge describes the Ghost of Christmas Past in the phrase, “that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright, clear jet of light,” (Dickens 30) and this light itself is the symbol of knowledge and truth from the spirits. Scrooge, after spending a whole night with the Ghost of Christmas Past will be enlightened and shown the truth of what he has become, for he does not truly remember what the joys of Christmas were prior to the development of his greed. Hints of this enlightenment appear throughout the stave, however shines most clearly through a moment that Scrooge shares with the Ghost when he says, “Nothing…nothing.
According to the text in the second stave it phrases that Scrooge has reciprocated, just because he always keeps meditating about Marley’s ghost. Scrooge always tried to forget about Marley, but never could, in the text it states that Scrooge went to bed again, and again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over and over and over, and could make nothing of it. Marley’s ghost bothered him remarkably. The ghost starts to talk to Scrooge he says that he is the ghost of Christmas past. Then Scrooge remembers how awesomely he partied that one Christmas at the house of his master Fezziwig, with his BFF and fellow apprentice, Dick Wilkins, also, it’s the first Christmas scene we’ve gotten so far. Finally, one last thing for the ghost of Christmas past, just like that, these super happy people just happen to mention Scrooge, whom the husband says is all alone. He could not take anymore of this, all of a sudden, he grabs the extinguisher cap and tries to
From the reading, I know that Scrooge is a dolorous and crabby man who is identified as all head no heart. A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone kind of man is he accounting for every sterling. I know he hates Christmas by the response he gave to his nephew when he came to ask Scrooge to join his family for dinner. Fred, his nephew, says to Scrooge, “Christmas a humbug, you don’t mean that , I am sure.” Scrooge replies, “I do.” “Merry Christmas! What right do you have to be merry?” Fred ignores Scrooge’s negative response and continues to spread his joy by asking his uncle to join his family for dinner. On page six when carolers visited at his door, “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.” The foggy frozen mist outside his office crept through the door to freeze his old features as it did his heart. That one of a kind man is very greedy and selfish. The text claims he is a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Scrooge’s business partner Marley is “dead as a doornail!” Marley’s ghost appears within Scrooge’s door knocker one day. Scrooge is slightly freaked out by the fact that Marley’s ghost is at his house! He then asks the ghost who he is. The ghost immediately responds telling him to ask who he was. Marley’s ghost continuously asks Scrooge if he believes in him. Scrooge responds as if he does, but does not.