This, the most famous of Charles Dickens’ Christmas stories, recounts
the events of one night in the
life of Ebenezer Scrooge, perhaps the
meanest miser in Victorian England.
It is Christmas Eve and Scrooge hates Christmas. He hates, in
fact, any occasion which threatens to diminish his stock of cash or
hinders him acquiring more. He underpays his clerk and is
ruthless to creditors and business rivals.
In contrast to Scrooge are his nephew Fred and his clerk Bob Cratchit,
both of whom are poor, happily married, and love Christmas. Both
also respond to Scrooge’s contempt with pity, for money is all Scrooge
owns.
On the cold, dark Christmas Eve in question, Scrooge eats his lonely
dinner at a tavern as usual and returns alone to the home that once
belonged to his partner, Jacob Marley. That walk home is,
however, the end of Scrooge’s usual life. Tonight Scrooge will
see his
old partner once again – the first of four ghosts intent on
softening a
heart long hardened by
fear of the world and love for gain.
The first of the spirits to visit Scrooge after the exit of Jacob
Marley is the
ghost of Christmas Past. In showing Scrooge himself
in earlier and sometimes happier days, the reader is granted a clue as
to what created the hard-hearted old miser. The pain of lost
happiness begins to soften old Ebenezer’s heart.
The Ghost of Christmas Present is a spirit of mirth and plenty, but
want hides in the folds of his cloak. Scrooge sees both aspects
of Christmas and is forcibly reminded that, in failing to contribute to
plenty, he has contributed to want. Scrooge is moved and shamed
at overhearing the comments of those who scorn him, but also of those
who show him pity.
By the time the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, Scrooge is
ready to change. Scenes of Tiny Tim’s and Scrooge’s own death
fill him with dismay and fear, but it is fear of not having time to
right old wrongs rather than death itself which makes him tremble.
When Christmas Day finally dawns, Scrooge is a new man, or perhaps
really finally himself – liberated from fear and avarice. He
seizes the chance procured for him by Jacob Marley to reform his life
and, the narrator tells us, never looks back. From then on,
Ebenezer Scrooge embodies the spirit of Christmas every day of the year.
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