How Does Scrooge Change In A Christmas Carol
How does the writer, Charles Dickens, show the changes in the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, in the novella ‘A Christmas Carol’? Pay special attention to language and social, historical and literary context. Focus on Stave 1 and Stave 5.
Written for children, or as a “pot-boiler”, Dickens’ novella “A Christmas Carol” is intended to deliver a message to the readership of the time…
The novella’s themes are still relevant today…
In the novella ‘A Christmas Carol’, Ebenezer Scrooge changes dramatically; the writer Charles Dickens shows this in various way using language devices, narrative voice, symbolism and other techniques.
Historical Context
• Dickens’ life.
• What life was like for the poor in Victorian London.
• Explain what …show more content…
Dickens wanted to teach his readers and why.
• Are these messages primarily aimed at children or adults?
Section 1 - Structure
• What is the significance of it being divided into “Staves” not chapters?
• What is the narrative voice like? How does this persuade the reader that Dickens’ message is relevant? (First person, use of humour, use of idioms, direct address, self referencing etc”
From the outset, Dickens’ use of language draws the reader into his morality tale. This novella carries a moral message about the power of charity, generosity and redemption and of how these qualities are particularly important at Christmas time; the season people are, perhaps, the most generous and show the sort of Victorian family values Dickens encourages in his readership. As a story for children and a morality tale, Dickens avoids lecturing his audience by making playful use of language and by creating believable characters in a scenario that, though unlikely, is made believable through the controlled use of the first person narrator.
Dickens delivers a very serious message through the change the reader can see in the character of Scrooge. He does, however, take time to establish a lively narrative voice and set the scene through skilled use of language before detailing the change in Scrooge’s character.
The opening sentence of the novella is ‘Marley was dead, to begin with’. This is an intriguing opening sentence that the narrator then expands upon in comic fashion. By listing the evidence that supports the death of Marley, Dickens appears to show he shares the reader’s surprise at the situation. Dickens then uses repetition to highlight the fact that Marley is dead as the writer states ‘as dead as a doornail’ several times. This colloquial, idiomatic language suggests that the narrator is telling an interesting story to his or her peers rather than talking down to the audience. This helps to deliver the message of the novella in a way that is not condescending to children.
By going on to discuss and question his own use of language and use of the idiomatic “Dead as a doornail” in the next paragraph, Dickens continues the initial playful tone and shows that the novella has enough innovation to appeal to adults as well as children. This is a crucial point. Although often considered a children’s story, the improvement in Victorian social conditions was a task that could more easily be achieved, in the short term at least, by adults. This beginning sets up the tone of the novella. The narrator’s initial honesty and incredulity positions the reader to accept the extraordinary events that follow and to see the change in the character of Scrooge as being both plausible and desirable.
Section 2 - Stave 1 - Scrooge the Cold Hearted Miser • How does Dickens use non-finite verbs to show Scrooges character at the outset of the novella?
After this, an extensive list of non-finite verbs is used to describe him as, ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, and clutching, covetous old sinner!’ Dickens foreshadows a lot about Scrooge’s character in this list by not just describing him but giving the impression that the heartless characteristics are infinite and therefore don’t stop. For instance, he lends money and sets the interest rates, meaning ‘squeezing’ in the sense that he gets every last penny. His reputation of not being afraid to get the money forcefully is expressed as ‘wrenching’ and he could be said to be ‘grasping’ because he grasps his chances to get the best deal. This is followed by ‘scraping’ hinting that he’ll waste nothing, ‘clutching’ because he is self centred, keeping everything for himself and is ‘covetous’; he wants everything. Dickens readers would have responded to the last quote, ‘covetous old sinner!’, in particular because of the strong Victorian beliefs in both religion and philanthropy; England was a country of firm Christian believers which would have seen ‘sinner’ as an extreme word to use against Scrooge which is what makes the religious connotation highlight the extremities of Scrooge. The Victorian Era was also beginning to see light of new ideas to help the large part of the population in the Lower Class, including Workhouses, but were fond of giving to the poor if they had the power to; in this case, Scrooge has more than enough wealth to spare but is too “covetous” to do so. Dickens’ use of this pejorative term clearly shows his views on the duty of the rich to show a charitable side to their natures.
• How does Dickens link Scrooge’s character to the weather and why?
The next paragraph of Scrooge’s description includes another language device which compares Scrooge’s physical features to the weather. This weather symbolism is effective because it helps the reader to visualise Scrooge’s appearance. It opens with ‘the cold within him froze his own features’ implying that his own cold character caused his cold appearance. On top of this, Dickens uses words such as ‘nipped’, ‘shrivelled’ and ‘stiffened’ which altogether give a wintry theme to the description and helps compare the harsh winter weather to Scrooge’s lifeless, uncaring personality.
• What quotations show Scrooge’s attitude to other people, money and Christmas/how do they do this?
• What quotations show other people’s views of Scrooge and what is the significance?
• How do the long descriptions set the scene?
• How do other language features show the character of Scrooge (Use MITSL)?
Dickens then begins to use alliteration to help emphasise the characteristics of …show more content…
Scrooge…
The description continues to further build a negative impression of Scrooge with repetition of the word ‘no’. This is first set in motion with a parallel structure: ‘no warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him’. Dickens impresses the exaggeration of Scrooge’s wickedness using the repetition and follows it up with ‘they often came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did’ referring to ‘foul weather’ being more generous than Scrooge.
Section 3 - Staves 2, 3, 4
• In single paragraphs cover the events in these staves and how they begin to change Scrooge’s character. Remember you are still using PEEEAL!
“The Ghost of the Christmas Yet to come” is the final ghost to visit Scrooge (stave four).
The spirit firstly takes him into the city beside a ‘knot of businessmen’ who is discussing the death of a fellow businessman with little emotion. The second visit is at a pawn shop where a charwoman, laundress and undertaker are all trading in items that Scrooge recognizes as his own without showing concern for what they were doing. He is next taken to see a corpse where he refuses to uncover the veil of the body but demands to see if the death of the man is cared about by anyone, with which he sees a family who are happy with the death. The fifth visit is at the Cratchit’s house where the family tenderly mourn the death of Tiny Tim but the final and foremost visit passes his empty counting house into a dreary graveyard where he sees his own grave. At this point, Scrooge breaks down in front of the Spirit, begging and pleading; ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.’ His cries of forgiveness, full of remorse, end along with the Stave when the graveyard transformed back into his
bedroom.
Section 4 - Scrooge Changed in Stave 5
• How does Dickens link Scrooge’s character to the weather and why?
Next Dickens uses weather symbolism to build up a sense of happiness within Scrooge; ‘no fog, no mist’ and in particular ‘cold, piping for the blood to dance to’ showing the symbolism in the opposite effect to that used in Stave 1 and giving a direct comparison by using the word ‘cold’ repetitively in both Staves…
• What quotations show Scrooge’s attitude to other people, money and Christmas/how do they do this?
Similarly to Stave 1, Dickens goes on to describe Scrooge’s behaviour with people when he seeks out conversation for himself, rather than literally chasing people away, and asked a boy passing by ‘what’s today?’ to which he finds to his joy that it is in fact Christmas day. On top of this change, Scrooge opens further with an enormous act of generosity as he sends the boy to buy the prize turkey to be sent to Bob Cratchit; moreover, anonymously so as to prove he is not seeking the glory of his change and giving a more genuine effect for the reader. Scrooge is now a truly altruistic character.
• What quotations show other people’s views of Scrooge and what is the significance?
• How do other language features show the character of Scrooge (Use MITSL)?
Stave 5 shows a drastically changed Scrooge from his introduction in Stave 1 which is showed through similar language techniques by Dickens. Rather than a negative structure built at the start, Dickens builds up a feeling of excitement in the change of Scrooge to match Scrooge’s…
Dickens’ next usage of repetition and exaggeration on the new Scrooge is created using the word ‘chuckle’ effectively to rebuild the ecstatic sense for the reader…
Conclusion
Write me a top quality conclusion that has come out of the top-drawer of your brains (not your sock drawer) and links everything to the question and makes a judgement please 11z2. You know me, I like a nice conclusion. This is an important essay so do yourself a favour and check it over a couple of times too. Re-drafting is key to a good bit of work! Just think, get this done properly and, for most of you at least, no more English coursework ever - make this piece rock.
Written for children, or as a “pot-boiler”, Dickens’ novella “A Christmas Carol” is intended to deliver a message to the readership of the time…
The novella’s themes are still relevant today…
In the novella ‘A Christmas Carol’, Ebenezer Scrooge changes dramatically; the writer Charles Dickens shows this in various way using language devices, narrative voice, symbolism and other techniques.
Historical Context
• Dickens’ life.
• What life was like for the poor in Victorian London.
• Explain what …show more content…
Dickens wanted to teach his readers and why.
• Are these messages primarily aimed at children or adults?
Section 1 - Structure
• What is the significance of it being divided into “Staves” not chapters?
• What is the narrative voice like? How does this persuade the reader that Dickens’ message is relevant? (First person, use of humour, use of idioms, direct address, self referencing etc”
From the outset, Dickens’ use of language draws the reader into his morality tale. This novella carries a moral message about the power of charity, generosity and redemption and of how these qualities are particularly important at Christmas time; the season people are, perhaps, the most generous and show the sort of Victorian family values Dickens encourages in his readership. As a story for children and a morality tale, Dickens avoids lecturing his audience by making playful use of language and by creating believable characters in a scenario that, though unlikely, is made believable through the controlled use of the first person narrator.
Dickens delivers a very serious message through the change the reader can see in the character of Scrooge. He does, however, take time to establish a lively narrative voice and set the scene through skilled use of language before detailing the change in Scrooge’s character.
The opening sentence of the novella is ‘Marley was dead, to begin with’. This is an intriguing opening sentence that the narrator then expands upon in comic fashion. By listing the evidence that supports the death of Marley, Dickens appears to show he shares the reader’s surprise at the situation. Dickens then uses repetition to highlight the fact that Marley is dead as the writer states ‘as dead as a doornail’ several times. This colloquial, idiomatic language suggests that the narrator is telling an interesting story to his or her peers rather than talking down to the audience. This helps to deliver the message of the novella in a way that is not condescending to children.
By going on to discuss and question his own use of language and use of the idiomatic “Dead as a doornail” in the next paragraph, Dickens continues the initial playful tone and shows that the novella has enough innovation to appeal to adults as well as children. This is a crucial point. Although often considered a children’s story, the improvement in Victorian social conditions was a task that could more easily be achieved, in the short term at least, by adults. This beginning sets up the tone of the novella. The narrator’s initial honesty and incredulity positions the reader to accept the extraordinary events that follow and to see the change in the character of Scrooge as being both plausible and desirable.
Section 2 - Stave 1 - Scrooge the Cold Hearted Miser • How does Dickens use non-finite verbs to show Scrooges character at the outset of the novella?
After this, an extensive list of non-finite verbs is used to describe him as, ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, and clutching, covetous old sinner!’ Dickens foreshadows a lot about Scrooge’s character in this list by not just describing him but giving the impression that the heartless characteristics are infinite and therefore don’t stop. For instance, he lends money and sets the interest rates, meaning ‘squeezing’ in the sense that he gets every last penny. His reputation of not being afraid to get the money forcefully is expressed as ‘wrenching’ and he could be said to be ‘grasping’ because he grasps his chances to get the best deal. This is followed by ‘scraping’ hinting that he’ll waste nothing, ‘clutching’ because he is self centred, keeping everything for himself and is ‘covetous’; he wants everything. Dickens readers would have responded to the last quote, ‘covetous old sinner!’, in particular because of the strong Victorian beliefs in both religion and philanthropy; England was a country of firm Christian believers which would have seen ‘sinner’ as an extreme word to use against Scrooge which is what makes the religious connotation highlight the extremities of Scrooge. The Victorian Era was also beginning to see light of new ideas to help the large part of the population in the Lower Class, including Workhouses, but were fond of giving to the poor if they had the power to; in this case, Scrooge has more than enough wealth to spare but is too “covetous” to do so. Dickens’ use of this pejorative term clearly shows his views on the duty of the rich to show a charitable side to their natures.
• How does Dickens link Scrooge’s character to the weather and why?
The next paragraph of Scrooge’s description includes another language device which compares Scrooge’s physical features to the weather. This weather symbolism is effective because it helps the reader to visualise Scrooge’s appearance. It opens with ‘the cold within him froze his own features’ implying that his own cold character caused his cold appearance. On top of this, Dickens uses words such as ‘nipped’, ‘shrivelled’ and ‘stiffened’ which altogether give a wintry theme to the description and helps compare the harsh winter weather to Scrooge’s lifeless, uncaring personality.
• What quotations show Scrooge’s attitude to other people, money and Christmas/how do they do this?
• What quotations show other people’s views of Scrooge and what is the significance?
• How do the long descriptions set the scene?
• How do other language features show the character of Scrooge (Use MITSL)?
Dickens then begins to use alliteration to help emphasise the characteristics of …show more content…
Scrooge…
The description continues to further build a negative impression of Scrooge with repetition of the word ‘no’. This is first set in motion with a parallel structure: ‘no warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him’. Dickens impresses the exaggeration of Scrooge’s wickedness using the repetition and follows it up with ‘they often came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did’ referring to ‘foul weather’ being more generous than Scrooge.
Section 3 - Staves 2, 3, 4
• In single paragraphs cover the events in these staves and how they begin to change Scrooge’s character. Remember you are still using PEEEAL!
“The Ghost of the Christmas Yet to come” is the final ghost to visit Scrooge (stave four).
The spirit firstly takes him into the city beside a ‘knot of businessmen’ who is discussing the death of a fellow businessman with little emotion. The second visit is at a pawn shop where a charwoman, laundress and undertaker are all trading in items that Scrooge recognizes as his own without showing concern for what they were doing. He is next taken to see a corpse where he refuses to uncover the veil of the body but demands to see if the death of the man is cared about by anyone, with which he sees a family who are happy with the death. The fifth visit is at the Cratchit’s house where the family tenderly mourn the death of Tiny Tim but the final and foremost visit passes his empty counting house into a dreary graveyard where he sees his own grave. At this point, Scrooge breaks down in front of the Spirit, begging and pleading; ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.’ His cries of forgiveness, full of remorse, end along with the Stave when the graveyard transformed back into his
bedroom.
Section 4 - Scrooge Changed in Stave 5
• How does Dickens link Scrooge’s character to the weather and why?
Next Dickens uses weather symbolism to build up a sense of happiness within Scrooge; ‘no fog, no mist’ and in particular ‘cold, piping for the blood to dance to’ showing the symbolism in the opposite effect to that used in Stave 1 and giving a direct comparison by using the word ‘cold’ repetitively in both Staves…
• What quotations show Scrooge’s attitude to other people, money and Christmas/how do they do this?
Similarly to Stave 1, Dickens goes on to describe Scrooge’s behaviour with people when he seeks out conversation for himself, rather than literally chasing people away, and asked a boy passing by ‘what’s today?’ to which he finds to his joy that it is in fact Christmas day. On top of this change, Scrooge opens further with an enormous act of generosity as he sends the boy to buy the prize turkey to be sent to Bob Cratchit; moreover, anonymously so as to prove he is not seeking the glory of his change and giving a more genuine effect for the reader. Scrooge is now a truly altruistic character.
• What quotations show other people’s views of Scrooge and what is the significance?
• How do other language features show the character of Scrooge (Use MITSL)?
Stave 5 shows a drastically changed Scrooge from his introduction in Stave 1 which is showed through similar language techniques by Dickens. Rather than a negative structure built at the start, Dickens builds up a feeling of excitement in the change of Scrooge to match Scrooge’s…
Dickens’ next usage of repetition and exaggeration on the new Scrooge is created using the word ‘chuckle’ effectively to rebuild the ecstatic sense for the reader…
Conclusion
Write me a top quality conclusion that has come out of the top-drawer of your brains (not your sock drawer) and links everything to the question and makes a judgement please 11z2. You know me, I like a nice conclusion. This is an important essay so do yourself a favour and check it over a couple of times too. Re-drafting is key to a good bit of work! Just think, get this done properly and, for most of you at least, no more English coursework ever - make this piece rock.