Charles Dickens and His Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

Within Dickens 19th century novel Dickens presents Scrooge as a fearful character in which he causes him to try and change his negative views on society to make his outsider attitudes change to characters that wants to be included. Within stave 4, the “spectre” is portrayed as “shrouded” and “gravely”. The adverbial nouns imply that this spectre has the physical characteristics of the grim reaper, whilst metaphorically implying that Scrooge's fate is sealed, and his time is up which denotes how the grim reaper is the keeper of death. The noun “gloom” gives a very ominous feeling as if the spirit is casting darkness and sadness everywhere in which is shown when the narrator tells the reader after each of Scrooge’s speeches “he cried” this harmonized with the adverb “gravely” emphasises the importance of the spirit’s arrival, to show how the ghost may be the most significant spectre to Scrooges redemption with as he is trying to not be afraid but that is what the ghost causes. The semantic field of “gloom” gives the impression that all hope is lost if Scrooge does not change his ways in which the pace of this stave is quite slow and monotone but as the stave progresses the pace picks up which may symbolise the way Scrooge’s negative attitudes are changing, and he is improving his ways to show the Victorian audience how it is possible to change even past the age Scrooge is shown to be. Scrooge is so frightened that his “legs trembled”, which shows he is terrified of what the future might hold. Dickens may have done this to shadow his dark past, how in 1924 he was forced to work in a blacking factory this may be where his inspiration came from for the “gravely” presence.

Moreover, the third ghost takes Scrooge on a journey of people who would benefit from his death. At this point in the novella, it is clear that Scrooge’s traits change as he revaluates his priorities. However, it also shows the unimportance of being rich when there are so many poor people in society without basic necessities as when Scrooges see the Cratchit family they are happy in which the repetition of “pudding” shows how grateful they are about the “pudding”, this could also be implying how they are grateful to be together at Christmas as the noun “pudding” undertones happiness and joy. Dickens brings takes scrooge on a journey to witness the poor as he is depicted as a rich individual, Dickens does this to draw the reader’s attention to the divide between rich and poor in Victorian society as A Christmas Carol was made through moral principles. Scrooge then realises that Tiny Tim and the Cratchits are particularly important people in his life and he is afraid what may happen to Tiny Tim in which the Ghost of Christmas Present rhetorically asks Scrooge “Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?’” Scrooge fears the future due to how the ghost does not reply and declares that he will “honour” the “lessons” he has been taught by all of his spectres. This is suggesting that Scrooge may only be changing over the fear of himself rather than for the good of society. This leads the reader to think that Scrooge has not yet understood the ghost’s intentions and his redemption is not yet complete.

Furthermore, within stave 4 Scrooge is constantly trying to take control of the situation and try to get the Ghost to talk, which shows that he has not totally been redeemed. He explains that he “fears” the Ghost of Christmas yet to come, ”more than any spectre I have seen” In which before this Dickens on vaguely describes the final spectre because Scrooge's future is still unknown like the Spectre. However, Scrooge may fear this spectre “more than any spectre” he has seen because he realises, he will die eventually whether that be alone or with family and friends to mourn over him. This is highlighted when the spectre shows Scrooge a ‘great fat man with a monstrous chin’ with other businessmen talking about the death of an unknown man in which the men only go to the funeral because ‘lunch is provided’ this shows the unrespectful manner of the upper-classmen in society. Dickens may have kept the man who had died so that Scrooge can related to the situation and think about himself in that situation if he continues which sparks a change or, Dickens could have done it to so the reader could relate themselves to it as Dickens wrote a Christmas Carol specifically for men in the upper class, as this would have been the only people who could really read this.

Finally, By the end of the novel, scrooge fears the feeling of being alone which is a massive change from the start when he “wished to be left alone” in which Dickens initially constructs Scrooges as misanthropic, he does this by the simile “ as solitary as an oyster” which epitomises the protagonist as someone who craves seclusion. However, oysters contain pearls. This positively foreshadows Scrooge's transformation in stave 5, in which Scrooge declares he “will live in the Past, the Present and the Future!” in which shows Scrooge's acknowledgement of the ghosts instead of ignoring them. Scrooge then goes on to say the “spirits of all Three shall strive within me” the verb “strive” highlights the impact that the ghosts have had on him and will lead him to be a better man, the man that Dickens wishes were portrayed in the men of the 19th century. Dickens makes Scrooge no longer fear the spirits but chooses for him to embrace their teachings in which at the end we see Scrooge correct the wrongs which he can. The most significant change we see in Scrooge is when he “whispered in his ear” to the Gentleman and offers money to the charity, the verb “whispered” is significant because Dickens is trying to teach the readers that the amount of money offered is not important, it is important to help people even if it is an act of kindness. Scrooge then declares “not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it” this shows the theme of redemption as Scrooge now understands the value of money and the good it will do for the lower class. This links to the fear that was faced by the ghost of Christmas present as when scrooge states “if they would rather die, they better do it and decrease the surplus population” in which is what Thomas Malthus’ idea and he was the antithesis of Dicken as he believed that charities should help the poor which was set up by philanthropists and the churches, the ghost seems to play with his words in order to empathise how the past will impact the future or scrooges present as scrooge should avoid “ignorance and want”.