A Christmas Carol
By Aleena Tayub
Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens.
Dickens' good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived due to
his father (the inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in 'David Copperfield')
being imprisoned for debt. It resulted in Dickens having to work in a factory that led
him to write based on his own experiences in poverty and the social inequalities he
witnessed first-hand. Dickens was one of the most influential and important writers of
the 19th century. His famous work included Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of
Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. At the time of publication, there were nine stage plays
based on the novel. Although, his readers at the time were unaware that much of
Dickens' work was semi-autobiographical and, as a result, he was able to voice his view
on extreme poverty and the ignorant upper classes.
A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer
Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption in one night. Scrooge, for
most of the play, embodies the selfishness and indifference to the poor. Social injustice
is seen as a recurring theme in 'A Christmas Carol' where he portrays his view of the
Poor Law Amendment and workhouses in his novella. The story was an instant success,
selling over six thousand copies in one week. The tale became one of the most popular
and enduring Christmas stories of all time.
The list of three in the phrase ‘cold, bleak, biting’ is used to describe the weather and
may suggest that Scrooge is a cold-hearted character. As well as this, the word ‘foggy’
shows that you cannot see outside and things are unclear and represents Scrooge's state
of mind. He is lost and can not see very far forward which shows he is morally lost and
can not see a life away from his work. It could also symbolise how alone he is. The ‘dark’
may be symbolic of Scrooge's ways. The weather is dark and there is no light in the
streets. I could represent an ominous event looming soon and this is made more
apparent in the quote where nature is described as ‘brewing on a large scale.’ When
something is ‘brewing’ it means it is getting stronger. In this case, it suggests something
significant will soon occur as the weather becomes increasingly unclear and dark.
In this extract, Scrooge’s nephew Fred visits Scrooge. From the beginning of the extract
in the quote ‘God save you!’, we begin to see Fred’s warm character and we also know
he says this in a ‘cheerful voice’. This contrasts to Scrooge’s attitude to Christmas as he
responds with ‘Bah’ ‘Humbug’. We see happiness even in the description of his physical
appearance as his eyes are described as ‘sparkling’ despite being coldly welcomed by
his uncle and walking in cold, biting weather. We see that Scrooge believes poor people
have no ‘right’ to be merry and this demonstrates Scrooge’s view on the lower classes.
He believes not only are they not able to be happy but they have no ‘right’ to. His
nephew challenges Scrooge’s view by asking him what ‘right’ he has to be ‘morose’
By Aleena Tayub
Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens.
Dickens' good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived due to
his father (the inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in 'David Copperfield')
being imprisoned for debt. It resulted in Dickens having to work in a factory that led
him to write based on his own experiences in poverty and the social inequalities he
witnessed first-hand. Dickens was one of the most influential and important writers of
the 19th century. His famous work included Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of
Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. At the time of publication, there were nine stage plays
based on the novel. Although, his readers at the time were unaware that much of
Dickens' work was semi-autobiographical and, as a result, he was able to voice his view
on extreme poverty and the ignorant upper classes.
A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer
Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption in one night. Scrooge, for
most of the play, embodies the selfishness and indifference to the poor. Social injustice
is seen as a recurring theme in 'A Christmas Carol' where he portrays his view of the
Poor Law Amendment and workhouses in his novella. The story was an instant success,
selling over six thousand copies in one week. The tale became one of the most popular
and enduring Christmas stories of all time.
The list of three in the phrase ‘cold, bleak, biting’ is used to describe the weather and
may suggest that Scrooge is a cold-hearted character. As well as this, the word ‘foggy’
shows that you cannot see outside and things are unclear and represents Scrooge's state
of mind. He is lost and can not see very far forward which shows he is morally lost and
can not see a life away from his work. It could also symbolise how alone he is. The ‘dark’
may be symbolic of Scrooge's ways. The weather is dark and there is no light in the
streets. I could represent an ominous event looming soon and this is made more
apparent in the quote where nature is described as ‘brewing on a large scale.’ When
something is ‘brewing’ it means it is getting stronger. In this case, it suggests something
significant will soon occur as the weather becomes increasingly unclear and dark.
In this extract, Scrooge’s nephew Fred visits Scrooge. From the beginning of the extract
in the quote ‘God save you!’, we begin to see Fred’s warm character and we also know
he says this in a ‘cheerful voice’. This contrasts to Scrooge’s attitude to Christmas as he
responds with ‘Bah’ ‘Humbug’. We see happiness even in the description of his physical
appearance as his eyes are described as ‘sparkling’ despite being coldly welcomed by
his uncle and walking in cold, biting weather. We see that Scrooge believes poor people
have no ‘right’ to be merry and this demonstrates Scrooge’s view on the lower classes.
He believes not only are they not able to be happy but they have no ‘right’ to. His
nephew challenges Scrooge’s view by asking him what ‘right’ he has to be ‘morose’
