A Christmas Carol Revision Guide
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Transcript of A Christmas Carol Revision Guide
11X2
Revision
Guide
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born on Friday 7th
February 1812, in 1 mile end Terrance, Land-port, Portsmouth
England. Charles was only 12 years old when his father went to prison for getting himself into debt. But after
Charles father went into prison, Charles has to work in a boot factory and he had to carry on working in the
factory, because of his mother wouldn’t let him stop working at the boot factory. But Charles never forgave
her for making him carry on working at the factory.
Charles Dickens had found lovely women called Catherine Dickens and they got married on 2nd
April 1836 but
got separated in the year 1858. But by then Catherine and Charles has had 10 children together and the
children’s names are called Charles culliford Boz Dickens, Mary Dickens, Kate Macready Dickens, Walter Landor
Dickens, Francis Jeffery Dickens, Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens, Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens, Henry
Fielding Dickens, Dora Annie Dickens and Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens.
Charles Dickens loved where he used to live, because he would go for a walk around the London Streets 10 or
20 miles, so Charles dickens would get some lovely fresh air. Also one of dickens Christmas carol books was
one of the famous book that Charles dickens has had wrote and the Christmas carol being one of the joyful,
warmth and happiness to all the people who loved reading and who enjoys Christmas. Charles loved writing
about novels novellas. But the Christmas carol was published 27 years before Charles Dickens died on
Thursday 9th June 1870, dickens died of having a stroke.
When Charles Dickens was alive he got more than one influence from how everyone celebrated Christmas,
apart from one human being who didn’t like Christmas. Christmas became more and more popular all because
of Christmas stories and Christmas carols, by Charles dickens. He wrote the Christmas stories and Christmas
carols in 1843, to make the human beings read Charles dickens Christmas stories and Christmas carols
Dickens would like to describe himself as a great human being, because he is forgiving, charitable, pleasant
time and he also believes in people who need help on Christmas day. Also Charles doesn’t like anyone to be
sad or lonely on Christmas, because it is all about happiness and the wonderful the people have on Christmas
day spending time with their families and friends. At Christmas Charles likes to celebrate Christmas, because
he loved to make Christmas last the full day by doing dancing, playing games and general festivities and it also
made all of the other human beings feel the warmth with their family and his family.
Before Charles died in 1870 Charles showed the difference between rich and poor people, because Charles
wanted to show the human beings what was the difference between rich and poor. The difference between
rich and poor is that Charles dickens showed was that the rich people may be able to buy their families more
present for them but it’s not all about the money it’s about spending time with families and friends. Poor
people can also be happy even if they are not rich, because they have got families and friends to spend time
with and that is what they all need at Christmas they don’t want to be alone.
When Charles Dickens died from a stroke, Dickens’ Christmas Carol book had got adapted in to a ballet by the
Disney and also was made in to a film for any human being could watch and modern versions as well. Also
Charles Dickens was linked up with Christmas after he died in 1870.
The homes of the upper and middle class are very close to unbelievable poverty and filth.
Rich and poor are thrown together in the crowded city.
Street sweepers try to keep the streets clean of manure the results of thousands of horse drawn vehicles.
The city’s thousands of chimney pots are belching coal smoke resulting in soot which settles everywhere.
In many parts of the city raw sewage flows in gutters that are emptied into the themes.
Street vendors selling their wares add to the street noises.
Pick-pockets prostitute’s drunks and beggars are on every street corner.
Health hygiene and disease
Personal cleanliness was not a big priority nor was clean laundry. In close crowded rooms the smell of unwashed body’s was very strong.
Until the late 1800s people in London were drinking water from the Thames River where sewerage went.
Several outbreaks of cholera in the mid-19th century along with great stink of 1858 when the stretch of the themes caused parliament to stop meant people
demanded a change.
The Victorians realised there must be a link between drinking water tainted with sewage and the amount of diseases and ill people.
In the streets
At night the major streets were lit with very faint gas lamps. Smaller side streets were often not lit at all. Inside houses candles or oil lamps were used to try
and provide light but it was always very dark and shady.
By 1900, 3000 horse-drawn buses were carrying 500 million passengers a year. A traffic count in Cheapside and London Bridge in 1850 showed a thousand
vehicles an hour passing through these areas during the day.
All of this added up to an incredible amount of manure which had to be removed from the streets. In wet weather straw was scattered in walkways,
storefronts, and in carriages to try to soak up the mud, urine and manure.
Cattle (farm animals) were led through the streets of London until the mid-19th century.
The poor
In Victorian England, poor people usually did not get much help. Even young children, sick people, and the elderly went without assistance from the
government or charities.
If you were poor, out-of-work Londoner during this time, these were your options:
1. Beg on the street
2. Go to a workhouse
3. Be thrown into prison
Workhouses were institutions where people were put to work in exchange for food and shelter.
People in workhouses often:
1. Had little or no heat
2. Uses rags for blankets
3. Did not get nearly enough food
4. Were severely overworked and even beaten
Victorian London was the most spectacular city in the world. The industrial revolution brought both benefits and negative consequences to London.
London’s population grew very fast in the 1800 the population of London was around 1 million but by 1880 there were 4.5 million people.
Fashionable areas like regent and oxford streets were growing in west London and new docks for trade were being built in east London. A brand new railway
was built in the 1830 which had a huge impact on the amount of people coming into London.
Scrooge wakes up and decides to wait for the first ghost that is said to arrive
at 1o’clock. At 1 o’clock, the curtains around scrooge’s bed are blown aside
by a strange spectre that informs him that he’s the ghost of Christmas past,
and then demanding he gets up and walk with him. The pair exit through the
window.
The ghost takes scrooge to his old school where he sees himself alone at
Christmas, and begins to see more like this, with him growing older until a
little girl, his sister Fan, runs in and announces she is here to pick scrooge
up. When young scrooge hugs his sister, the old scrooge tells the ghost his
sister died many years ago and is the mother of his nephew, Fred.
The ghost then shows him at a Christmas party held by his old boss Fezziwig
to whom scrooge is an apprentice. The ghost then shows scrooge with his
girlfriend, Belle, who is telling scrooge she is ending their relationship as
scrooge is now too obsessed with money to have time for anyone else.
Scrooge the sees a more recent Christmas where a middle aged Belle is
talking about scrooge with her husband. At this point scrooge regrets not
settling down to have a family claiming he is “in the winter of his life”.
When scrooge can no longer bear the visions, he begs the ghost to take him
back. Scrooge seizes the ghost's hat and pulls it firmly over top of the
ghosts head, dimming the light. As the inextinguishable, luminous rays
flood downward onto the ground, Scrooge finds himself zipped back in
his bedroom, where he stumbles to bed yet again and falls asleep
immediately.
In stave 2, scrooge learns he
has been alone for the
majority of his life. He sees
this at school when he sees
himself alone, and he also
finds that his greed and
obsession with money caused
him to lose his family and
friends. When he sees belle
with her family, he claims he
is “in the winter of his life”
and is now “quite alone in
this world”.
1) WHAT MIGHT SCROOGE REALISE WHEN HE SEES HIMSELF AT FEZZIWIG’S CHRISTMAS PARTY?
2) WHAT DOES SCROOGE MEAN WHEN HE SAYS HE IS “IN THE WINTER OF HIS LIFE”?
3) WHY DOES BELLE DECIDE TO END HER RELATIONSHIP WITH SCROOGE?
4) HOW DOES SCROOGE FEEL WHEN HE SEES A MIDDLE-AGED BELLE WITH A FAMILY?
5) WRITE OUT THE EVENTS OF THE STAVE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, AND HOW EACH PART AFFECTS SCROOGE
AND MAKES HIM DECIDE TO CHANGE.
Stave 3
In Stave 3 of ‘A Christmas Carol’ Scrooge wakes up just before one
o’clock and waits for the ghost of Christmas present to arrive, after
nothing happens Scrooge notices that there is a light shining under
the door, he opens the door and see a giant sitting on a throne of food
the ghost takes Scrooge to see people going to church and the ghost
blesses them, they then go and see the Cratchit family celebrating
Christmas Scrooge see them enjoying Christmas even though they do
not have much, while there he also sees Tiny Tim and feels sorry him
because he is a cripple. The ghost then takes Scrooge to see his
nephew Fred and his friends celebrating Christmas, he gets excited
and wants to stay and take part in the games they are playing but the
ghost makes him leave. The ghost then takes Scrooge to a bleak moor
and a solitary lighthouse and shows him that even the people there
are celebrating Christmas. The ghost now changes into a slightly
darker being by showing Scrooge to poor starving children called
Ignorance and Want who are the product of man.
How does Scrooge change
during Stave 3?
Scrooge becomes
more festive.
Scrooge becomes
more aware of what
he says and how it is
not always right.
During Stave 3 Scrooge realises that;
He can change the future by what he does in the present
e.g. Saving Tiny Tim by helping the Cratchits with money.
He should celebrate Christmas because everyone does.
He should celebrate Christmas because it makes people
happy because they can spend time with their families.
In this Stave, you see the final ghost visiting Scrooge before he changes all his personality on Christmas day.
These are the events you see in this Stave 4:
After the events with The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come “Slowly,
gravely, silently approached”.
“It was shrouded in a deep black garmet, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing
of it visible, save one outstretched hand”.
“They scarcely seemed to enter the City”. Two business men are seen talking about a funeral. “It’s
likely to be a very cheap funeral”. Scrooge is unaware about them talking about his funeral. “for upon
my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it”.
Scrooge and the Ghost went to old Joe’s Pawn Shop. You see Mrs Dilber, Old Joe and another woman
talking about the stuff they stole from Late Scrooge and his personality “he’d have had somebody to
look after him when he was struck with Death”. Scrooge is horrified and he tells the Spirit “I see, I
see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way now. Merciful heaven,
what it is?”
As Scrooge said this, “He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed”. He wasn’t fully aware about
him being in his own room whilst looking at his dead body. “A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell
straight upon the bed; and on it, plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body
of this man”. “Spirit” “this is a fearful place. In leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson”. After this,
Scrooge wishes to see “any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man’s death”.
Scrooge’s wish comes true however it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. Emotion was shown but the
family seemed a bit happy about the death. A mother and her children were anxiously waiting for her
husband to return home. The family didn’t own a lot of money and they were in debt to Scrooge on the
house they lived in. When they found out that he was dead, they felt happy because they had more
time until they had to pay the money. The woman “prayed forgiveness” “and was sorry; but the first
was the emotion of her heart”.
After this, Scrooge said he wanted to see “some tenderness connected with a death”. As he did he
saw the Cratchit family, it showed how they are after the death of Tiny Tim. “My little, little child!”
cried Bob. He broke down all at once.
Scrooge felt that it was almost the end of his visit with the ghost. “Tell me what man that was whom
we saw lying dead?” Then they entered a churchyard and the spirit pointed to a certain grave with
the text of: EBENEZER SCROOGE. When Scrooge noticed it having his name, he was quite surprised.
The spirit had no movement and the stave ends with Scrooge promising how he won’t “shut out the
lessons” that the three spirits have taught him and the Phantom shrinking down into a bedpost.
Key events:
1. Scrooge finds himself back in his room after
seeing the ghost of Christmas past feeling
relieved that he is still alive.
2. Scrooge asks a boy outside his window what
day it is and then asks him to buy the prize
turkey.
3. Scrooge decides to send the Cratchits the
turkey as an apology as to how he has
treated Bob Cratchit.
4. Scrooge changed into his best clothes and
went to his nephew’s house for Christmas
dinner.
5. Scrooge went back to work the next morning
and gave Bob Cratchit a pay rise.
6. Scrooge becomes like a second father to Tiny
Tim.
“They are here, I
am here.”
“Not the little
prize turkey; the
big one?”
“I’ll send it to
Bob Cratchits.”
“He turned his
steps towards
his nephews
house .”
“wonderful
party,
wonderful
games,
wonderful
unanimity,
won-der-ful
happiness.”
“I’ll raise your
salary, and
endeavour to
assist your
struggling family.”
“he did it all,
and infinitely
more; and to
Tiny Tim he
became a
second
father.”
Stave five – The end of it, shows how Scrooge has changed for
the better. He, for the first time, spends money on the massive
prize turkey for the Cratchits. He also socialises with Fred, his
nephew, and Fred’s friends. At the end of the novella Scrooge
becomes like a second father to Tiny Tim and he lives because
of Scrooges change of heart.
Stave one:
Quotes- “And even
Scrooge was not so
dreadfully cut up by the
sad event.”
Scrooge doesn’t seem
sad or bothered about
his partner in business
dying. ‘Scrooge never
painted out Marley’s
name’.
This shows that
Scrooge does care in a
way that Marley’s dead
because he has still
kept his name on the
plank, or this could be
that he could not be
‘A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching,
covetous old spinner!’
‘The cold within him froze his
old features, nipped his pointed
nose, shrivelled his cheek,
stiffened his gait; made his eyes
red, his thin lips blue; and spoke
out shrewdly in his grating voice.’
These small details about
Scrooges’ features already
tell us that Scrooge is a
cold mean person on the
inside and on the outside.
‘Even the blind man’s dogs
appeared to know him.’
This shows that everybody is
scared/ frightened of Scrooge;
even blind men’s dogs would
tug their owners into doorways
and up courts.
‘The clerk’s fire was
so very much
smaller that it
looked like one
coal.’ ‘Merry Christmas! What right
have you to be merry? What
reason have you to be merry?
You’re poor enough?’
‘When I live in such a
world of fools as this?
Merry Christmas! Out
upon Merry Christmas!
What’s Christmas time to
you but a time for paying
bills without money, a
time for finding yourself
a year older.
“Bah!” said Scrooge.
“Humbug!”
Ebenezer Scrooge In the end… At the end of the novel Scrooge the evil, selfish, greedy, grumpy old man that hates Christmas and
spends all his life dedicated to his work then becomes the perfect consumer. A thoughtful, caring,
happy gentleman, who has time for everyone, knows when work and fun are different things. He
also realises the joy in Christmas and how lovely it is to give and take with the surrounding of
happy people! Scrooge is a miserable owner of a London counting-house, a nineteenth century term for an
accountant's office.
The lesson that the ghosts teach scrooge from taking him through his past definitely directed him
to realise the kind of horrible person he was and why he was so lonely. It helped him top change
for the better in many ways.
He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and
patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of
houses, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure
•How shall I ever understand this world? There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty, and
yet, there is nothing it condemns with such severity as the pursuit of wealth.
•Fifteen shillings a week, a wife and five children... and he still talks of a Merry Christmas!
•Go, and redeem some other promising young creature, but leave me to keep Christmas in my
own way.
•[to Bob Cratchit] Well, my friend, I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm simply not going to
stand this sort of thing any longer. Which leaves me no choice, but to raise your salary.
"The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." Scrooge
said he knew it. And he sobbed
This is the section which is him realising that he has been lonely from a young age because of the ways in which he’s
acted in the past- like when the bell rings for Christmas and all the kids run out of the school all excited but scrooge
stays behind to do more work.
The chain explains
about all the bad stuff
that Marley did and
too make sure Scrooge
doesn’t make the
same mistakes
Quotes
“I wear the chain I forged in life! I
made it link by link and yard by
yard! I gartered it on of my own
free will and by my own free will,
I wore it!”
“Look to see me no more. But
look here, that you may
remember for your own sake
what has passed between us!”
“Ah! You do not know the weight
and length of strong chain you
bear yourself! It was as full and
as long as this seven Christmas
eves ago and you have laboured
on it since. Ah, it is a ponderous
chain!”
“BUSINESS? Mankind was my
business! Their common welfare
was my business! And it is at this
time of the rolling year that I
suffer most!”
“It is required of every man that
the spirit within him should walk
abroad among his fellow men! If
it goes not forth in life, it is
condemned to do so after death!
It is doomed to wander through
the world! Oh, woe is me! And
witness what it cannot share but
MIGHT HAVE SHARED on Earth
and turned to happiness!”
“In life, my spirit never rose
beyond the limits of our money-
changing holes! Now I am
doomed to wander without rest
or peace, incessant torture and
remorse!”
“They seek to interfere for good
in human matters, and have lost
their power forever”
Key Words!
Regret
Message
Warning
Marley is saying that he
didn’t look after people
he just cared about
money and he’s saying
that scrooge shouldn’t
make the same
mistakes!
If you don’t do anything
good in life you don’t
go anywhere after life!
Quotes
“it was a strange figure” this is describing how the
ghost looks in the novella
“Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the
grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching,
grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”
This is showing how cruel scrooge was
"every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas'
on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding,
and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.
He should!" this is showing how much scrooge
dislikes Christmas and thinks that people who
celebrate it are stupid
“your lip is trembling” this showing that scrooge is
scared and starting to cry
Key words
Memories
Regret
Change
Denial
History
light
Events
Left alone as a young child at school
Breaking up with belle
Fezzyiwig’s Christmas party
Belle’s happily married
Key words:
Plump Alarming
Fun Glorious
Relaxed Majestic
Hale Giant
Hearty fellow Honest
Ingenious Jolly
Well-met Harsh
Appearance of the Ghost of
Christmas present:
The Ghost of Christmas
present is a plump man that
wears a green robe, he holds
a glowing torch, wears a
holly crown and he has an
orange beard.
He eats loads and drinks
loads and laughs too. He is
the only ghost who is jolly
and always ready to have a
blast.
Events (where he takes him):
To the Crachit's house
Street where the ghost blessed
stranger’s food
Nephew’s house
The lighthouse
Miners shack
The ship
Quotes:
‘’there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch, in
shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its
light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door’’
‘’Come in. exclaimed the Ghost. Come in, and know me better,
man.’’
‘’I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,' said the Spirit. `Look upon
me.’’
‘’You have never seen the like of me before.' exclaimed the Spirit’’
‘’More than eighteen hundred,' said the Ghost. A tremendous family
to provide for.' muttered Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Present
rose.’’
‘’Touch my robe.’’
‘’Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkeys, geese, game, poultry,
brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and
punch, all vanished instantly’’
‘’There are some upon this earth of yours,' returned the Spirit,' who
lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-
will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as
strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived.
Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.’’
C
H
A
R
A
T
E
R
S
The phantom does not
appear to change during
the chapter, he stays
mysterious and dark
throughout the whole
chapter.
The phantom presented for the first time as slow, silent, dark, gloomy, and mysterious, he represents the future. He is fearful. He represents death and
he looks like the grim reaper. The ghost doesn’t show his face and only
shows one arm when he points.
“The phantom
slowly, gravely,
silently
approached.”
“It seemed to
scatter gloom and
misery.”
“Spirit neither
spoke nor moved.”
“Solemn shape.”
“Scrooge feared
the silent shape.”
“phantom glided”
Events
shows him business men talking about
scrooges death
people selling scrooge’s stuff
shows scrooge’s dead body laying un kept
and un cared for.
Shows scrooge the Cratchits after Tiny Tim
had died.
Shows scrooge his grave.
About Bob
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's clerk, a he
is a kind, mild, and very poor man
with a large family. Though treated
harshly by his boss, Cratchit remains
a humble and dedicated employee.
He is also a religious person and he
takes Tiny Tim to the church every
Sunday and that is there time
together.
Key words
Poor
Hardworking
Responsible
Kind
Loving
Tiny Tim
Joyful
Positive
Caring
Wants best for his family
Quotes
“Yes, sir. I'm sure I'm very sorry, sir, to
cause you such an inconvenience. It's the
family more than me, sir. They put their
hearts into Christmas as it were, sir.”
“As good as gold”-shows how much he
enjoys Tiny Tim’s company when they go
out to church
“A merry Christmas to us all, my dears.
God bless us.”- shows that he is religious
“These held the hot stuff form the jug,
however, as well as golden goblets would
have done.”-shows that the Cratchits are
poor but that doesn’t bother them.
“I am very sorry, sir” said Bob “I am behind
my time”-shows that he is late as he
wanted to spend as much time with the
family as Christmas is only once a year.
“Mr Scrooge!” said Bob. “I’ll give you Mr
Scrooge, the founder of the feast”-he gives
scrooge the credit for the feast even
though he is nasty to him at least he has
given him a job.
Tiny Tim is the youngest of all the Cratchits.
Martha Cratchit, the eldest daughter, who works as an apprentice at a milliner's.
Tiny Tim was crippled from birth
Timothy Cratchit was his full name, Tiny Tim was just a nickname for him.
Tiny Tim is known for the statement, “God bless us, every one!”
Martha Cratchit- Bob's oldest daughter, who works in a milliner's shop. A milliner is a
person who designs, produces, and sells hats.
Peter Cratchit - Bob's oldest son, who inherits his father's stiff-collared shirt for
Christmas
Bob Cratchit - Scrooge's clerk, a kind, mild, and very poor man with a large family.
Though treated harshly by his boss, Cratchit remains a humble and dedicated employee.
The Cratchits are a poor family
They live in a really small house
“ Martha didn’t like to see him disappointed”
They are a religious family
A few facts about Tiny Tim and the other Cratchits
FRED
TH
EMES
Christmas
Quotes:
“Christmas a humbug, uncle!” –Scrooge’s nephew, Fred.
“Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry?” –Scrooge
says to Fred.
“I don’t make myself merry at Christmas, and I can’t afford to
make idle people merry” – Scrooge says to the charity workers
when they ask for money.
“You’ll want all day tomorrow I suppose?”
“It’s not convenient…and it’s not fair” –Scrooge says to his
Clerk (Bob Cratchit) when he asks for Christmas day off work.
“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-firth of
December!” – Scrooge says to Bob, showing that he doesn’t like
Christmas.
“Mrs Fezziwig…shaking everyone’s hands…wished him or her a
Merry Christmas”- The ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge
how other people celebrate Christmas.
“Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table
with the handle of his knife and feebly cried Hurrah!”- The
ghost of Christmas present shows Christmas at the Cratchit’s
house and how they celebrate it, and how different they are to
Scrooge on Christmas, all spending it together happily even
though they can’t really afford it.
“A merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man
whatever he is!”-Scrooge’s nephew says about scrooge when
he sees them having their Christmas party.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart” – After all the 3 ghosts
have visited, his new views on Christmas.
“A merry Christmas to everybody! A Happy New Year to all the
world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”- At the end of the novella on
Christmas day he shouts out the window to everybody.
Scrooge hates Christmas
at first as he has no one
to spend it with and has
had bad memories of it.
He sees everyone else
enjoying Christmas and
realises what he’s
missing out on and
gives back to everyone
e.g. the Cratchit family
by buying the biggest
turkey.
Th
emes
Events that appear that relate to charity.
Stave One
When the donation collectors ask Scrooge for a donation to help the poor
at Christmas. He refuses to give money because he insists he has already
done enough.
When Marley tells Scrooge that he will end up the same way he did if he
doesn’t change and start helping other people around him.
Stave Two
After seeing himself as a child and how miserable he was, Scrooge
remembers the carol singer and regrets not giving money to the singer.
Scrooge remembers how generous Fezziwig was towards his employees.
Scrooge admires Fezziwig for the way he was, but he was never like it with
his employee Bob Cratchit.
Stave Three
Scrooge’s nephew Fred believes that if he goes to see Scrooge every year at
Christmas, it might inspire Scrooge to be more giving.
Stave Four
Fred offers to help Bob Cratchit & his family when he hears about Tiny
Tim’s death.
Scrooge promises the ghost of Christmas Past that he has learned the
importance of Christmas, the charity and the kindness of the season.
Stave Five
Scrooge buys the largest Turkey for the Cratchit family and sends it to them
anonymously.
Scrooge sees the donation collectors who came to his office the day before,
and promises to donate a large amount of money.
Quotes.
“I can’t afford to make idle people merry”- He doesn’t care about the poor people and
doesn’t want to give away money to help them.
“Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five
minutes, and I’ll give you half a crown”- He eventually starts to give money to people.
“Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it”- He starts to donate
money to charity at after being visited by the three ghosts.
“There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have
given him something: that’s all”- Starts to change his mind about giving money away to
people.
“I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family” – He decides to give
Bob more money so that he will be able to help his family properly.
ISOLATION/LONELINESS
Scrooge regrets not having a family. This is the main reason that Scrooge is lonely and feels isolated.
“scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially
children, but at Christmas three ghosts come to
visit him, scare him into mending his ways” This shows that scrooge is lonely until the end of the book.
Key Quotes
THEM
ES
“Scrooge was his sole
executor, his sole
administrator, his sole
assign”- This quote shows
that scrooge did
“Solitary as an oyster”-
this is a simile, it shows
that scrooge is lonely
and always alone just
like an oyster.
“No man or woman ever
once in all his life
enquired the way to
such an such a place, of
scrooge”-This shows
people were scared to
approach him
“tell me now would you
seek me out and try to
win me now” Ah no!-This
shows he loved money
too much, more than
Belle his current girlfriend
and ended up lonely
because of this.
“Locked himself
in”-This shows that
scrooge lives alone.
It also shows that
he likes to be alone
and also isolated.
He lives in the
abandoned office
blocks.
“a solitary
child,
neglected by
his friends, is
left there
still”-This
shows that
Scrooge has
always been “warning all human sympathy to keep its
distance”-This shows that scrooge wants to
“Scrooge took his melancholy dinner, in his
usual melancholy tavern” –This shows that
he eats alone in a pub. This also shows that
he never buys food or cooks for himself.
The weather
always reminds us
of the constant
bitterness of
Scrooge’s
personality.
The weather:
Scrooge and the weather:
‘No falling snow was more intent on its purpose’
Dickens uses the comparison between the weather and Scrooge to
tell us as readers how even the weather isn’t as cold, bitter or as
chilling as Scrooge and his character in this novella.
The weather at Christmas time is written as a true symbol of many
things throughout the novella. Such as festivity, the spirit of Christmas
time and the behaviour and actions of Scrooge’s character. This has a
large influence on the reasons for Scrooge’s beliefs about Christmas
time. Such as in stave 1 when Fred (Scrooges nephew) comes to say
merry Christmas at Scrooge’s office. Scrooge says ‘a poor excuse to
pick a man’s pocket every 25th of December!’ This is the first real clue
of Scrooge’s intentions for Christmas.
Scrooge’s gloomy office can be seen as being affected by the weather
in some way when in the presence of someone so cold and bitter. The
only warmth written about in his presence is the constant flame of a
single, lone candle. Ironically the same appearance as the ghost of
Christmas past in stave 2. The slight fire is the only warmth at
Christmas time that accompanies Scrooge throughout his past
memories with the ghost of Christmas past and his own dark and
deserted home where even shadows seem to scatter at the sight of
Scrooge.
‘Foul weather didn’t know where to have
him’
Even in this quote we see that the ‘foul’
weather around Scrooge is as welcoming as
anyone in London in his presence. With
neglect and fear towards the shadow
Scrooge seems to cast over the city.
THEM
ES
CHARACTERS LINKED
TO MONEY AND
WEALTH:
Scrooge
Fezziwig
Marley
In A Christmas Carol there are many themes
throughout the novella; one of them is the
theme money and wealth. This theme mostly revolves
around Scrooge, since he has lots of money
but doesn’t spend any of it.
At the beginning Scrooge doesn’t spend
any money, but at the end of the book he
spends money on things he wouldn’t
before. In Stave 2 it is shown Fezziwig
spends money on a Christmas party and
doesn’t mind. Marley was just like how
Scrooge was and has paid the price.
This theme involves
everyone throughout the
book; this includes the
poor and the rich.
KEY QUOTES
“The door of
Scrooge’s counting-
house was open.”
This quote tells you
that Scrooge has
enough money to
own his own business
and it involves
money.
“He has spent but a
few pounds of your
mortal money: three
or four, perhaps.”
The Ghost of
Christmas Past says
this when he shows
Scrooge the
Christmas party
Fezziwig has thrown.
“A golden one.” Bell
says this in Stave 2
when she is bumping
Scrooge telling him
he has replaced her
with money and
hardly cares about
her anymore.
“I’ll give you a
shilling…and I’ll give
you half a crown.”
“Go and buy it.”
Scrooge says this to a
young boy he sees
outside his window
and tells him to go
buy the biggest
turkey in the poultry.
“I’ll raise your salary.”
Scrooge says this at
the end of the book
when talking to Bob
Cratchit to show that
he wants to help out
their family.
THEM
ES
Ignorance and want Quotes from stave 3 page 73…
'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And
they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is
Ignorance. This girl is Want.-the spirit is trying to show
Scrooge how his actions are going to affect the children of
the future and showing himself how he is.
They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling,
wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility.-this is an
explanation of that the children look like, dirty and
unhealthy.
'Spirit. are they yours.' Scrooge could say no more.-Scrooge
was shocked and frightened so didn’t talk to the spirit
much at this point.
'Are there no prisons.' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last
time with his own words. 'Are there no workhouses.'"-the spirit
was being clever and using Scrooges own words against
him to make him feel guilty for the things he’s said in the
past.
Throughout the beginning of the
book Scrooge never wants to help
the poor and ignores everything
that’s going on around him. (The
charity worker and the carol
singer.)However, by the end of the
book Scrooge realised that people
need the money which he is wasting
as he has nobody to pass his money
onto when he is gone. Because of
the visits from the 3 ghosts Scrooge
now wants to help the poor and
feels that his ignorance could have
caused things like Tiny Tim’s
condition getting worse.
‘They had better do it
and decrease the
surplus population’
‘Tell me what man that was
whom we saw lying dead?’
This quote shows how he
never realised it was
himself dead.
‘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.’
