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A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Scrooge (SCROOGE QUOTES ("squeezing, wrenching,…
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Scrooge
HIS NAME
"Ebeneezer"
,(noun) a male given name from a Hebrew word meaning
"stone of help"
"Scrooge"
Noun) selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend / a miserly person
Some suggest his name was chosen to show the help that was needed / given to help him change
Scrooge
- obscure English verb meaning "
squeeze"
or "
press"
"stone of help" shows he is helped by the ghosts but links to "hard and sharp as flint", he needs to change so he will help people.
Scrooge would press them to work harder - Bob Cratchit - his name holds metaphorically connotations
BASICALLY
He is the protagonist
At the beginning of the novella, he is presented as miserable and lonely, someone who only cares for making money
Treats his clerk Bob Cratchit badly making him work on the cold and fear for his job
Tells the charity that poor people should die rather than be given charity
He is the antagonist of his nephew
He is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley who tells him that focusing on his money is wrong
He is visited by three Ghosts
They show him Christmas Days from the past - Scrooge begins to realise he has made bad decision through his life
Seems to enjoy the present Christmas at the Cratchit's house and Fred's House
Learns that if his behaviour continues, Tiny Tim will die and no one will care about him
Finally he changes his behaviour
MORE IN-DEPTH
Scrooge is used to represent the rich in the Victorian era and is also used to highlight the distance between the rich and poor
Symbolises the idea of repenting
Dickens uses Scrooge to criticise society. Scrooge is a symbol of wealthy and aristocratic member of society who are ignorant to the lives / misfortunes of the poor
Dickens uses Scrooge to encourage moral change - a moral change in the wealthy - this makes Scrooge part of the allegory
At the beginning, we have a miserly and mean character who only cares about money
SCROOGE QUOTES
"squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner"
Dickens use of verbs here present Scrooge as a penny pincher, greedy
"
"tight-fisted"
Adjective
Scrooge is portrayed as unfeeling with Dickens' repeatedly referring to the cold when describing him. For example,
"frosty rime on his head and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin"
The cold is stuck to him, cold in emotion
He carried his own low temperature with him
Burden - links to
"light as a feather"
"The cold within him froze his old features"
Cold is linked to him from Stave One - showing his cold nature and emotionless exterior and at this point, interior. Could also be spritually
"No wind blew bitterer than he"
Repetition of "no" and use of the plosive B sound, sounds harsh
"External heat and cold had very little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm him, no wintry weather chill him"
Alliteration, "w" - prolongs this sense of unease the unease of other characters. Repetition of "no"
"secret, and self-contained, and solitary as a oyster"
"hard and sharp as flint"
simile represents hard exterior which causes pain to other people
"Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and sole mourner"
Repetition of sole represents the solitary life they had
"if they would rather die... they better do it"
presented as being misanthropic. Tells the charity collectors that the poor should die rather than receive provisions. Emphasises the gap between the rich and poor
Marley's Ghost is important as he starts the transformation in Scrooge, he asks for sympathy from the Ghost
"Speak comfort to me, Jacob
" Imperative. Dickens presents Scrooge as begging and the ghost responds
"I have none to give"
"Marley's Ghost bothered him exceedingly" -
adverbs "exceedingly" shows the subtle beginning of change as he is bothered.
We are shown Scrooge with a bad past that he is trying to forget. When he goes back, Dickens writes that there was an
"unusual catching in his voice"
which shows Scrooge is now remembering his childhood, he is feeling emotions again which is
"unusual"
Juxtaposition to his emotionless self in Stave 1
"Your lip is trembling" said the Ghost"
adjective "trembling" shows that he is not only emotionally affected but also physically affected. Completely traumatised, does this hint he was spiritually changed as well?
When he was his younger self,
"a lonely boy" " a solitary child, neglected by his friends"
adjectives lonely and solitary
"Scrooge acted like a man out of his wits"
When he views Fezziwig. Physical Change, he loses control
Viewing an older version of himself,
"greedy, restless motion in his eyes
Adjective "greedy". Strong links to Stave, shows there is nothing behind the eyes - hints there is more than meets the eye
"I cannot bear it"
"I learned a lesson, which is working now"
"Tonight if you aught to teach me, let me profit by it"
Interesting use of the word "profit" as it no longer means money, it means character, attitude. Highlights that money is where Scrooge went wrong
Fred's house,
"begged like a boy to stay"
- simile highlights his vulnerability and reminds us of the oyster simile. Scrooge has been reduced to a
"boy"
showing his fragility in the face of himself
On visiting the Cratchits,
"Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live"
Subordinate clause, isolated emphasises how he has never cared about the poor or this family. Highlights the change
"Say he will be spared"
As the Ghost repeats Scrooge's own words back to him,
"Scrooge was overcome with penitence and grief"
abstract noun -penitence - a theme he now symbolises
"It's likely to be a cheap funeral... I don't know of anybody to go to it"
Sad powerful line, emphasises his solitary life. Interesting use of "cheap" - irony that a man so rich is going to have a cheap funeral as there is no one who wants to go
"a wicked old screw"
Adjective wicked, linked to the Bible and the devil. Huge presentation of his character, contrasts with the imagery of the angel at the air
"gasping out his last there, alone by himself"
His entire life is alone, sad imagery
"Scrooge listened to the dialogue in horror"
- abstract noun "horror"- he is absolutely terrified of who has has / who he could become. Shows his change,
"I shall not leave its lesson"
echoes the words from Stave 2
"The only emotion that the Ghost could show him, caused by this event, was one of pleasure"
- contrast with the "horror" himself feels". People are pleased he is dead. Critique on society, the majority of the society will be happy if rich people and their restrictive attitudes are abolished
Witnessing his grave:
"I am not this man"
"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year"
"so glowing"
- adjective "glowing" is a direct to his description in Stave One
"He had been sobbing violently"
Adverb, "violently" is is traumatised. Shows how the ghosts were needed to change Scrooge
Scrooge becomes a lot more charitable and emotional. You see him use more affectionate terms such as
"my dear"
and "
my love"
and also laments
" the time before him was his own, to make amends in!"
"I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel. I am as merry as a school boy. I am as giddy as a drunken mane"
simile suggests he has lost the burden of his old former self
Wishes people a merry Christmas and is pleasant to others,
"I am about to raise your salary"
"Scrooge was better than his word, he did it all, and infinitely more"
"he became as good a friend, as good a master"
DEFINITION OF
"HUMBUG"
A wilfully false and deceptive person, or insincere person
An attitude or spirit of pretence and deception
Something designed to mislead or deceive
Scrooge reacts to people in this way as they believe that they are not sincere, he believes they are false
Repeatedly used - could link to the consistent nature of the rich men believing that the poor were false as they did not need the provisions in their opinion
Humbug is used frequently in his conversation with Fred, does this represent how Scrooge views all happiness as false as he has always lived in fear of losing his money
He uses this when speaking to his family, does this show why he shows a lack of compassion for his surviving nephew, as he believes that family love is not real - maybe because of his treatment from his father (Rosseau's state)
This could also link to how Scrooge is an false character - he is in belief that he does not need to help those who are suffering
Could foreshadow the change in Scrooge as this could show that his insincere personality - the hole in the character in Stave 1 - is actually the fragile nature of Scrooge that leads to his transformation and generosity in Stave 5
PATHETIC FALLACY
Pathetic fallacy is used to represent Scrooge's character and his change
In Stave One, the weather is
"Foggier yet, and colder. Piercing, searching, biting cold"
As mentioned earlier, this represents how cold and unfeeling Scrooge is at the beginning of the book
However, in Stave 5, the weather is
"clear, bright,jovial"
with
"golden sunlight"
. This change in weather represents how Scrooge has become generous, a
"good"
and "
glowing"
person
Metaphorical representation of Scrooge