Embedded Files
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
“Hard and sharp as flint”
Simile – To show his miserly, unapproachable and explosive nature.
“Solitary as an oyster”
Simile – To show how lonely and isolated he was. Oysters also live in the ocean, making them cold. However, oysters also sometimes contain previous pearls which suggests Scrooge's potential to change from the beginning of the novella.
“He carried his own low temperature around with him”
Metaphor – For his poor attitude and way he made others feel when he saw them.
“Nobody stopped him in the street to say. ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you?’ ”
Metaphor – For his dislikeable and unfriendly character.
“Bah! Humbug”
Exclamatory sentence – This is only repeated a couple of times but has become iconic as a representation of Scrooge’s dislike of spending and Christmas.
“Every idiot who goes around with Merry Christmas on his lips... should be buried with a stake of holly through his heart”
Offensive tone – Shows how dislikeable Scrooge is and how much he hates Christmas as he has to stop making money for a day.
“Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
Rhetorical questions – Suggesting the poor are at fault for having no money and that they have a place in society (even though we know prison and workhouses were terrible places).
“If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”
Metaphor – To show that poor people should die and free up space for other people and for making more money.
“It’s not my business”
Tone – Showing he isn’t interested in what happens to others.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
Repetition – Showing how he has had an epiphany and is no longer the miserly begrudging character he once was.
“I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody. Hallo! Whoop! Hallo!”
Repetition of the personal pronoun – Shows his light hearted and carefree attitude and his lack of care about money and material goods.
Similes - All similes link to white, pure and innocent imagery. "As merry as a schoolboy" also juxtaposes with the sad, lonely schoolboy that we met in the second stave.
“I don’t know anything. I’m quite a baby.”
First person – Shows he is re-born as a decent person.
“I’ll send it to Bob Cratchit!”
Statement – Showing he is capable of charity by sending a decent goose to the Cratchit family.
“Not a farthing less. A great many back payments are included in it.”
Short sentences – Showing that Scrooge recognises that his wagers have been disproportionate and unfair to Bob.
“I have come to dinner. Will you let me in Fred?”
Interrogative Sentence – Showing his uncertainty about his position with his nephew Fred due to the way he has always behaved in the past.
“Therefore I am about to raise your salary!”
Emotive tone – Showing he is being fair to Bob.
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all and became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.”
Repetition – Showing he is good to his word and that he became a different person.
Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley
“On the very day of the funeral, (Scrooge) solemnised it with an undoubted bargain”
Negative tone – Showing how Scrooge had already forgotten his friend and business partner.
“I wear the chain I forged in life...The chain was made up of cash boxes..ledgers..heavy purses”
Metaphor – To show that the way he had behaved in life had a direct impact on him in the afterlife. He is now in purgatory and damned to walk the earth with heavy chains representing everything he valued in life. Chains make him look like a criminal for his immoral acts in life.
“You may be an undigested bit of beef”
Dismissive tone - Scrooge is trying to rationalise the situation as he does not believe in ghosts.
“My spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money changing hole”
Metaphor – To show he was doomed in life due to his obsession with money and that this carries on in death too.
“Mankind was my business!”
Symbolism – Shows he understands the error of his ways and that money isn’t the be all and end all.
Semantic field of business - Marley is speaking in terms that Scrooge will understand as Scrooge only values business and money at this point in the novella.
Bob Cratchit & the Cratchit Family
Bob Cratchit & the Cratchit Family
“The clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like only one coal”
Hyperbole – Shows the terrible cold and conditions that Scrooge makes Bob work in.
“There’s another fellow, my clerk with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I’ll retire to Bedlam”
Statements – Shows how little he pays Bob and how dismissive Scrooge is of his cheerful nature.
Hyperbole/Irony - Bedlam was a famous insane asylum during the Victorian era. Scrooge feels that as he is the only 'sane' one in the world who sees that saving money for yourself is the correct thing to do, that he will be sent to an asylum when he retires as if everyone else is mad (wanting to share money with others), then he will appear mad to them and be committed.
“Tiny Tim hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and remember upon Christmas day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”
Religious connotations – Tiny Tim reinforces Christian values of charity, kindness and being thankful for what you have.
“Mrs Cratchit made the gravy hissing hot, Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour, Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce...”
Listing – Showing the family work together and that love is more important than money and materialistic goods. This also highlights how the family make the most out of the little that they have.
“There never was such a goose cooked.”
Hyperbole – Showing they exaggerate the excitement of a goose which is too small for them as a family but they are grateful anyway.
“God bless us every one”
Religious Imagery – Tiny Tim again reinforces charity and peace and happiness to all mankind at Christmas time.
“Mr Scrooge. I’d give him a piece of my mind. An odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man” - Mrs Cratchit
Listing – The negative tone shows how unhappy she is with the way that Bob is treated by his employer.
Belle
Belle
“Another idol has displaced me.. a golden one”
Metaphor – To show that money has become more important to Scrooge than his fiancé Belle.
“I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, until the master passion, Gain engrosses you”
Triplets – To show her disappointment in the change in him.
“May you be happy in the life you have chosen”
Statement – She wishes him luck and shows that she is leaving him due to his money grabbing ways.
“No more! Show me no more!”
Repetition – Scrooge can no longer watch his previous self and the loss of the love he had for Belle.
Short, exclamatory sentences - Emphasises Scrooge's shock, disgust and dispair at being presented with the life he could've had.
“Now a comely matron sitting opposite her daughter”
Adjectives – Shows how she is happily married and satisfied with her life but also highlights the happiness Scrooge has missed out on.
Fred
Fred
“What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Repetition – Fred repeats Scrooge's question to him but tweaks it slightly to attack his uncle's tight-fisted ways. This highlights the difference in attitude between Fred and Scrooge and encourages Scrooge to be a happier more pleasant man.
“I have always thought of Christmas as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time”
Listing – Shows Fred’s love of Christmas which clesrly juxtaposes his attitude to his uncle's.
“Don’t be angry Uncle. Merry Christmas!”
Imperative sentence – Trying to almost command his uncle to join in with his positive Christmas spirit.
“If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge’s nephew, all I can say is I should like to know him too.”
Narrative voice – Reinforces how pleasant and nice Fred is.
Sorrowful tone - The narrator sounds like they are also longing to meet a positive character of the likes of Fred.
“Scrooge’s offences carry their own punishment. Who suffers? Himself!”
Rhetorical question - Whilst this question is answered, the answer is also incomplete. Scrooge does suffer because of his actions, but others do also - Fred, Belle, Bob Cratchit and his family, the poor, his clients, etc.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
The Ghost of Christmas Past
“Would you (Scrooge) so soon put out..the light I give?”
Metaphor – To show that the first ghost is there to illuminate his past and show him where things have gone wrong.
“Scrooge was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts and hopes and joys long long forgotten.”
Rule of three – To show Scrooge once had dreams and thoughts and hopes like everyone else.
“A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still – Scrooge sobbed.”
Sibilance – Shows how lonely Scrooge was as a child and the memory makes Scrooge unhappy as an adult.
“To see Scrooge’s extraordinary voice between laughing and crying..and his excited face..would have been a surprise to his business friends in the city”
Emotive Language – Shows that Scrooge is capable of emotion and that he isn’t heartless.
“One child: true! your nephew!”
Exclamatory sentences – The remembrance that he loved Fan (his sister) and he has neglected his duty as an uncle towards her son. The spirit almost sounds surprised at this discussion, relfecting how it will be showing Scrooge the true value of Fred.
(With Fezziwig) “Scrooge’s heart and soul were in the scene..he remembered everything, enjoyed everything.”
Repetition – Shows Scrooge is capable of happiness or has been in the past.
“A small matter to make these folks so full of gratitude”
Juxtaposition - The matter is small and yet is leaves people feeling entirely happy and grateful.
“I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.”
Regretful tone – Shows that he is reflecting on his behaviour towards Bob.
The Ghost of Christmas Present
The Ghost of Christmas Present
"A jolly giant who bore a glowing torch with a cheery voice and a joyful air”
Positive adjectives – Showing his benevolent nature.
“To a poor one most. Because it needs it most”
Repetition – To show the poor are in most need.
“I see a vacant seat. The child will die”
Short sentences – Emphasise the hole that would be left in the Cratchit family if Tiny Tim died and reflects the short span of Tiny Tim's life.
“Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be in the sight of heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child”
Symbolism – The ghost is teaching Scrooge a lesson about humanity. This also harkens back to Scrooge refusing the charity workers money and suggesting that the poor should starve to death in order to "decrease the surplus population".
“Scrooge was the ogre of the family and the mention of his name cast a dark shadow”
Hyperbole and metaphors – Showing how the rest of the family felt about Scrooge.
“Yes/No game.. a disagreeable, savage animal. It’s Uncle Scro-o-o-o-ge!”
Adjectives – To show the family poking fun at Scrooge behind his back.
“They are Man’s. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware for I see that written which is Doom.”
Symbolism – Giving us a lesson about the nature of humans and the dark path that this will lead humanity down.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
“It was shrouded in a deep black garment which concealed its head, its face, its form and left nothing visible except one outstretched hand”
Symbolism – Describing the ghost like he is the grim reaper.
Objectification - The ghost is described as 'it' rather than using 'he', 'she' or 'they'.
“Ghost of the Future. I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, I am prepared to bear you company with a thankful heart.”
Matter of fact tone - Highlights Scrooge's changing nature.
Juxtaposition - Greatly contrasts with Scrooge's dismissive nature with the first two spirits.
“I don’t mind going (to the funeral) if a lunch is provided.”
Emotive Language – Showing that the businessmen don’t care that Scrooge is dead they are only after a free lunch.
“Old Scratch has got his own at last hey?”
Rhetorical Question – Showing his nickname isn’t particularly well respected.
“So I am told.. Cold isn’t it?”
Rhetorical question – Others speaking about Scrooge with no feeling and changing the topic away from his deth very quickly and in a dismissive way.
“He frightened everyone away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead, ha, ha!”
Mocking tone – showing that nobody cares about his death.
“If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man’s death, show that person to me, Spirit, I beseech you!”
Imperative sentence – Scrooge is begging the ghost to show someone will miss him as he is growing desperate.
“It would be bad fortune to find so merciless a creditor. We may sleep tonight with light hearts, Caroline!”
Relieved tone – Creditors of Scrooge are relieved they are not in debt to him any more as no one could be worse.
“A churchyard, overrun by weeds, the growth of vegetation’s death not life –a worthy place!”
Rule of three – Showing nobody ever visited Scrooge’s grave or cared.
“Scrooge crept towards it, trembling, and following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.”
Complex sentence – reveals his emotion slowly at seeing how little anyone cares for him or remembers him.
Minor Characters - Fan, Fezziwig, Mrs Dilber & Joe
Minor Characters - Fan, Fezziwig, Mrs Dilber & Joe
“I have come to bring you home dear brother.. home, home, home!” - Fan
Repetition – Showing that he was loved and loveable once but also reinforces the fact that his father didn’t want him around but that Fan is very much excited to have him return as her home will finally feel complete with Scrooge back.
“Bless his heart; it’s Fezziwig alive again!” - Ebenezer Scrooge
Happy Tone – Showing that he has fond memories of his old employer.
“Yo ho there! Ebenezer! Dick! No more work tonight!” - Fezziwig
Jolly Tone – Showing how charitable Fezziwig is by stopping them from working to have a Christmas Party.
“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome. The happiness he gives, is..as if it cost a fortune”
Juxtaposition - Though Fezziwig has the ability to make people happy or unhappy, or make their work hard or easy, it is heavily shown that he will always choose what is right. He presents the antithesis to Scrooge (the opposite) as, while Fezziwig makes people happy, Scrooge makes them unhappy. As Fezziwig makes work light, Scrooge makes it burdensome.
“Who’s the worse for the loss of a few things like these? Not a dead man I suppose.” - Joe
Dialogue – Showing they don’t care about Scrooge and are happy to steal his possessions from him after his death.
“He’d have had somebody to look after him when he was struck by Death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself” - Mrs Dilber
Personification - Death is presented as a person who has murdered Scrooge.
Graphic imagery - Scrooge's last moments are described in a harrowing way. As he is showing signs of changing, the reader can't help but feel sorry that anyone had to die this way.
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