Most Christians in the Victorian period would have believed that Heaven and Hell were physical places. Another place souls could go after death was called Purgatory. This space between heaven and hell reflected the belief that most people are not so evil that God would condemn them forever to Hell, but also that most people are not pure and good enough to go to Heaven straight away. For them, Purgatory is the state of waiting where a person can make up for their sins after death – giving their soul salvation from their sins. Catholics often pray for the souls of loved ones to be released from Purgatory and to enter Heaven.

Purgatory is a place of immense suffering and “incessant torture”. The suffering Marley’s ghost is facing is shown by Dickens to be a direct consequence of his attitude towards people during his life. His Ghost is described as having chains “made of cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds”, all items connected with his job. Indeed, Dickens clarifies that these are the “chains (he) forged in life”, reinforcing the idea that he is suffering due to his own actions. The fact Marley has clearly caused his own suffering would perhaps cause the reader to view his character unsympathetically. 

By introducing the religious ideas of purgatory, justice and accountability, Dickens attributes another role to Marley’s character. He can be seen as a deterrent (discouragement and warning) as he exemplifies the repercussions Scrooge will face if he fails to change. It is interesting to note that the reason his warning resonates with Scrooge is due to their close relationship. Dickens describes them as “partners” and reveals that Scrooge saw Marley as an “excellent man of business”. 

Taking into account Scrooge’s fixation with wealth and business, this can be seen as high-praise which highlights their superficial yet close relationship. Dickens also uses Marley’s character to act as a catalyst for Scrooge’s change. He instils feelings of fear in Scrooge, evidenced by the “terrible sensation” he feels after Marley’s visit. This ultimately offers Scrooge a chance at redemption, as this fear is what initially drives his desire to change.

Scrooge's Path to Salvation and Redemption

Dickens opens with the news that ‘Marley was dead: to begin with.’ He has received a Christian burial but we are left in doubt that he will return in some form! The reader is tantalised by Marley’s ghost and the presence of other ghosts outside the window,  uttering “sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory”. Yet his presence offers “chance and hope” to Scrooge; thus Scrooge embarks on his journey to redemption and salvation.

The Ghost of Christmas Past continues Scrooge’s journey. In Stave 2, we move from the darkness and fog of London outside Scrooge’s home to the light of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a light which Scrooge is desperate to extinguish. Christian readers may see this as a symbol of Christ as the light of the world, similar to the famous painting by Holman Hunt. Scrooge is not yet ready for Christ’s redeeming light to enter his dark world.  

For me Stave III and the Ghost of Christmas Present is where we begin to see a stronger presence of religion with blending of  the pagan and the Christian in his character. The traditional winter leaves are present linking the pagan with the wreath which could echo the image of the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. Here, Scrooge sees the Ghost of Christmas Present as a representative of God: “It has been done in your name, or at least that of your family”. This is a subtle yet strong indication that the Spirits are sent by God and therefore that it is a religious story rather than a secular tale. It is, however, hard to ascribe Dickens’ Christianity to any of the different Christian sects of the 19th century.

Tiny Tim also reminds the reader of Christ’s presence in the world of the novella. He goes to church and shows his piety and also his piousness. The lame child, who is brought back to life through the change wrought in Scrooge, has echoes of Christ healing the lame and the sick; although I am not proposing that Scrooge is a Christ-like figure!

The Ghost’s speech causes Scrooge to be “overcome with penitence and grief”. Scrooge is beginning to repent and understand the harm of his words and actions, as the Christian tradition would desire. Scrooge is again confronted with his unchristian words from Stave I “decrease the surplus population” and must learn the importance of beneficence and benevolence.

Stave IV shows us a world which is empty and soulless for Scrooge; his lack of benevolence and beneficence has ensured he is still “solitary as an oyster”. He has to accept Christ into his world and atone for his sins otherwise he will not defeat the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, presented as the Grim Reaper. Dickens deliberately presents a secular world of business and transactions with no regard for human feeling. His worldly possessions and wealth have no worth for him in death. Without redemption and salvation, he too will be weighed down by chains and the cash box, excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven. He must accept and “honour Christmas in [his] heart”.

In Stave V we now see a reversal, Scrooge has accepted how he must change and his world is filled with light. Whilst we do not see an overt conversion to Christianity, we are shown Scrooge behaving in a Christian way: he shows benevolence and is welcomed into both families and he becomes beneficent and gives generously and secretly to charity and to the Cratchits, “he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge”.

Dickens presents us with a character who has accepted his misdeeds and is not the “sinner” of Stave I. In ‘A Christmas Carol’, we see Dickens’ faith through Scrooge’s journey from miser to benefactor, from ‘sinner’ to penitent, to redemption and then to salvation.

At the time when Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, the prevailing spirit in England was one of fierce individualism. People generally believed that you should look after your own interests and let others get on with living their own lives. In one respect, this is an admirable way of thinking, but it also has a downside in that it can so easily pass into a general indifference towards the poorest members of society.

That's precisely what happens in the case of Scrooge. His lack of concern for the poor is on display for all to see when he sends the two charity collectors packing after they try to hit him for a contribution. Scrooge doesn't believe in helping the poor; he'll attend to his own business, thank you very much.

Such a heartless attitude leaves Scrooge a lonely, isolated man. He has no friends, no social life, and no one to care for. He has money and lots of it, but that's no substitute for human connections. In portraying Scrooge this way, Dickens hoped that his readers, many of whom will have harbored similar attitudes to Scrooge, will realize that such rampant individualism and contempt for the poor can leave one feeling isolated.

Above all, Dickens wants his readers to recognize that all of society has an obligation to others, not just to ourselves. If we can change our attitude towards our fellow man, as Scrooge so spectacularly does after the visit of the ghosts on Christmas Eve, then we will develop greater empathy and emerge from out self-imposed isolation to share in the joys of mutual respect, care, and concern.

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A Christmas Carol has attracted generations of readers with its clear parable-like structure and compelling ghost story. It’s a moral tale that has proven timeless, but Dickens also wrote the story with a very present problem in mind, and his structure was designed to make the real issues of Victorian London stand out and provide greater awareness in the reading masses. For instance, the two gentlemen that ask for Scrooge’s charity are kindly but unable to inspire Scrooge’s sympathies. In Scrooge’s easy assurance that the poor not only belong in but actually deserve to live in the poor house, the story conveys a message about the visibility and effectiveness of charity being swamped by common misconceptions that the poor house is a functional institution keeping poor people usefully employed. In fact, the poor house was an institution that did nothing to help the poor. Rather, it was a terrible place that served primarily to keep the poor out of view of those who were better off. Scrooge’s repetition of his dismissive phrase “Humbug!” is a symbol of the insensitivity and ignorance of the middle class looking down on and dismissing the poor.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows us not only Scrooge’s miserable future but also the future of his contemporaries, the traders and bankers that are discussing his funeral lunch and not caring at all that he has died. Dickens shows us that meanness is often connected to the pursuit of wealth. Further, he shows how such meanness is a cycle, almost catching. Scrooge, then, transforms a larger fate than his own when he discovers charity.

In fact, A Christmas Carol has had a tangible effect on poverty, at least on a small, individual scale – stories abound of factory owners and merchants being so affected by readings of A Christmas Carol that they sent their workers gifts and changed harsh conditions.

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The entrance of Scrooge’s nephew Fred at the beginning of the story introduces another side to the miser. Scrooge is not unfortunate in the way of relatives – he has a family awaiting his presence, asking him to dinner, wanting to celebrate the season with him, yet he refuses. This is one of the important moral moments in the story that helps predict Scrooge’s coming downfall. It shows how Scrooge makes choices to prolong his own misery. He chooses to live alone and in darkness while even poor Cratchit is rich in family. Scrooge’s distaste for Fred’s happiness is not just annoyance at the sight of merriness and excess, it is also motivated by bitterness towards marriage based on Scrooge’s own lost love Belle, who left him long ago.

In the story, cold and loneliness are set up in opposition to the warmth of family. Symbols of coldness such as Scrooge’s empty hearth, refusal to provide heat for Cratchit, and keeping his own house dark to save money show Scrooge’s cruelty and lack of connection. But family provides the antidote to this coldness. When Fred enters, the counting house suddenly warms up. Further, Cratchit’s warmth, despite his lack of coal, and the togetherness and energy of his large family, show him to be one of the most fortunate men in the story.

Scrooge does have a kind of family in his partner Marley, who is described at the beginning of the novella as fulfilling many roles for Scrooge before his death. The inseparability of their names above the firm’s entrance shows how close they are—at least in business terms—and though they are bachelors they share their lives, and the suite of rooms is passed down like a family legacy from Marley to Scrooge. Ultimately, from Marley’s warning and the visions provided by the ghosts, Scrooge does learn to appreciate and connect with Fred and the rest of his family, and to even extend that family to include the Cratchits.

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