A Christmas Carol Flashcards
10 key words DREAMM PADS
- Dehumanisation
- Redemption
- Exploitation
- Avariciousness (greed)
- Mouthpiece - he uses the ghost as a mouthpiece to explain his views
- Moral rebirth
- Parsimonious - stingy
- Allegorical novella
- Destitute - poor
- Social equality/inequality
5 pieces of context CRIPT
Charles Dickens
Religion
Industrial revolution
Poor law
Thomas Malthus
Richard Oastler
Dickens
Dickens grew up in poverty and worked in the workhouses. Novella was written in response to the report on children’s employment commission which covered the dehumanising and exploitive conditions children were subject to in the Victorian era.
link to the play
Tiny Tim’s death links to the exploitation of children during the era
Religion
Religion was the foundation of morality in the Victorian era - 7 deadly sins (greed, wrath, and pride) to be avoided. Christians believed that god provides individuals with redemption when sins has been confessed.
Scrooge embodies some of the 7 deadly sins: greed, wrath and pride.
Scrooge granted redemption through the ghost
link to the play:
- scrooge embodies greed and wrath
- scrooge is granted redemption through the ghosts
Industrial revolution
Change from farming to factories, marked as the ‘progressive era’ due to advancements in technology
Dickens scathing of Britain being the pinnacle (peak) of excellence and progression when it neglects and exploits the lower class
Uses character of Scrooge to critique how ‘progressive’ Victorian society
Link to the novel:
- Dickens is critical of Britain being the pinnacle of progression when it neglects and exploits the lower classes
1834 Poor law
Introduced the workhouses, poor sent there in exchange for food and shelter. They were hubs of squalor (filth) which exploited the poor. 10% people admitted to them would die
- Dickens shows ignorance of those who enforced laws like this one though Scrooge stave 1
- Cratchits and children of ignorance and want provide a small insight into how the poor were exploited and dehumanised by laws like this
Thomas Malthus
- British economist who believed poverty was inevitable due to population increase
- Dickens makes Scrooge embody Malthusian views and ridicules this
- Scrooge these views in stave 1 ‘ prisons and the union workhouses’
- He is ridiculed by ghost of Christmas present in stave 3 ‘decrease surplus population’
6 key themes SSSKRR
- Selfishness/ materialism
- social injustice/ poverty
Supernatural
Kindness/family
Religion
Regret/Redemption
3 Dickens intentions
- Dickens crafts an allegorical novella with a didactic purpose, aiming to convey a message about the virulent consequences of avariciousness (greed) and frugality (stinginess) in society. He criticises the upper classes for their apathy toward the poor and their complicity in perpetuating dehumanising laws and social structures through ignorance.
- Dickens crafts the ghosts as vehicles for conveying his condemnation (criticism) of the ignorance and callousness (cruelty) prevalent among the materialistic upper classes. Thus, the ghosts serve as Dickens’ mouthpiece, delivering a powerful message advocating for compassion and societal reform.
- Dickens communicates to his upper-class readers the important role of repentance and compassion increasing both personal and societal moral redemption. By holding up a mirror to his readership, he prompts them to introspect (look at themselves) and assess whether their attitudes perpetuate social injustice or contribute to social reform
‘Squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner’ (Act 1 Scrooge)
The asyndetic listing (a list that uses commas instead of ‘and’) portrays Scrooge’s immoral characteristics as ongoing, casting him as an unrepentant ‘sinner’
- 7 negative adjectives mirrors how there are 7 deadly sins. This parallels between Scrooge and the sins are used by Dickens to highlight how the rich, symbolised by Scrooge, are more inclined towards moral transgression than the poor
- ‘Squeezing’ and ‘wrenching’ connotes a struggle, shows scrooge struggles to see the detrimental consequences of his frugality (stinginess) and thus, his role in perpetuating social inequality
‘Quite a baby’ ‘Merry as a schoolboy’ ( stave 5)
The infantile language indicates his rebirth, as both a ‘baby and ‘schoolboy’ connote innocence and youth, Scrooge is showcasing how through him repenting for his sins, he has regained his youthful innocence and ability to see the world in untainted light
- As being a ‘baby’ is the start of life, this signifies that Scrooge has been reborn as he has gone from a selfish ‘old sinner’ back to the most innocent form of human life - he has had the ultimate rebirth
- In Christianity rebirth is a spiritual renewal and connection with God. This is deeply intertwined with the belief in Jesus’s rebirth, which offered salvation to humanity
- Scrooge holds promise of salvation for the poor
’ I wear the chain I forged in life …. I made it link by link’ Marley ( stave 1 )
- As chains are made of links, which are all interconnecting, this is alike to how Marley is warning Scrooge that his covetousness (desire for wealth) is interconnected to his anguish
- Chain symbolises restriction and entrapment. Through Marley ‘dragging’ the chain, his chain becomes an extended metaphor for the restricting and eternal consequences of being stingy and perpetuating social injustice
- The use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ implies that Marley acknowledges with remorse the consequences of his own personal and selfish pursuit of material wealth, leading to his eternal and spiritual poverty
‘Mankind was my business’ (stave 1 Marley)
Marley serves as Dickens’ first mouthpiece using economical language as a critique of society’s obsession with material wealth and the relentless pursuit of profit
- It foreshadows the grim fate awaiting scrooge if he fails to learn from the eternal punishment of Marley being reduced to mere economic terms upon his death (‘ cheap funeral’ ‘marketing the corpse’)
- syntax (word order) ‘mankind’ precedes ‘business’ indicating the hierarchal order of values that scrooge, and by extension society, should prioritise
‘Shrouded in a deep black garment’ (Ghost of Christmas yet to come)
It’s a reminiscent of the grim reaper, a symbol of death - the ghost creates ambience (atmosphere) of foreboding and finality. A reminder of the consequences of Scrooge’s past immoralities and the urgency of his need for repentance
- The dark ominous image created by black juxtaposes the motif of light seen with the ghost of Christmas past and present. Scrooge’s ironically ‘solitary’ death is imminent- scrooge longed for a ‘solitary’ existence and now the ghost is solemnly showing him the consequences of his selfish and isolated existence
- The ghost of Christmas yet to come is arguably the only archetypal ghost we see as it gives an illuminous and menacing atmosphere and haunts scrooge
‘It was a worthy place…overrun by grass and weeds.’ (
- Decaying semantic field serves as a mocking commentary on scrooge’s life. ironically, the vitality and life of the surrounding plants highlight his own insignificance. This serves as a criticism of his materialistic existence, suggesting that he has become even more insignificant than the decaying plants surrounding his grave
- Through the ghost’s portrayal of scrooge’s flash forward death. Dickens emphasises the dire consequences of neglecting ones moral and civic duties - this neglect will inevitably lead to neglect in your death
- The exclamative sentence of ‘a worthy place’ serves as a form of karma, where Scrooge’s miserly existence is met with just punishment - evoking a sense of divine justice
