A Christmas Carol Flashcards
How is Scrooge presented in the beginning of the play?
Scrooge is presented as a miser and an avaricious character who hordes his wealth and hopes for the suffering of the poor.
Key quotes
Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses
1834 poor laws limited a poor person’s ability to ask for a pay rise at all, views poverty as a crime and something deserving punishment or to be disciplined. Workhouse conditions were abhorrent and for Scrooge to wish they attend instead of living in the world shows shortsightedness.
They better do it to decrease the surplus population
-Wishes that they die instead of living a life of poverty,
-Scrooge doesn’t view a life which doesn’t include being wealthy.
-Scrooge is shortsighted as he requires the poor for his role as a loan officer so without the poor he has no job, subsequently becoming poor
-“they” Shows inhumanity and how Scrooge doesn’t see the poor as people or individuals instead it’s a collective issue.
-links to the Thomas Malthus Theory that there isn’t enough food to survive the growing population and some must die for us to survive.
“I support the establishments I have already mentioned”
-shows that he doesn’t believe he must repeat his point to the charity workers, Their social worth is lower than his own.
-shows his point is a self explanatory point and that it’s abnormal to doubt it.
Key vocabulary
Parsimonious
-Stingy/holding greed
Misanthropic
-Anti-Social/ remains to himself
Ostracized
-isolated
Archetypal villain
-symbolic villain to be alone and shelter away
How is Scrooge presented in the end of the novella?
Over View
Scrooge is presented at the end of the novella as being redeemed and changed by the visions of his dark future, he is seen to have understood the message from the 3 ghosts and is willing to make the changes that are needed to live a better life.
Dickens Message
Dickens hopes to share the idea that all can change even the most “solitary” and “miser[ly]” characters can make a change for the better. Scrooge is purposefully shown as jovial towards the end as it allows the reader to feel the power of the change, dickens intends to create no correlation between the old and new scrooge making it seem like a new character has been born from a dead one.
Key Quotes
“Merry as a School Boy” and “quite a baby”
- Scrooges infantile language shows the idea that his character has been reborn into a child form and is able to live his life again,
- Connotations of innocence’s and is showing how through him he able to repent for his sins and be reborn into a better person
- Idea of being reborn is salient in Christianity showing a strong personal and emotional connection with God.
- Could also be used as Jesus was reborn from the dead to provide salvation his rebirth will provide salivation to the world.
“He went to church, and walked about the streets”
- Words ordered in a way to highlight how it was crucial that he visited a religious prior to wondering the streets
- Highlights the large scale religion has had on scrooge and how his belief is that it is a miracle he has transformed
- Idea of church being visited on Christmas was common however not for scrooge, shows his ability to abide by Christian and social norms on Christmas and his change to address and understand them.
” Ill send it to Bob Cratchits”
- Symbolic of social reform and his transmogrification in attitudes to the poor and his want to help them.
- He wishes to make amends for his actions he had lived in his past life and the life of not caring and being greedy with his cash.
- Also suggests how he is willing to help the Cratchit’s with nothing but the best and is a symbol of what other upper class members should be doing.
Conclusion
- In conclusion we see a complete overhaul in the treatment of the poor, the position scrooge holds related to social norms and his overall care for society as a whole.
How is family presented in ACC
How is the supernatural presented in ACC
Supernatural in ACC is presented as being powerful to teach a lesson to scrooge and the rich in society but also holds powers that are far out of the human grasp making his redemption almost super natural itself.
How is generosity presented in ACC
Generosity is presented in several ways in a Christmas Carol, coming mainly during times of hardship or following redemptions. There is Four main sections of key generosity with smaller incidents along the way; **Fred’s Invitation ** , Cratchits Christmas Celebration Fezziwig’s Party Scrooge at the End
Fred Invitation
- Occurs in Act 1 Of the novella, when Fred interrupts scrooge and offers him an invite to join him to celebrate Christmas with his guests, Scrooge declines this but the generosity from Fred to invite him during Scrooges Hostilities signifies the Christmas Spirit.
How is change presented in ACC
Ghost of Christmas Past
Ghost of Xmas Present
Ghost of Xmas yet to come
Ghost of Marley
Marley’s ghost is the first ghost that Scrooge encounters, It’s significant to show that to break down Scrooge’s wall of greed it required a personal reference to Scrooge
Key quotes
**“I wear the chain I forged in life” **
- Shows that marley is living with the results of his actions in life.
- The “chain” shows that his actions have locked him down almost imprisoned him, Mocking Scrooge for wanting to imprison the poor while he friend Marley has been imprisoned because of his deeds
- Shows he is Post life but still alive e.g supernatural powers
“In life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money changing hole”
- zoomorphic imagery to show that their acts are animalistic
- shows the change that has occurred only after death, the concept that their greed is not excusable in life and only death they will be forgiven.
- First idea of a message being provided to Scrooge for change
- Narrow minded shows how in life he was focused purely on money to care but not his purpose has changed to help care for people and redeem actions of others.
15 Key Words
15 Key words related to a Christmas Carol
Word One: Altruism
Definition :
- Putting others’ needs before your own
Example : Scrooge learns the value of altruism
Word Two: Parsimonious
Definition :
- Unwilling to spend money or resources
Example :
- Scrooge in the beginning is Parsimonious as he will not donate to charity
Word Three: Political Diatribe
Definition :
- A strong criticism of pollical ideas or beliefs
Example :
- A Political diatribe against the poor Laws and the the workhouses
Word Four: Apathetic
Definition :
- Showing no Interest or care
Example :
- Scrooge is Apathetic towards the struggle of the poor in the beginning
Word Five: Remorseless
Definition :
- To not feel any sorry for doing something wrong. Claiming no guilt
Example :
- Scrooge is remorseless at the start, indifferent to the suffering of the poor
Word Six: Prolepsis
Definition :
- Hinting at something or showing future events
Example :
- Ghost of Christmas yet to come is a Prolepsis of scrooges lonely death to come
Word Seven: Covetous
Definition :
- Having a strong desire for wealth or possessions
Example :
- Scrooges covetous nature isolates him from others
Word Eight: Transmogrification
Definition :
- Complete or dramatic change
Example :
- Scrooge makes a transmogrification change throughout the play
Word Nine: Anti-Malthusian
Definition :
- Rejecting the idea that the population growth leads to poverty
Example :
- Dickens hold heavy, anti-Malthusian views as compassion can address poverty
Word Ten: Scrupulous
Definition :
- Having or lacking moral principles
Example :
- Scrooges unscrupulous treatment of bob cratchit reflects his lack of morals
Word Eleven: Magnanimous
Definition :
- Very Generous
Example :
- Scrooge changes to become magnanimous in the end of the play
Word Twelve: Didactic
Definition :
- designed to teach a moral lesson
Example :
- Dickens creates a didactic play to support compassion
Word Thirteen: Misanthropic
Definition :
- Disliking or avoiding other people
Example :
- Scrooge in the beginning is misanthropic of society
Word Fourteen: Phantasmal
Definition :
- Relating to or resembling a ghost
Example :
- Bob Marley and the 3 other ghosts
Word Fifteen: Dramatic vehicle
Definition :
- A technique or character used to communicate an idea
Example :
- Ghost is a dramatic vehicle to deliver dickens message of compassion
Context
5 Contextual ideas to use in Essays
Context One: Industrial Revolution
- Shift from farming to factories, creating jobs and boosting production but lead to pollution, child labor and harsh conditions
Dickens address the expiatory schemes of industrial England and the ideas that the poor were neglected by the rich for personal goal and the idea that compassion was being lost.
Bob Cratchit is effected the most as he is exploited by scrooge into working for a low wage
Context Two : Charles Dickens
- Dickens, once poor used a Christmas carol to expose the exploitation of children and the poor, its inspired by a report on child labour.
- Dickens own experience of the poor and the neglect of society for working and the ideas that change was bringing is used to emphasis the drastic change we need.
Context Three: Thomas Malthus
- Economist who argued population growth led to inevitable poverty and starvation due to food shortages
- Ideas of a surplus population as clear and voiced through the early scrooge who is the antagonist suggesting that Malthus is an enemy of Dickens
Context Four : Poor Laws
- Introduced workhouses where the poor were exploited and punished for being poor, high mortality rates.
- Made it so it was illegal to ask for a pay rise which would be going against what Bob asks scrooge for.
Context Five : Victorian Mortality
- In Victorian times moriatility was rooted in religion with redemption tied to confessing ands avoiding the seven deadly sins.
- Conflicts with the innocence’s of tiny Tim who has not yet sinned but is punished by his immanent death
