Belle

Question 1

What does Belle symbolise as a construct?

Answer 1

• symbolises Scrooge’s potential opportunity for happiness which he exchanged for wealth
• conveys to the reader Scrooge’s moral degradation

Question 2

‘near to the winter fire’

Answer 2

• ‘fire’ is symbolic throughout the five stave novella
• metaphor for emotional warmth and Christmas spirit
• represents the integrity and morality of Belle

Question 3

´fair young girl in a mourning dress’

Answer 3

• verb ‘mourning’ denotes a loss
• loss is Scrooge losing himself to his avaricious desire for material wealth
• Belle has lost the person she fell in love with
• marks Scrooge’s shift from a caring man to a ‘covetous old sinner’

Question 4

‘another idol has displaced me… a golden one’

Answer 4

• noun ‘idol’ depicts material object representing a deity that is worshipped or glorified
• marks the birth of Scrooge’s rapacious devotion to money and ‘gold’
• religious connotations are that in the Industrial Revolution, capitalism glorified and idealised the concept of wealth being the ultimate goal as opposed to spiritual welfare with God - Belle is Dicken’s religious mouthpiece for the ‘displaced’ significance of religion

Question 5

Her name - ‘Belle’

Answer 5

• short form of Isabella
• associated with the word beautiful
• the origin the baby name ‘Isobelle’ is of Latin origin and a short form of Elizabeth, ‘God is my oath’
• promising you say what you know to the the truth

Question 6

‘Master passion, Gain, engrossed you’

Answer 6

Stem word, ‘gross’ suggests extreme and greedy
• reminds us of the disgusting and shocking nature of scrooges obsession
• passion = suffering