Ghosts Key Themes Flashcards
Dickens intentions with ghosts
Crafts ghosts as vehicles for conveying his condemnation of ignorance and callousness among the materialistic upper classes.
Ghosts serve as dickens mouthpiece delivering a powerful message advocating for compassion
Each ghost effect
Each ghost has a comical and entertaining element, dickens subtly yet effectively depict corrosive impact of greed and apathy
•however,through Scrooges transformation, dickens utilises the ghosts to show the potential for reversing this damage. They serve as symbols for positive social change
MARLEY: ‘ I wear the chain I forged in life- I made it link by link’
SELFISHNESS/MATERIALISM
SUPERNATURAL
RELIGION
REGRET/REDEMTION
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
Symbolism of chains:chains made of links, which are all interconnected, Marley warning Scrooge that his covetousness and abandonment of compassion for other, are interconnected to his anguish
•Marley is symbolic of eternal consequences of his pursuit in materialism- in his life on earth he shunned poverty and was avaricious, thus in afterlife he experienced spiritual poverty
•chain symbolises restriction and entrapment-chain is a conceit for restricting consequences of being parsimonious and perpetuating social injustice
•personal pronoun ‘I’-Marley acknowledges with remorse the consequences of his personal and selfish pursuit of wealth,leading to his eternal damnation
•serves as a cautionary tale to Scrooge and dickens readership-redemption isn’t accessible for those who are avaricious
Marley-mankind was my business
SELFISHNESS/MATERIALISM
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
REGRET/REDEMPTION
KINDNESS/FAMILY
Economical language: dominates both Scrooge and marleys dialogue-critique of society’s obsession with material wealth and pursuit of profit
•Marley dickens first mouthpiece-articulating the priority of collective social conscience and compassion over materialistic concerns
•juxtaposition highlights irony of people like Scrooge, who conflate material wealth with societal value. Foreshadows grim fate awaiting Scrooge- eternal punishment- and to be reduced to mere economic terms upon his death ‘cheap funeral’
•Syntax-mankind precedes business, indicating the hierarchal order of values Scrooge and others should prioritise
•marleys punishment is a catalyst for the purpose of change and that compassion should take place over materlialism
‘It was a strange figure-like a child:yet not so like a child as like an old man’
SUPERNATURAL
KINDNESS/FAMILY
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
Juxtaposition between ‘child and old man- metaphorical for Scrooge. He appears physically alike to an ‘old man’ as he is branded an ‘old sinner’ yet is vulnerable and isolated like how he was as a ‘child’
•contrast underpins interconnectedness of time, past shapes the present and influences the future. By revisiting Scrooges childhood, ghost aims to catalyse a regression in him to prompt a return to his former passionate self-set on path to redemption
•Context about age + times: the mixture of both youth and age was a fascination within Victorian era-their emphasis on youth of children caused a parallel interest to those in older age
•by presenting ghost as amalgamation of youthfulness and old age, dickens captures fascination of his readership allowing him to emphasise the motif of time through the novella
•this motif, personified through GOP,P+F used to show the timelessness of the message of moral growth, compassion
‘Bright clear jet of light’ ‘purest white’
SUPERNATURAL
RELIGION
REGRET/REDEMPTION
Motif of light: permeates through novella,illuminates character such as Fred, GOCP and present, all of whom play a role in encouraging Scrooges transformation
•’light’ evokes hope and radiance, symbolises how ghost is beacon of enlightenment, tasked with illuminating Scrooges path towards moral awakening and personal transformation
•ghosts purpose is to reveal to Scrooge by choosing redemption, he can be saved from sin
•’purest’ celestial image: creates celestial image of heaven and purity from sin. Ghost wears ‘tunic’ it suggests Ghosts aim is to resurface Scrooges repressed memories and emotions to purify him so he is ready to access heaven
•celestial symbolism serves dual purpose: FORESHADOW Scrooges journey to moral redemption while emphasising theme of FORGIVENESS. Dickens suggests nobody is beyond redemption, regardless of past sins
‘Glowing torch in shape, not unlike plenty’s horn’
SELFISHNESS/MATERIALISM
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
SUPERNATURAL
‘Plenty’s horn’: Latin term is ‘cornucopia’ symbolises nourishment and abundance. Highlights a message about the mindset that causes social inequality- abundance of resources to be shared, and social neglect+malnourishment are unjustifiable in a world of plenty
•direct critique of Malthusian views, which disregard the suffering of poor and destitute as inevitable, yet ghost shows that there is ample wealth to end suffering
•motif of light:bad ghost holds the emblem of torch, intensifying recurring motif of light, symbolises both physical and symbolic illumination Scrooge will undergo
•Illumination reflects ghosts omnipotence, to reveal negative impacts of social neglect
•Cratchits are symbolism of exploited poor-ghost uses them to awaken Scrooge to the abundance of resources that must be shared in society
‘If he had rather die, he better do it and decrease the surplus population’
SELFISHNESS/MATERIALISM
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
REGRET/REDEMPTION
KINDNESS/FAMILY
Repetition:Ghost repeats Scrooges earlier quote from stave 1,emphasising his callous neglect and ignorance towards plight of lower classes. Scrooges adoption of Malthusian views means poverty, starvation are heartlessly dismissed as inevitable outcomes of ‘surplus population’
•The ghost, symbol of equality, repeats it back to illustrate the inhumanity present in such apathetic and ignorant perspectives, compelling readers to confront the moral implications of societal indifference towards suffering
•Plosives: harsh plosives accentuates harsh callousness of upper class views towards the poor
•this belligerence causes the exploitation of the most innocent in society-children
It was a worthy place.. overrun by grass and weeds
SELFISHNESS/MATERIALISM
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
RELIGION
Decaying semantic field: ‘overrun’ etc. Creates semantic field, mocking commentary on Scrooges life. Ironically, the vitality of life of surrounding plants highlights his own insignificance
•Serves as criticism of his materialistic existence, he has become even more insignificant than decaying plants surrounding his grave
•Through ghosts portrayal of Scrooges proleptic death, Dickens emphasises dire consequences of neglecting one’s moral duties- they lead to eternal neglect
•exclamative sentence ‘a worthy place!’ Karmic retribution, where Scrooges frugal and miserly existence is met with just punishment
•Hellish undertone to this, evoking sense of divine justice
•Victorian reader would find comfort to Scrooges punishment due to strong religious beliefs-eternal damnation and judgement was deeply feared by society.
