jacob marley Flashcards
jacob marley’s characterisation
-marley has been dead for seven years
-he had only one friend/associate (scrooge) who was also his business partner
-business was marley’s only concern in life
-only scrooge mourned him
-physical representation of the belief in purgatory & the importance of repentance and redemption
-in between death and heaven where he must be until he has repented his sins and can go to heaven
-he can be seen as a deterrent, he exemplifies the fate scrooge will face if he fails to change
-the reason his warning resonates with scrooge is due to their close relationship
-catalyst for scrooge’s change
-he instils fear in scrooge (‘terrible sensation’ after marley’s visit), this gives scrooge a chance at redemption
‘I wear the chain I forged in life…I girded it on of my own free will’
[stave 1]
verbs: ‘I wear’
↳ suggests that he does it willingly
↳ something that is worn can be taken off & suggests that he could’ve easily reversed his fate if he had been a kinder person, this is supported by the fact that marley is in purgatory, he must pay back for his sins, however it also shows hope for a better futurw
verb: ‘I forged’
↳ marley understands that his fate is his owns fault & that his cruel actions led to his fate of walking between life & death
↳ forged suggests making something by heating it in a fire and hammering it, this means that the chain took lots of force, energy & heat to make & shows how dickens believes that being misanthropic & cruel takes more energy than being kind to someone
verb: ‘girded’
↳ to encircle oneself or to prepare oneself for something difficult or challenging
↳ suggests that marley was aware of his fate during his life but was completely unwilling to change
biblical reference: ‘free will’
↳ humans’ evil comes from their own selves, marley was given‘freewill but abused it & is in eternal punishment
personal pronouns: ‘I forged’, ‘I girded’
↳ emphasise acceptance of responsibility
‘mankind was my business…the dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business’ [stave 1]
metaphor: ‘’mankind was my business’
↳ reflects how the rich have the responsibility to take care of others in society
↳ business is an activity that someone is engaged or a person’s concern
juxtaposition: ‘water’ vs ‘ocean’
↳ emphasises how much dickens thinks should be done for the others in society
biblical imagery: ‘water’, ‘ocean’
↳ baptism, sims are washed away, christian’s are brought back to a state of innocence, marley is saying that it isn’t too late to revert to innocence & be one good
scrooge & jacobs relationship
-dickens draws parallels between the two characters, likening them to such an extent that scrooge “answered to both names”
-he pays close attention to Marley’s isolation from society (which reflects similarly onto Scrooge) and shows that srrooge was central to his life
-he repeats that scrooge was his “sole” executor, administrator, friend and mourner, and even he was not very sad at the death
-both characters are portrayed as unappealing by dickens
-this arguably causes the reader to feel an initial dislike towards Scrooge, as his lack of emotion towards the death of someone so central to his life characterises him as hard and unfeeling
-in this way, his relationship with marley helps the reader to gain a better understanding of his character, as they realise his isolation and apathetic nature
