supernatural Flashcards
“piercing, searching, biting cold” (about the weather)
The personification of the weather makes the weather seem powerful; this could be an allusion to the forthcoming supernatural powers to come.
“he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head.”
Scrooge rejects the redemption the supernatural power of the ghost is trying to offer him. Scrooge wants to exterminate this bright light, symbolising revelation and hope, due him unable to confront his pain from the past. The aggressive verb
“pressed”, paired with the rapid adverb of
“sudden”, explores how Scrooge is engulfed with deeply repressed emotions, he acts out irrationally due to sheer panic.
“Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit”
Scrooge appears submissive to the ghost, open and welcoming the idea of his moral and spiritual awakening. He, for the first time, shows remorse and obedience- his resistance to the supernatural is diminishing and he is now willing to change.
“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me”.
Scrooges realisation marks the climax of the allegorical novella. The concept of “three” could be a biblical allusion to the three different forms of God within the holy trinity: the father, the son and the holy spirit. This could emphasise how the three ghosts almost acted as incarnations of God himself-relaying a moral and religious message that penetrated deeply within Scrooge. AND it gives scrooge his christian values which he must obtain in order to assimilate into society and this will allow him to finally redeem himself
“Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face”
Scrooge is horrified through the gothic supernatural presentation of marley. marley is portrayed as conforming to the archetype of a ghost, horrifying in appearance and pained in its suffering, to try eliciting a reaction from Scrooge to catalyse a change.
“It was a strange figure-like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man”
The ghost is presented as paradoxical and conflicting, not conforming to the physical ideas of the human world. The juxtaposition of it being “like a child” and simultaneously “like an old man” is metaphorical for scrooge. he appears physically alike to an “old man” as he is branded an ‘old sinner’
yet is vulnerable and isolated akin to how he was as a “child”
“shrouded in a deep black garment”
This is reminiscent of the description of the grim reaper, a symbol of death as he was believed to collect people’s souls. The alikeness in description is suggestive that Scrooge’s chances of redemption have vanished, and he is now going to be mercilessly taken to his hellish death.
“solemn dread”
This supernatural dread is key in Scrooge’s emancipation (freedom) as it allows Scrooge to fear the inevitable future he will face if he continues to be shrouded in his own internal darkness.
“Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him”.
His utter terror is so powerful it does not just evoke an emotional reaction from Scrooge, but a physical one. The alliteration” draws emphasis on the mysteriousness of the ghost, its faceless figure makes Scrooge lose all composure this quote could also be used for regret).
