A CHRISTMAS CAROL

CHARACTERS
 Ebenezer Scrooge
•At the beginning of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is an old man who focuses on money and
profit and doesn’t care about other human beings. He is solitary, not caring for family or
friendship.
• He finds any reference to Christmas irritating, because he sees the holiday as a mere
distraction from business.
• He is rude to his nephew, refusing to eat Christmas dinner with him, and underpays his
clerk Bob Cratchit.
• He expresses his disregard for human suffering when he refuses to contribute to
charity, saying that the poor belong in prisons and workhouses, or even that they
should die.
•But Scrooge is shaken by the appearance of Jacob Marley’s ghost.
• Marley, his former business partner, has come to warn him of the misery he faces in the
afterlife if he doesn’t change his ways and contribute more to the common welfare.
•The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge scenes from his childhood, reminding him of
the lonely little boy he used to be.
• Scrooge’s father was an unkind man who didn’t let him come home from school
for the holidays.
• For company, young Scrooge used to read books and would vividly imagine the
fictional characters so much so that he felt like they kept him company.
• Seeing his childhood self and his affectionate sister Fan starts to soften
Scrooge’s heart.
• As a young man, Scrooge had a happy apprenticeship under the kindly Fezziwig
and became engaged to a beautiful girl named Belle.
• Avarice changed him so much that Belle broke off their engagement.
• Looking back at this memory and what he lost, Scrooge feels remorse for his
mistakes.
•The Ghost of Christmas Present further instructs Scrooge in human sympathy
and the Christmas spirit, particularly by showing him the poor but loving
Cratchits enjoying their modest Christmas dinner.
• Scrooge becomes especially concerned about the fate of Cratchit’s sickly
son Tiny Tim and can’t bear the thought that the boy may die.
•The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come foreshadows how Scrooge will die alone
and unmourned.
• Scrooge pleads that he has changed and needs a chance to avert this fate.
• When he wakes up into his normal life, he is filled with gratitude and
exuberance.
• He has learned from his experience, and becomes a generous, kind, friendly
man who contributes to the common good.
Ghost of Christmas Past
•The Ghost of Christmas Past is the first spirit to haunt Scrooge.
• It tells Scrooge it has come for the sake of his “reclamation.”
• In appearance it is small, and combines features of youth and
old age.
• It thus simultaneously represents childhood and also the long
passage of time.
• A light shines from its head, representing the
enlightenment that memory can provide if we learn from
the past.
• It sometimes dims this light by wearing a candle-snuffer as
a cap.
•The ghost shows Scrooge scenes from many Christmases in his past, and its attitude
toward him seems generally sympathetic but also does not spare him from hard
lessons.
• It reminds Scrooge of his sister and makes him feel guilty for not treating his
nephew better.
• It shows him Fezziwig’s generosity as an employer makes him feel uneasy
about his treatment of his clerk, Bob Cratchit.
•The Ghost shows Scrooge how his love of money caused him to lose Belle, and the
happy family she could have given him.
• Scrooge doesn’t want to see any more. He tries to extinguish the Ghost’s light
with the candle-snuffer it carries.
• Although he covers the spirit’s entire form with it, the light from the spirit’s
head still beams from underneath it, indicating that the illumination of
Scrooge’s conscience, which the Ghost has begun, cannot be undone .
Ghost of Christmas Past
•Scrooge is alerted to the presence of the “jolly giant,” the Ghost
of Christmas Present, by a light blazing from the other room.
• This ghost is surrounded by a banquet of food.
• He carries a torch, which contains a substance with which he
seasons the food of the poor to make their meals better.
• A sprinkling of this substance on people quarelling also
returns their fellow-feeling and Christmas spirit.
•This ghost visits sickbeds, prisons, and almshouses, blessing the
suffering people he finds there.
• He teaches Scrooge by example the importance of sympathy.
•The ghost inspires remorse in Scrooge by reminding him of his
previous uncharitable comments about the poor.
•The ghost decries social injustice.
• The children Want and Ignorance, which he points out are the
creations of mankind, shelter under his robe. He foretells doom if
society continues to ignore the danger posed by Ignorance and
Want.
•The ghost ages and dies quite quickly
• This represents the brief span of time that is the current Christmas.
• The text suggests he will be replaced in his role by one of his
brothers each year.
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
•The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is mysterious and almost
sinister.
• Scrooge admits he is more afraid of this ghost than of any
of the previous ones.
• Scrooge pleads with the spirit to speak to him, but it does
not, even when Scrooge begs for reassurance that he can
alter the future he is being shown.
• However, the ghost’s hand begins to shake as Scrooge
grabs hold of it and pleads, suggesting that perhaps it feels
pity and is moved by his words.
•This ghost shows Scrooge how unaffected anyone will be by
his death.
• One couple even feels relief that Scrooge, their creditor, will
no longer pursue them.
•The ghost shows Scrooge his own corpse, unsuccessfully
inviting him to lift the cover on its face, and his gravestone.
•These revelations shock Scrooge into realizing the urgency of
changing his ways, and he begs the Ghost for the chance to do
so.
Tiny Tim
•Tiny Tim is the son of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s clerk.
• He is especially beloved by his father.
• He is sick and has to use a crutch, but remains cheerful
and patient.
• Tiny Tim exemplifies the Christmas spirit, especially
with his words, “God bless us, every one!”
•At church, he says he wants others to see him so they will
remember the one who made the lame walk and the blind
see.
•Tiny Tim inspires sympathy in Scrooge, who asks the Ghost of
Christmas Present what will happen to him.
• The Ghost says if nothing changes Tiny Tim will be dead within
the year.
• The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge the
sadness of Bob and the rest of the Cratchit family after Tiny
Tim’s death. Despite their grief, they pledge to always
remember his example.
• Scrooge decides to become a benefactor to the Cratchits, and
Tiny Tim does not die. Scrooge even becomes like a second
father to him.
Bob Cratchit
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge’s meek, cheerful clerk.
• Scrooge underpays him and doesn’t even give him enough
coal to keep warm at work.
•Although he is poor, Bob’s home life is happy as his family is
loving. His family celebrates Christmas cheerfully.
• Bob is very concerned about the illness from which his son
Tiny Tim suffers.
•After Scrooge’s change of heart, Scrooge promotes Bob and
becomes a benefactor to his family.
Jacob Marley
•Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s business partner for many years. He was as selfish and
avaricious as Scrooge.
•Marly appears to Scrooge as a ghost on Christmas Eve, seven years to the day after his
death, wrapped in a huge, heavy chain.
• He says he must wander the earth dragging this chain because he created it in life through
his lack of care for his fellow man.
• He tells Scrooge that Scrooge has been forging his own chain, which is now even heavier
than Marley’s.

•Marley exists now as one of many ghosts who lament that they have lost the opportunity
to benefit others as they should have done in life.
•Marley tells Scrooge he wants to help him escape sharing his fate. He tells him that he
will send three ghosts to haunt him, and they arrive as he predicts.
Fred
•Fred is Scrooge’s nephew, the son of Scrooge’s sister, Fan. He is a cheerful and good-
natured young man, although of modest means, and has recently married.
•Fred tells his party guests that he still wants to invite Scrooge to Christmas dinner every
year to give him the chance to think better of Christmas.
• Fred laughs at Scrooge with his guests, and makes fun of him in a game, but he is
fundamentally kind-hearted and wants his uncle to be happier.

•In the future that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge, the clerk Bob
Cratchit tells his family about the kindness Fred showed him.
• Fred showed deep sympathy on hearing that Tiny Tim had died and offered to help in any
way he could.

•Fred readily forgives his changed uncle at the novel’s end and welcomes him to
Christmas dinner.
Belle
•Belle was Scrooge’s fiance when he was a young man getting
started in business. She had little money but was beautiful.
•In the memory the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge, Belle is
dressed in mourning, although it is not stated who has died.
• In the memory, Belle tells Scrooge that he has changed, and
now loves money more than he loves her.
• She breaks off their engagement, although she truly loves him.
•The Ghost of Christmas Past also shows Scrooge a vision of Belle in
the more recent past as a matron married to someone else. She has
many children, one of them a beautiful daughter resembling her
younger self.
Fezziwig
•Fezziwig was Scrooge’s employer when he was a young
apprentice.
• He was a jovial man, generous and kind with his
employees.
•In the memory shown to Scrooge, he invites his
apprentices to join the guests at his Christmas party,
where he and Mrs. Fezziwig dance a lively dance.
• This memory makes Scrooge realize how poorly he
treats his own employee in comparison.
Fan
•Fan was Scrooge’s sister and Fred’s mother.
• In a memory Scrooge is shown, Fan speaks to him
with great affection and is excited that he can come
home from school for the holidays.
•She had a “large heart,” as the Ghost of Christmas Past
reminds Scrooge.
•Fan was physically delicate and has died by the time A
Christmas Carol starts.