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A Christmas Carol is a funny book when it comes to characters. It's almost an ensemble piece (which means it had loads of great characters) but it's mainly focused on Scrooge. Scrooge is in every scene, and the other characters are only measured on the impact they have on Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol is a funny book when it comes to characters. It's almost an ensemble piece (which means it had loads of great characters) but it's mainly focused on Scrooge. Scrooge is in every scene, and the other characters are only measured on the impact they have on Scrooge.
Despite this, there are some AMAZING characters here - because whatever else you can say about him, Dickens definitely knew how to create a fun character!
Despite this, there are some AMAZING characters here - because whatever else you can say about him, Dickens definitely knew how to create a fun character!
Charicatures
Charicatures
It's worth remembering that A Christmas Carol isn't really a 'serious' book; it's more like the Victorian equivalent of a feel-good Hollywood Christmas blockbuster. Though the characters are complex in many ways, they're all too cliched to be seen as realistic. They're not real people, they're charicatures - like the picture to the left here.
All their good points and faults are exaggerated in a way that never happens with real people. But if you pretend that characters need to be realistic to be taken seriously, you're missing something important about fiction and literature in general.
Ebenezer Scrooge is the owner of a counting-house, which means he's the Victorian version of a loan shark: he lends money to poor people at ridiculously high levels of interest and then puts them in prison if they can't pay. Throughout the story he learns not to be such a horrible person. Which is a relief for everyone else, and, as it happens, Scrooge is a lot happier about it too!
Ebenezer Scrooge is the owner of a counting-house, which means he's the Victorian version of a loan shark: he lends money to poor people at ridiculously high levels of interest and then puts them in prison if they can't pay. Throughout the story he learns not to be such a horrible person. Which is a relief for everyone else, and, as it happens, Scrooge is a lot happier about it too!
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's hardworking help. He works hard for Scrooge, earns a pittance, and supports a large family on the back of it. Throughout the story, Bob's chipper nature teaches Scrooge important things about the real value of money. Bob has not but is happy; Scrooge has loads but is miserable.
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's hardworking help. He works hard for Scrooge, earns a pittance, and supports a large family on the back of it. Throughout the story, Bob's chipper nature teaches Scrooge important things about the real value of money. Bob has not but is happy; Scrooge has loads but is miserable.
Jacob Marley was Scrooge's partner - equally miserly, equally horrible, BUT Jacob died first which meant that Jacob learnt the real cost of what they'd done. At the beginning of the story, Jacob's ghost arrives and tells Scrooge what a terrible fate awaits him if he doesn't change.
Jacob Marley was Scrooge's partner - equally miserly, equally horrible, BUT Jacob died first which meant that Jacob learnt the real cost of what they'd done. At the beginning of the story, Jacob's ghost arrives and tells Scrooge what a terrible fate awaits him if he doesn't change.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
The first spirit to visit Scrooge, a curious apparition that might be a candle and a symbol of memories and even time itself. He takes Scrooge on a tour of Christmases in his past. Scrooge snuffs out his light in the end as a symbol of him moving on from his past.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
The first spirit to visit Scrooge, a curious apparition that might be a candle and a symbol of memories and even time itself. He takes Scrooge on a tour of Christmases in his past. Scrooge snuffs out his light in the end as a symbol of him moving on from his past.
The Ghost of Christmas Present
The second spirit to visit Scrooge is a majestic giant clad in a green robe - very similar to the Pagan God The Green Man (and father Christmas, as it happens.) He escorts Scrooge on a tour of his contemporaries' Holiday celebrations. His lifespan is restricted to Christmas Day.
The Ghost of Christmas Present
The second spirit to visit Scrooge is a majestic giant clad in a green robe - very similar to the Pagan God The Green Man (and father Christmas, as it happens.) He escorts Scrooge on a tour of his contemporaries' Holiday celebrations. His lifespan is restricted to Christmas Day.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The third and final spirit to visit Scrooge is a silent phantom clad in a hooded black robe - he's basically the Grim Reaper (also known simply as Death). He presents Scrooge with an ominous view of his lonely death.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The third and final spirit to visit Scrooge is a silent phantom clad in a hooded black robe - he's basically the Grim Reaper (also known simply as Death). He presents Scrooge with an ominous view of his lonely death.
Tiny Tim
Bob Cratchit's young son is crippled - we don't find out what happened to him - but he's endlessly optimistic. He's a kind of benchmark against who we should set our standards: basically, if you're not the crippled son of a poor Victorian, get over yourself and enjoy life!
Tiny Tim
Bob Cratchit's young son is crippled - we don't find out what happened to him - but he's endlessly optimistic. He's a kind of benchmark against who we should set our standards: basically, if you're not the crippled son of a poor Victorian, get over yourself and enjoy life!
Fred
Fred is another happy soul. He embodies the spirit that Dickens wanted to imbue us all with - a reminder that "Christmas is a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!" That speech was what Dickens called his Carol Philosophy.
Fezziwig
A man who's every bit as fun as his name makes him sound - he turns up, hosts a rave, and then disappears again. What a legend!
Fezziwig
A man who's every bit as fun as his name makes him sound - he turns up, hosts a rave, and then disappears again. What a legend!
Belle
Scrooge really loved Belle, but she knew better: she knew that, really, Scrooge only loved money. So she left him, and the Ghost of Christmas Past MADE Scrooge see how happy Belle became!
Belle
Scrooge really loved Belle, but she knew better: she knew that, really, Scrooge only loved money. So she left him, and the Ghost of Christmas Past MADE Scrooge see how happy Belle became!
Fan
Scrooge's sister; Fred's mother. In Scrooge's vision of Christmases past, Fanny saved him. She also mentioned that his dad was quite scary, (possibly suggests abuse?) but the fact remains that it was Fanny who saved Scrooge when he was young.
Fan
Scrooge's sister; Fred's mother. In Scrooge's vision of Christmases past, Fanny saved him. She also mentioned that his dad was quite scary, (possibly suggests abuse?) but the fact remains that it was Fanny who saved Scrooge when he was young.
Dick Wilkins
If Fanny saved Scrooge when he was young, it was Dick that saved him later on. Dick was Scrooge's best friend while he started work, and this was the case right up until the moment that Scrooge and Belle-end. And that's why hyphens are important.
Dick Wilkins
If Fanny saved Scrooge when he was young, it was Dick that saved him later on. Dick was Scrooge's best friend while he started work, and this was the case right up until the moment that Scrooge and Belle-end. And that's why hyphens are important.
The Portly Gentlemen
Portly means large, rotund, well built. Dickens doesn't give these guys names, he just mentions the fact that they're fat. These characters are basically called "The Fat Guys." Dickens does this to highlight the fact that, although they were collecting for charity, they certainly weren't suffering for their cause.
The Portly Gentlemen
Portly means large, rotund, well built. Dickens doesn't give these guys names, he just mentions the fact that they're fat. These characters are basically called "The Fat Guys." Dickens does this to highlight the fact that, although they were collecting for charity, they certainly weren't suffering for their cause.
Mrs. Cratchit
It's worth noting that, other than Belle, all the female characters in this book are only known by their husbands name. It was a sign of the times, but it's worth mentioning...
Mrs. Cratchit
It's worth noting that, other than Belle, all the female characters in this book are only known by their husbands name. It was a sign of the times, but it's worth mentioning...
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