We learn from all the spirits that Scrooge, for all his enormous wealth, has led a very unhappy life. Thanks to Jacob Marley we know that young Ebenezer had the reputation of a hot-shot businessman, who in partnership with Marley made an absolute fortune. Unfortunately, what Scrooge gained in wealth he lost in terms of his soul. His insatiable greed meant that he never had any close friends and that he wrecked his chances of getting married. Marley, his ghost now forced to wear the shackles of greed for all eternity, was a similarly unpleasant character, but now his spirit wants his former business partner to repent of his sins before it's too late and ends up suffering a similar fate.
From the Ghost of Christmas Past, we learn that Scrooge had a pretty miserable childhood. While all the other boys were at home enjoying Christmas with their families, young Ebenezer was forced to spend the festive season alone at his boarding school. However, one Christmas, his beloved sister Fen came to bring him home for the holidays; apparently their father had finally changed his mind and decided to let Ebenezer spend Christmas in the bosom of his family.
From then, until he became a successful businessman, Scrooge really used to enjoy Christmas, having a whale of a time at his employer Mr. Fezziwig's parties. But when Scrooge left Mr. Fezziwig to join one of his business rivals for much better pay, the iron began to creep into his soul and he gradually turned into the mean-spirited old skinflint we see at the start of the book. Money started to mean everything to Scrooge, so much so that he had no time to enjoy life. He came to regard Christmas with utter contempt. He saw it as nothing more than a load of old humbug.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the consequences of his miserliness and greed. He takes him to the house of Bob Cratchit, his underpaid, over-worked employee. Although the Cratchits are dirt poor, they still manage to create a warm and loving home environment. Scrooge is genuinely shocked to see the condition of poor Tiny Tim, who will die if he doesn't receive proper medical care.
Scrooge has spent the whole of his adult life willfully ignoring the appalling squalor and poverty around him. Now, for the first time, he's been forced to confront the deprivation that so many of his fellow Londoners have to endure on a daily basis. And when The Ghost introduces Scrooge to the figures of Want and Ignorance—half-starved, unwashed children in rags—he must face up to the consequences of his mean-spirited attitude to those less fortunate than himself. In a powerful retort to Scrooge's enquiry as to whether the children have no refuge or resource, the Ghost throws Scrooge's callous words right back at him, the words he spoke with such unfeeling contempt at the charity collectors in Stave One:
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
what do we learn of scrooges life when he is visited by jacob marleys ghost and the ghosts of christmas past and present
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