Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol Essay

INTRODUCTIONA Christmas Carol (1843) is one of the near recognizable stories in English literature. With its numerous literary, stage, television, radio, and cinematic adaptations, the tale has develop a holiday classic, and the character Ebenezer Scrooge has become a ethnical icon. First published in 1843, the novella garnered immediate critical and commercial message attention and is credited with reviving interest in charitable endeavors, the contingent perils of economic success, and festive traditions of the Christmas season. It is the first work in Dickenss series of Christmas stories known collectively as the Christmas Books, as well as the most popular and enduring.Plot and Major CharactersSet in the 1840s on Christmas Eve, A Christmas Carol chronicles the personal transformation of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, the proprietor of a capital of the United Kingdom counting house. A wealthy, elderly man, Scrooge is considered miserly and misanthropic he has no wife or c hildren he throws out two manpower collecting for charity he bullies and underpays his loyal clerk, Bob Cratchit and he dismisses the Christmas dinner invitation of his kind nephew, Fred. Moreover, Scrooge is a strong supporter of the Poor police of 1834, which allowed the poor to be interned in workhouses.As he prepares for bed on Christmas Eve in his solitary, dark chambers, Scrooge is visited by the contact of his former partner, Jacob Marley. In life Marley was very similar in attitude and temper to Scrooge remote, cruel, and parsimonious. In death he has learned the value of pity and warns Scrooge to reform his ways before it is too late. Marley announces that Scrooge exit be visited by three more specters the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.The tracing of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his unhappy childhood, revealing that the young sons experiences with poverty and abandonment inspired a desire to postdate and gain material advantage. Unfor tunately, Scrooges burgeoning ambition and greed destroy his relationship with his fiance and his friends. The Ghost of Christmas Present is represented by a hearty, genial man who reminds Scrooge of the joy of human companionship, which he has spurned in favor of his misanthropic existence.Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears in a dark robe and shrouded in mystery. Silently, the ghost reveals the ambivalent chemical reaction to news of Scrooges own death. Scrooge realizes that he allow for die alone and without love, and that he has the power and money to help those virtually himespecially Bob Cratchits ailing son, Tiny Tim. Scrooge begs the ghost for another chance and wakes in his bed on Christmas morning, resolved to ever-changing his life by being generous and loving to his family, employees, and the poor.Major ThemesA Christmas Carol has been deemed a biting piece of social commentary by some. Critics have underscored the scathing criticism of 1840s London, an economically and socially stratified urban center that Dickens believed imprisoned its poor and oppressed its lower classes. The prevailing socio-economic guess of that time held that anyone who was in debt should be put in a poorhouse. In his degree, Dickens contended that the reformation of such a materialistic, shallow auberge faecal matter be achieved gradually through the spiritual transformation of each individual.The fiction is well regarded for its expression of a fundamental faith in almsgiving and its unflagging censure of social injustice, which was inspired by Dickenss troubled background and his visit to the Cornish tin mines where he ascertained young children laboring under appalling conditions. As Scrooge transforms from a cruel, embittered miser to a kindly philanthropist, Dickens advocates a more forgiving, generous society that values spiritual growth, not material wealth. Other major thematic concerns in A Christmas Carol include the role of memory, the importance of family, and the soul-deadening loading of greed on the human spirit.Critical ReceptionUpon its initial publication, A Christmas Carol was greeted with mixed reviews. Some commentators derided the tale as too ho winder and laden with exaggeration other critics maintained that A Christmas Carol lacked the complexity of Dickenss later work. Yet the novella remains a Christmas favorite. Commentators praise Dickenss evocative portrayal of 1840s London and his torrid exploration of social and political issues. Dickenss fervent stamp in social justice as depicted through A Christmas Carol is credited with inspiring an outpouring of charitable endeavors during his time and a revival of Christmas spirit and traditional celebrations.Critics have also explored the fairy-tale and gothic elements in A Christmas Carol, and many praise Dickenss use of wry humor in the story. The relevance and power of Scrooges transformation from forlorn old niggard to benignant philanthropist is regarded as the key to the novellas unflagging popular appeal. Several scholars have debated the personality of Scrooges conversion, which is known as the Scrooge problem.Some critics, including Edmund Wilson, leave off that the transformation is a temporary one others have maintained that it is perfect and irrevocable. Scrooges metanoia has also been placed within its historical and literary context, and critics have related it to the religious revival then fervent in nineteenth-century England. A few full-length studies of the novella have traced the impact of the story on English and American culture and have discussed the copious imitations, adaptations, and modernised versions of the tale.