A Christmas Carol – a comment on its time?


In 1842 Charles Dickens was writing Martin Chuzzlewit. It was published in serial form but had not been well received. He also wrote “A Christmas Carol”. In contrast this sold six thousand copies before Christmas 1843. The book was beautifully produced and well received but production costs meant that Dickens did not make a lot of money from it.

At the time the book was written Dickens was expecting his fifth child and money was tight. The character Scrooge was an unhappy miser. The story is written in staves, mirroring the format of many Carols that are sung at Christmas time. As the miser Scrooge works late and forces Cratchit to do so, his nephew asks him to go out and the door is ajar enabling Scrooge to catch a glimpse of the world outside, a world of celebration that he will not take part in. Marley’s ghost (whom the reader does not see) shows Scrooge his past, present and future. Slowly he begins to accept his past and then he changes and undergoes a conversion, like a Christian conversion.

In his old life Scrooge has pushed away the company of a young woman, and he then sees her (in what the ghost shows him) with a family and there is a sense of a future lost that cannot be regained. The Cratchit family represent Christian values, an ethical Christianity that Dickens supported against Scrooge, the character who was an embodiment of capitalism. Scrooge was part of Dickens’ attack on utilitarianism and the reader is always on his side as there is a bit of Scrooge in everyone. Even humour is present in the character as he asks Marley’s ghost “how do I know you are not indigestion?”

The book picks up the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead, for Tiny Tim is restored to life, then the Christmas pudding for the family is perfect. Before Scrooge’s conversion the family have a tiny goose on their Christmas table, afterwards Scrooge orders a huge turkey. The contrast is magnified by the fact that the Christmas feast is so magnificent yet literal hunger was ever present on the streets of London in the nineteenth century. In England there had been a long standing tradition of ghost stories in midwinter, then Christmas comes and it is the turning point of the year when light starts to return. Chinks of light are seen for Scrooge prior to his conversion in the capacity of the Cratchit family to always look on the bright side. When converted he supports the Cratchits practically in the love of children and support of family values.

“A Christmas Carol” has retained its appeal since its first publication having been adapted for radio, television and the stage. In our twenty first century society can you understand the attraction of the story? 

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