Christmas Carol Characters Flashcards
(4 cards)
Scrooge
How is he seen at start
In vision of Scrooge’s past what does Belle say
- at start he’s described as “a squeezing ,wrenching,grasping,scraping,clutching,covetous old sinner”
Doesn’t care about anything except money
Bitter - “ No wind that blew was bitterer than he”
Cynical - “What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money”
Isolated - “ Secret and self-contained,and solitary as an Oyster”
Miserly - Begrudges Bob Cratchit his Christmas wages and won’t allow decent fire
Belle says that Scrooge saw money as an “idol” and it has “displaced” her in Scooges affections.Suggests Scrooge worships money as if a God and he loved money more than her
Cold hearted and unfeeling-
Unsympathetic towards poor - no interest in helping. Refuses to donate to charity. Thinks done enough by paying taxes to support prisons and workhouses
Believes not his business to care about them
Dickens uses cold and icy language to describe Scrooge - Why
Examples
There’s a “cold within him” that “froze his old features”
Described as having a “frosty rime” (frosty covering”
Association with cold emphasises Scrooges cold hearted nature
Characters of Ignorance and Scrooge show that different types of ignorance can lead to people becoming trapped in different ways
Explain
Scrooges deliberate ignorance of other people’s hardships means he lacks friends, so he’s trapped in loneliness
Character of Ignorance suggests lack of education leaves the poor trapped in poverty
How has Scrooges past shaped him
Events of past have partly shaped him
Scrooge shown as a lonely boy near a feeble fire at his old school. He’s left there as his father won’t let him home for Christmas
Scrooge eventually brought home by sister who he was close to. Possible he isolates himself from Fred because sad reminder of losing his sister
Distressed at Belle leaving him - painful memory , especially by vision of Bell’s happy family.
He pleads “in a broken voice” to be shown no more. Heartbreak may have contributed to his bitter closed off personality.
