Essay on Dickens Use of the Supernatural in A Christmas...

Dickens Use of the Supernatural in A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol is built upon numerous contrasts: rich and poor, family and loneliness, generosity and miserliness, affection and cruelty, past, present and future. Most of these contrasting forces are brought to light within the character of Scrooge himself. The compulsive, lonely, miserly man, who eats his abstemious meals in the shadows, emerges from his cold-heartedness into a generous, fun loving, warm and caring man. Dickens uses a lot of rich contrasting imagery within the character Scrooge to prepare the reader for his conversion well before the concluding chapter. Though there are many elements that led to Charles Dickens writing a†¦show more content†¦The ghost of Christmas present presents them, wretched and almost animal like, to scrooge with the warning this boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware of this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is doom, unless the writing be erased. These children are grimy and thin, the kind of children Scrooge would walk past on the street without a second thought. They are shown to him in such an appalling manor that Scrooge begs to help them, have they no refuge or resource? and he is reminded of the coldness of his words earlier in the story. They are shown to him I believe because, like he would be after his death, he is powerless to help them and this causes outstanding amounts of guilt to whelm up within Scrooge. I also believe the twins had another message, though this time not for Scrooge. Dickens wanted to make a ll the readers of A Christmas Carol, the warm and tender Christmas novella, aware of the fact that it was based on the poor and starving, Dickens wanted to warm the heart of the public but also get them to reach out to the young and starving children on Londons street, which like Scrooge they just walk past every day. The twins are very powerful in getting this message across as the reader could not just ignore the fact that they are just as bad as Scrooge if they doShow MoreRelatedHow and Why Does Dickens Present the Change in Scrooge in ‘a Christmas Carol’?2608 Words   |  11 Pages‘A Christmas Carol’ covers a period of 24 hours from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It is a simple morality tale of the radical change in the character Ebenezer Scrooge from being bitter, ironfisted and miserable to becoming a new, openhearted and charitable man. The book was first published in 1843, a time when many of the wealthy people neglected the old Christmas spirit of charity. In addition, the Industrial Revolution had further done away with the simple pleasures of the season. Dickens’ intentionsRead More A Christmas Carol Essay2141 Words   |  9 PagesA Christmas Carol Lots of people take great pleasure in listening or telling ghost stories. People enjoy this because it gives them a chance to tell people maybe some of their own experiences, stories or their ideas. Some of these may be very scary and some may only be mildly scary. It is also a good way of socialising as you are talking to people and sharing experiences that people may find extremely interesting, resulting in them thinking you are very intellectual, as telling storiesRead MoreVictorian Ghost Stories Nearly Always Encompass Family1361 Words   |  6 Pagespresent throughout many of the periods ghost stories and other genres. The Victorians also created the modern Christmas, where families come together on Christmas Eve to read or re-tell popular Ghost stories of the time, many magazines which were published in the Christmas period contained ghost stories , with one of the most popular being Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, the Christmas period can be seen as the perfect time to introduce ghost stories are the days are shorter, meaning longer nightsRead MoreEssay on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens3534 Words   |  15 PagesA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Introduction Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Hampshire, in 1812 and died in 1870. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office and family life was occasionally hard, especially when his father had to go to the debtors prison. The young twelve year old Charles became the main money-maker in the family at this time and worked in a blocking factory. Charles father was released a year later and Charles was able to go to school. After schoolRead MoreUse of Ghosts to Change Victorian Society in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens3307 Words   |  14 PagesUse of Ghosts to Change Victorian Society in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is a novel by Charles Dickens, written in the Victorian era about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. The book was written to remind people that we should all be kinder and more generous towards one another, and keep the spirit of Christmas all the year, not only in the Christmas season. Scrooge is a representation of most of Victorian society, and he is used by DickensRead MoreAnalysis of The Hanged Mans Bride, The Trial for Murder and Confession Found in a Prison2347 Words   |  10 Pagesmy study of Charles Dickens, I have decided to focus upon three short stories to write about in detail. These are: The Hanged Mans Bride, written in 1860, The Trial For Murder, written in 1865 and Confession Found in a Prison, written in 1842. To enable me to understand the stories better and also Dickens interests and motivations, I have carried out necessary research on historical, literacy contexts and other biographical details. Charles Dickens stories could be saidRead MoreVictorian Novel9605 Words   |  39 Pagesdates frame the period of Victorian literature, it is commonly accepted that it was the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) that saw the novel emerge and flourish, all the more that the 1937 was the year when Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the first major work of fiction. The first readers of both, Dickens and Eliot were not conscious they lived in the ‘Victorian period’. They thought that this was a modern era marked with turbulent transition. However, the most crucial writers of the period grew up in the earlierRead More The Metamorphosis of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol Essay6308 Words   |  26 PagesA Christmas Carol, a tale that revolves around a man’s fate in the past, the present, and the future. Its story speaks of a man, a man called Ebenezer Scrooge, and the changes in which he goes through. ‘’Oh! But he was tight-fisted man at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze hisRead MoreGothic Literature : Gothic Writing1974 Words   |  8 Pagestime. Most people think of gothic writings as a scary story of gloom and doom, but there are many aspects that encompass a gothic writing. The true is that there are many elements to a gothic writing. The writer does not need to use all of them at the same time, but to use some of them to make it a gothic writing. As technology and the social atmosphere have evaluated writers have incorporated these elements into their writing. Gothic literature is said to have begun with Horace Walpole, whom atRead MoreHow to Read Lit Like a Prof Notes3608 Words   |  15 Pagesconscious of. The more consciously aware we are, the more alive the text becomes to us. d. If you don’t recognize the correspondences, it’s ok. If a story is no good, being based on Hamlet won’t save it. 6. When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare†¦ a. Writers use what is common in a culture as a kind of shorthand. Shakespeare is pervasive, so he is frequently echoed. b. See plays as a pattern, either in plot or theme or both. Examples: i. Hamlet: heroic character, revenge, indecision, melancholy nature ii. Henry