A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
In this week’s blog post, we turn to look at the beloved Christmas favourite of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Amongst the best-known adaptations of the novella are Disney’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and the more recent A Christmas Carol (2009), which is also produced by Disney. Whilst you are likely to have seen one of those film adaptations, have you ever turned to the original version of the story? Perhaps this Christmas, accompanied by a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie and – if you are lucky – a roaring fire, this will be the time to read it.
Charles Dickens wrote the novella in 1843. Published by the company Chapman and Hall on 19 December that year, and illustrated by John Leech, copies of the first edition of A Christmas Carol sold out by Christmas Eve. The story traces the well-known character of Ebenezer Scrooge (how often have we called somebody a ‘Scrooge’ when they do not appear to be getting into the spirit of Christmas?), who is known for his surly, selfish and often even mean temperament.
However, during the course of the tale – which was originally divided into five chapters that were coined as ‘staves’ by Dickens – Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, in an attempt to transform his temperament. Before the three ghosts appear, Scrooge is first visited by his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years previously. Marley warns Scrooge that he must listen to these three ghosts, or Scrooge will suffer the same fate as Marley – to wander the Earth in death forever, covered in chains and money boxes that were caused by a lifetime of greed and selfishness.
The question that remains to be answered is whether Scrooge changes his personality – or will he be confined to the same destiny as his business partner Marley? Will you be reading A Christmas Carol to find out Scrooge’s fate? Or if you have read it, what Christmas book will you be turning to this festive season? Let us know.