A Christmas Carol: Microcosm

Microcosm is when one thing is used to demonstrate an idea of a bigger picture

• a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger.

• an individual or community thought of as a miniature universe or a world in itself.

To what extent do you believe that A Christmas Carol is a microcosm of Victorian society?

Scrooge

• Used to represent the rich community

• He is unsympathetic towards people

• He believes his taxes to support the poor and the workhouses is charity enough

• Its not his ‘business’ to care about the poor

Tiny Tim

• Represents the poor and the feeble

• Strongly religious ‘God bless us, everyone!’

• Represents the hope and joy of the poor

• The poor are grateful for what they have

• Fraile but doesn’t complain

• Poverty can lead to suffering and death

Cratchit Family

• Represents poor people

• Contradict the stereotypes of the poor ‘lazy’ ‘ungrateful’

• Bob Cratchit works hard for scrooge and appears to have a reasonable house… until you realise how many people they squeeze in

• They are loving and cheerful despite their poverty

• Disappointed when the family won’t be together at Christmas - when he thinks Martha can’t make it

Ignorance and want

• Portrays ill-health, revolting, de-humanised animals

• Vicious and savage

• Overcome by sins

The ghosts

• Context: supernatural themes cropping up in victorian society

• Dickens wanted to present the supernatural as omniscient and guiding figures

• Relating to Christianity and Jesus - guiding people to eternal reward in heaven

I believe that Dickens created the characters in ‘A Christmas Carol’ to magnify the issues within society. He did this by turn the characters into a microcosm. This can be seen through the protagonist Scrooge who has a recognisable feature of dispising Christmas. Scrooge has been depicted to mock the rich. He is unsympathetic towards the poor and shows ignorance about the lives of the poor. He believes that his taxes to support the prisons and workhouses is charity enough. It is not his ‘Business’ to care about the poor. You can see the theme of microcosm when Dickens introduces the ghosts - another well-known feature of the novella. During the period this was written, theories of the supernatural had been sitting on victorian society. Dickens wanted to present the supernatural as omniscient and guiding figures. This reiterates the common belief in Jesus and God striving to guide people to eternal reward in heaven.

However, Dickens contradicts the Victorian society when he enlightens Scrooge about the truth of the poor. The Cratchit family specifically Tiny Tim and Bob display the hope, gratitude and joy of the poor despite their poverty. Bob is shown as a hard working man who appears to be well-off with his 4 room house… until you realise how many people live there. This counteracts the ignorance of the rich and the stereotypes that the poor are lazy and ungrateful.