Stave One Analysis

Quotes

‘As dead as a doornail’ – simile, lack of empathy/ felling behind the phrase, blunt straightforward, borderline cruel and cold, no sympathy or consideration for the dead, described as a doornail reflect how hard, unfeeling, abrasive and unfeeling Marley was

‘Sole’ – repetition, shows how alone, abandoned and isolated they were, didn’t have people who cared about them, lonely, shunned humankind, solo existence

‘As solitary as an oyster’ – left alone, outcast, unwanted

‘The cold within him froze his old features’ – distant, rude, unsympathetic, cruel, unwelcoming, stony, frigid and frosty (‘frosty rime’ and ‘wiry chin’)

‘Portly gentlemen’ – fat/round, well-fed, rich, upper class

‘Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses?’ – represents the bourgeoisie, rude, stereotypical, mean, lack of empathy/ consideration, selfish/greedy, deluded and ignorant, these words are repeated back to him in stave 3 by the ghost of the Christmas present in a mocking, taunting, condescending tone

‘Decrease the surplus population’ – arrogant/ignorant, unfeeling, harsh, bitter, unkind almost to the point of being inhumane, lack of humility, these words are repeated back to him in stave 3 by the ghost of the Christmas present in a mocking, taunting, condescending tone, the way the words are spoken are cruel, unfeeling and callous

‘Misanthropic solitude’ – motif of hot and cold, alone, anti-social, distant- cold, observant

‘Ruddy’ – warmth, generosity, kindness, happy, excited and smiling

‘Cash boxes, keys and padlocks’ – repetition in future stanza, foreshadowing, constraining, punishment, frightening and miserly

‘Christian Spirit’- religious views, kind, giving, plentiful, good human,

Mankind was my business’ – epiphany, realisation, regret, guilt, ignorance, greed

Summary

The reader is introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge who only cares about making money. It is Christmas Eve, and he won’t pay to heat the office properly. This means that his clerk, Bob Cratchit, is very cold. Scrooge has four Christmas visitors: his nephew, Fred; two charity collectors; and a carol singer. Scrooge is rude to all of them and sends them away. That night the Ghost of Jacob Marley, his dead business partner, appears. He tells Scrooge that his mean way of life will lead to misery and that three Ghosts will visit him to show him the error of his ways.

Context

Christian Beliefs of Love and Kindness - ‘love thy neighbour’, contrasts to Scrooge

Debtor’s Prison- if your parent was in debt then to work it off, they would go to a debtor’s prison however this would only cause the debt to increase due to the lack of income

Workhouses- if your parents were in debtor’s prisons and there was no one to take care of you then you would be sent to a workhouse (siblings were often split up) living in cramped poor conditions where you worked all day

The Opinion of the Bourgeoisie- they thought the poor were lazy and drunkards who didn’t try to get any work and instead wasted money on alcohol and stole to survive

Extreme Capitalism- there was the very rich who were ignorant towards how the very poor were living and blamed them for their living conditions, ungrateful, uncompassionate and lacked any morality/humility, greedy and power hungry