Before Scrooge sees the name on the grave, what does he want to know?

Fictional character in A Christmas Carol by Dickens

This article is about a fictional character in A Christmas Carol. For other uses, see Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge
Scrooge encounters "Jacob Marley's ghost"
Created by	Charles Dickens
Portrayed by	see below
Gender	Male person
Occupation	Businessman[a]
Relatives	Fanny or Fan (belatedly sis) Fred (nephew)
Nationality	English language

Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. At the offset of the novella, Scrooge is a common cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of Christmas By, the Ghost of Christmas Nowadays, and the Ghost of Christmas Still to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in the English-speaking world.

Dickens describes Scrooge thus early in the story: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his sparse lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Towards the end of the novella, the three spirits show Scrooge the fault of his ways, and he becomes a better, more generous human.

Scrooge'due south last proper noun has come up into the English language as a byword for stinginess and misanthropy, while his catchphrase, "Bah! Braggadocio!" is ofttimes used to express disgust with many mod Christmas traditions.

Clarification [edit]

Charles Dickens describes Scrooge equally "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, onetime sinner! Difficult and abrupt as flint,... hush-hush, and cocky-contained, and solitary every bit an oyster." He does business concern from a Cornhill warehouse and is known amongst the merchants of the Imperial Exchange every bit a man of good credit. Despite having considerable personal wealth, he underpays his clerk Bob Cratchit and hounds his debtors relentlessly while living cheaply and joylessly in the chambers of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Most of all, he detests Christmas, which he assembly with reckless spending. When two men approach him on Christmas Eve for a donation to charity, he sneers that the poor should avail themselves of the treadmill or the workhouses, or else die to reduce the surplus population. He also refuses his nephew Fred'due south invitation to Christmas dinner and denounces him as a fool for jubilant Christmas.

That night, Scrooge is visited by Marley'south ghost, who is condemned to walk the world forever leap in chains as penalisation for his greed and inhumanity in life. Marley tells Scrooge that he volition be visited by iii spirits hoping that he will mend his ways; if he does not, Marley warns, Scrooge will vesture even heavier chains than his in the afterlife.

Scrooge is then visited by the commencement spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Past, who shows Scrooge visions of his early on life. These visions institute that Scrooge's unloving male parent placed him in a boarding school, where at Christmas-time, he remained alone while his schoolmates returned home to their families. When his love sister Fan came to take him dwelling house one Christmas, this became Scrooge'south one happy childhood retention. She later on died after giving birth to Fred. Scrooge and so apprenticed at the warehouse of a jovial and generous master, Mr. Fezziwig. He savage in dear with a young adult female named Belle and proposed matrimony, only gradually his honey for Belle was overwhelmed by his dear for money. Belle realised this and, saddened by his greed, left him ane Christmas, eventually marrying another man. The present-day Scrooge reacts to these memories with a mixture of nostalgia and deep regret.

The Ghost of Christmas Present arrives next. It shows Scrooge that his greed and selfishness have injure others as well, especially Cratchit, who cannot afford to provide his desperately ill son Tiny Tim with medical handling because of Scrooge's miserliness. The Spirit tells a horrified Scrooge that Tiny Tim will dice unless something changes, and throws Scrooge'southward ain heartless words about the poor and destitute back in his face.

Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come up shows Scrooge where his greed and selfishness will lead: a alone death and an overgrown grave, unpaid servants stealing his belongings, debtors relieved at his passing, and the Cratchit family unit devastated by the loss of Tiny Tim.

Scrooge asks this spirit if this futurity can still be changed, but the spirit does not answer. Scrooge then begs this spirit for another chance, promising to change his ways – and wakes upwardly in his bed on Christmas Twenty-four hours. Overjoyed, Scrooge commits to being more generous and compassionate; he accepts his nephew's invitation to Christmas dinner, provides for Cratchit and his family unit, and donates to the clemency fund.

In the cease, he becomes known equally the apotheosis of the Christmas spirit and as a "2d begetter" to Tiny Tim.

Origins [edit]

Several theories have been put forward as to where Dickens got the inspiration for the character.

Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie (1792–1836) was a merchant from Edinburgh who won a catering contract for King George 4's visit to Scotland. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard, with a gravestone that is now lost. The theory is that Dickens noticed the gravestone that described Scroggie equally being a "meal human being" (grain merchant) but misread it every bit "mean human being."^{[i] [two]} This theory has been described as "a probable Dickens hoax" for which "[n]o 1 could discover any corroborating evidence".^[3] Jemmy Wood, possessor of the Gloucester Erstwhile Bank and possibly Britain's showtime millionaire, was nationally renowned for his stinginess, and may have been another model for Scrooge.^[four] The human being whom Dickens somewhen mentions in his messages^[5] and who strongly resembles the character portrayed by Dickens' illustrator, John Leech, was a noted British eccentric and miser named John Elwes (1714–1789).^{[ citation needed ]}

Information technology has been suggested that he chose the name Ebenezer ("stone (of) help") to reflect the assist given to Scrooge to change his life.^{[6] [vii]} Commentators have suggested that the surname was partly inspired by the word "scrouge", significant "oversupply" or "squeeze".^{[7] [8] [9]} The discussion was in use from 1820.^[10]

Kelly writes that Scrooge may take been influenced by Dickens' conflicting feelings for his father, whom he loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may exist responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale—1 a cold, stingy recluse, the other a benevolent, loving human being.^[xi] Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, a professor of English literature, considers that in the opening part of the book portraying immature Scrooge'southward lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration to rise from poverty to riches "is something of a self-parody of Dickens'south fears about himself"; the mail-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself.^[12]

I school of thought is that Dickens based Scrooge'southward views on the poor on those of demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, every bit evidenced by his callous attitude towards the "surplus population".^{[thirteen] [14]} "And the Wedlock workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Constabulary are in full vigour, and then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the reactionary philosopher Thomas Carlyle: "Are in that location not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?"^{[15] [d]}

There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens'south biographer, sees similarities between Scrooge and the title grapheme of Martin Chuzzlewit, although the latter is "a more than fantastic image" than the former; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable human being is parallel to that of Scrooge.^[17] Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from The Pickwick Papers was also an influence when creating Scrooge.^{[18] [e]}

Analysis [edit]

Scrooge's character, particularly how it changes throughout A Christmas Carol, has been the subject of several analyses.^{[twenty] [21] [22]}

In other media [edit]

• The character of Scrooge McDuck, created past Carl Barks was at to the lowest degree partially based on Ebenezer Scrooge: "I began to think of the swell Dickens Christmas story almost Scrooge...I was just thief enough to steal some of the thought and have a rich uncle for Donald."^[23]

Portrayals [edit]

• Tom Ricketts in A Christmas Carol, 1908
• Marc McDermott in 1910
• Seymour Hicks in Scrooge 1913, and again in Scrooge, 1935
• Rupert Julian in 1916
• Russell Thorndike in 1923
• Bransby Williams in 1928 and 1936, 1950 on telly
• Lionel Barrymore on radio 1934–1935, 1937, 1939–1953
• John Barrymore in 1936 on radio, for bilious blood brother Lionel
• Orson Welles in 1938 on radio replacing Lionel Barrymore for one appearance just.
• Reginald Owen in 1938
• Claude Rains in 1940 on radio
• Ronald Colman in 1941 on radio and over again in 1949
• John Carradine in 1947 on radio and television
• Taylor Holmes in 1949
• Alastair Sim in 1951, and again in 1971 (phonation)
• Fredric March in 1954
• Basil Rathbone in 1956 and 1958
• John McIntire in 1957
• Stan Freberg in Green Chri$tma$, 1958.
• Cyril Ritchard in 1964
• Sterling Hayden as Daniel Grudge in Rod Serling's A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
• Wilfrid Brambell in a 1966 radio musical version (adapted from his Broadway role)
• Sid James in the Acquit On Christmas Specials, 1969
• Ron Haddrick in the blithe TV film A Christmas Carol (1969) and again in the Australian animated film A Christmas Ballad (1982)
• Albert Finney in 1970
• Paul Frees in Santa Claus Is Comin To Town, 1970
• Marcel Marceau in 1973
• Michael Hordern in 1977
• Rich Footling every bit W. C. Fields playing Scrooge in Rich Little's Christmas Carol, 1978
• Walter Matthau (voice) in The Stingiest Man in Town, 1978
• Henry Winkler as Benedict Slade in An American Christmas Ballad, 1979
• Hoyt Axton as Cyrus Flint in Skinflint: A State Christmas Carol, 1979
• Mel Blanc (equally Yosemite Sam) in Bugs Bunny'south Christmas Carol, 1979
• Alan Immature (as Scrooge McDuck) in Mickey'south Christmas Carol, 1983
• George C. Scott in 1984
• Mel Blanc (as Mr. Spacely) in The Jetsons episode "A Jetson Christmas Carol", 1985
• Oliver Muirhead as "Constable Scrooge" in A Christmas Held Captive, 1986
• Bill Murray equally Frank Cross in Scrooged, 1988
  • Buddy Hackett (as himself) played Scrooge in the film-within-a-film.
• Rowan Atkinson every bit Ebenezer Blackadder in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, 1988
• Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Ballad, 1992
• Jeffrey Sanzel has appeared in more than 1,000 stage performances since 1992.
• James Earl Jones in Bah, Braggadocio, 1994
• Henry Corden (as Fred Flintstone) in A Flintstones Christmas Carol, 1994
• Walter Charles, Tony Randall, Terrence Mann, Hal Linden, Roddy McDowall, F. Murray Abraham, Frank Langella, Tony Roberts, Roger Daltrey, and Jim Dale in the stage version of Alan Menken's musical (1994–2003)
• Susan Lucci as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge in Ebbie, 1995
• Tenniel Evans in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's version of A Christmas Carol (1996)
• Cicely Tyson as Ebenita Scrooge in Ms. Scrooge, 1997
• Tim Curry (voice) in 1997; A Christmas Carol (the Theater at Madison Foursquare Garden 2001 play)
• Jack Palance in 1998
• Patrick Stewart in 1999
• Vanessa Williams as Ebony Scrooge in A Diva's Christmas Carol, 2000
• Ross Kemp equally Eddie Scrooge in 2000
• Adrienne Carter as Annie Redfeather equally Annie Scrooge in Adventures from the Book of Virtues: Pity Pt. one & two, 2000
• Dean Jones in Scrooge and Marley, 2001
• Tori Spelling every bit "Scroogette" Carol Cartman in A Ballad Christmas, 2003
• Kelsey Grammer in 2004
• Helen Fraser every bit Sylvia Hollamby in Bad Girls 2006 Christmas Special
• Joe Alaskey (as Daffy Duck) in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, 2006
• Morwenna Banks as Eden Starling (Barbie) in Barbie in A Christmas Carol, 2008
• Kevin Farley as Michael Malone in An American Carol, 2008
• Jim Carrey in 2009 (Carrey likewise played the 3 spirits haunting Scrooge).^[24]
• Catherine Tate as Nan in Nan's Christmas Carol, 2009
• Matthew McConaughey as Connor "Dutch" Mead in Ghosts of Girlfriends By, 2009
• Christina Milian as Sloane Spencer in Christmas Cupid, 2010
• Mark Rhodes in the 2010 Christmas special of Sam & Mark'south TMi Friday
• Eric Braeden as Victor Newman in "Victor's Christmas Ballad" on The Young and the Restless, December 2010
• Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Ballad" on Doctor Who, Dec 2010^{[25] [26]}
• George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs: A Christmas Ballad
• Emmanuelle Vaugier equally Ballad Huffman in the 2012 Television moving-picture show Information technology'southward Christmas, Ballad!
• Andy Day in the 2013 CBeebies pantomime A CBeebies Christmas Carol
• Robert Powell in Neil Make'due south 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Ballad.^[27]
• Ned Dennehy in the BBC drama Dickensian, 2015
• Kerry Shale every bit Diesel fuel in the Thomas & Friends episode, "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas", 2015
• Jason Graae in the musical Scrooge in Love!, 2016^[28]
• Kelly Sheridan every bit Starlight Glimmer (playing Snowfall Frost) in the My Piddling Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "A Hearth'due south Warming Tail", 2016
• Christopher Plummer in The Human Who Invented Christmas, 2017
• Denny Laine in Decker, "Double Decker", 2017
• Stuart Brennan in 2018^[29]
• Guy Pearce in the BBC/FX miniseries, 2019

• Dylan Saunders in A VHS Christmas Ballad, 2020

Come across also [edit]

• Grinch

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Scrooge's blazon of business is not directly stated in the original work. Victorian-catamenia adaptations often describe him as a money-lender, but also as a mercantile executive (1951) or commodity trader (1984).
2. ^ Illustration by John Leech (1843)
3. ^ original analogy by John Leech (1843)
4. ^ Carlyle'due south original question was written in his 1840 work Chartism.^[16]
5. ^ Grub's name came from a 19th century Dutch miser, Gabriel de Graaf, a morose gravedigger.^[xix]

References [edit]

1. ^ "Revealed: the Scot who inspired Dickens' Scrooge". The Scotsman. 24 December 2004. Retrieved fourteen January 2020. Details of Scroggie's life are sparse, only he was a vintner besides every bit a corn merchant.
2. ^ "BBC Arts – That Ebenezer geezer... who was the existent Scrooge?". BBC . Retrieved thirty Apr 2016.
3. ^ Pelling, Rowan (7 February 2014). "Mr Punch is notwithstanding knocking them expressionless after 350 years". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
4. ^ Silence, Rebecca (2015). Gloucester History Bout. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 40.
5. ^ Dickens, Charles (1999). "Alphabetic character to George Holsworth, eighteen January 1865". In Firm, Madeline; Storey, Graham; Brown, Margaret; Tillotson, Kathleen (eds.). The Letters of Charles Dickens. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 7.
6. ^ Kincaid, Cheryl Anne (2009). Hearing the Gospel through Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" (two ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 7–eight. ISBN978-1443817981 . Retrieved 24 December 2014.
7. ^ ^{a b} Pearson, Richard (9 December 2014). "Why did Charles Dickens invent Scrooge?". The Independent . Retrieved xxx November 2020. Scrooge is also a real word. Spelled slightly differently, 'scrouge' 'scrowge' or 'scroodge' is an old word pregnant to squeeze someone, to encroach on their infinite, making them experience uncomfortable...
8. ^ Cereno, Benito (14 Dec 2018). "The existent human who inspired Ebenezer Scrooge". Grunge.com . Retrieved 30 November 2020.
9. ^ "Definition of SCROUGE". www.merriam-webster.com . Retrieved 30 Nov 2020.
10. ^ "Why did Charles Dickens choose the proper noun Ebenezer Scrooge?". www.londonguidedwalks.co.great britain . Retrieved 30 November 2020. The discussion is likewise a blend of 'scrouge' the verb to squeeze or to press, used 1820–1830 (itself being a blend of crew and bruise) and gouge...
11. ^ Kelly 2003, p. 14.
12. ^ Douglas-Fairhurst 2006, p. 19.
13. ^ Elwell, Frank W. (2 November 2001). "Reclaiming Malthus". Rogers Land Academy. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
14. ^ Nasar, Sylvia (2011). G pursuit : the story of economic genius (1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. three–10. ISBN978-0-684-87298-8.
15. ^ Douglas-Fairhurst 2006, p. 13.
16. ^ Carlyle 1840, p. 32.
17. ^ Ackroyd 1990, p. 409.
18. ^ Douglas-Fairhurst 2006, p. xviii; Alleyne 2007.
19. ^ Alleyne 2007.
20. ^ Clarke, Joseph (Jody) H. (Dec 2009). "The Metapsychology of Character Change: A Case Report of Ebenezer Scrooge". Periodical of Spirituality in Mental Health. eleven (iv): 248–263. doi:x.1080/19349630903310039. ISSN 1934-9637. S2CID 145082385.
21. ^ McReynolds, Joseph Clayton (2020). "From Humbug to Humility: Learning How to Know with Ebenezer Scrooge". Dickens Studies Almanac: Essays on Victorian Fiction. 51 (1): 20–39. doi:ten.5325/dickstudannu.51.i.0020. ISSN 2167-8510. S2CID 216343006.
22. ^ Smith, Joanmarie (Summer 1983). "The Religious Conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge". Religious Education. 78 (3): 355–361. doi:ten.1080/0034408300780307.
23. ^ https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/18303^{[ blank URL PDF ]}
24. ^ Fleming, Michael. "Jim Carrey set for 'Christmas Carol': Zemeckis directing Dickens adaptation", Variety, 2007-07-06. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
25. ^ "Dr. Who Christmas Special – A Christmas Carol". Retrieved 22 November 2010.
26. ^ "Christmas Day". Radio Times. 347 (4520): 174. Dec 2010.
27. ^ "BBC Radio iv – Sabbatum Drama, A Christmas Carol". BBC.
28. ^ Heymont, George (29 Jan 2016). "Rule Britannia!". Huffington Post . Retrieved 30 September 2016.
29. ^ "From Charles Dickens to Michael Caine, hither are the five all-time Scrooges". The Independent. 19 Dec 2018.

Citations [edit]

• Ackroyd, Peter (1990). Dickens. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN978-1-85619-000-8.
• Alleyne, Richard (24 December 2007). "Real Scrooge 'was Dutch gravedigger'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
• Carlyle, Thomas (1840). Chartism. London: J. Fraser. OCLC 247585901.
• DeVito, Carlo (2014). Inventing Scrooge (Kindle ed.). Kennebunkport, ME: Cider Mill Press. ISBN978-one-60433-555-2.
• Dickens, Charles (1843). A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman and Hall. OCLC 181675592.
• Douglas-Fairhurst, Robert (2006). "Introduction". In Dickens, Charles (ed.). A Christmas Ballad and other Christmas Books. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 7–xxix. ISBN978-0-19-920474-8.
• Elwell, Frank Westward. (2 November 2001). "Reclaiming Malthus". Rogers State Academy. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 13 Jan 2017.
• Gordon, Alexander (2008). "Elwes, John (1714–1789)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8776. Retrieved 13 January 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Jordan, John O. (2001). The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Printing. ISBN978-0-521-66964-1.
• Kelly, Richard Michael (2003). "Introduction". In Dickens, Charles (ed.). A Christmas Carol. Ontario: Broadway Printing. pp. nine–30. ISBN978-i-55111-476-vii.
• Sillence, Rebecca (2015). Gloucester History Tour. Stroud, Glos: Amberley Publishing. ISBN978-1-4456-4859-0.

External links [edit]

• Works by or about Ebenezer Scrooge in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

montgomeryfescithavers.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer_Scrooge

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