Scrooge Character Analysis in A Christmas Carol

Dickens has used the narrator to instantaneously present Scrooge as ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!’ at the beginning of the novella. The delivery of such an explicit judgement on the character of Scrooge so early on in the novella ensures that Dickens’ message of Scrooge being a bad person cannot be misinterpreted. These five dynamic verbs show exasperation and highlight his extreme parsimony, to the point where an image of him being a caricature of greed presents itself. These verbs have unpleasant connotations, for example: narrow minded ness (‘squeezing’), taking by force (‘wrenching, grasping’), lack of generosity (‘scraping’) and refusing to share at all (‘clutching’). The final noun phrase ‘Covetous old sinner!’ have biblical connotations - aligning Scrooge as a sinner sets the extremity of his character being a cold hearted miser. This elaborate description of him may influence the readers into mistrusting him and viewing him as a archetypal wealthy, selfish man.

Scrooge is then described to be ‘solitary as an oyster’. This negative similar establishes the extent of his loneliness by the comparison to an ‘oyster’ and the word ‘solitary’ enforcing an idea of isolation, perhaps linking to these being the residual of alienating effects of greed and capitalism. Oysters are commonly known to be found at the bottom of the ocean which again, relates to Scrooge’s solitude. Oysters also have a hard and dull exterior which serves as a comprehension point to how Scrooge is a closed book at first. However, inside of them, pearls are found which symbolise a better person inside and foreshadows him opening up and redeeming himself in the future.

Dickens compacts many mannerisms of Scrooge’s into ‘Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buries with a stake of holly through his heart.’ The word ‘idiot’ delivers a sense of superiority within Scrooge, his bitter undertone exemplifies how much he dislikes Christmas and people who celebrate it. This inference is reinforced by the inverted commas of ‘Merry Christmas’ Scrooge is mocking the celebrators. The alliterative ‘b’s’ also imply the same purpose. The latter part of the quote is deliberately comical, yet still rather unpleasant. The mentioning of a stake prompts the focal point of violence and inflicting pain. An alternative interpretation may be connected to supernatural creatures, for example: throughout many centuries vampires were believed to be existing and the most popular way to ‘kill’ them was a stake through the heart. Dickens may has used this in a euphemistic way to allow the readers to depict how Scrooge’s hatred is so intense that he directly thinks of these people as monsters and abnormal. 

Scrooge’s brusque nature is further emphasises by his abrupt refusal to help those in need. ‘Are there no prisons?’ His rhetorical responds first-handedly encounters his apathetically and misanthropic custom. Following this, Scrooge mentions how he ‘can’t afford to make idle people merry’ This addresses his misplaced priorities. It also positions him as an emblem of the Victorian rick’s attitude to the poor. The adjective ‘idle’ reveals how he believes the poor are lazy, inert people and that they are to blame for their own misfortune; mirroring the rich Victorian’s assumptions. A sense of irony is carried with this statement as the readers are aware that he is more than capable of helping these people but he’s just completely unwilling to; fusing with his self-serving tendency. 

A continuation of the ignorance and tight-fisted ness of Scrooge’s character occurs, ‘If they would rather die… They had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’ This is Scrooge’s response to the ‘charity collectors’ who said that people would rather die than go to the workhouse; he completely disregards the key point and is haste to share his explicit reference to the Malthusian idea that the population must decrease in order to create better conditions. Dickens, as we know, was highly opposed to this view and challenges it in form of what Scrooge himself experiences. Regardless of this, such a awful statement directly addressed to the less fortunate people would definitely increase the readers disliking of Scrooge. Words like ‘decrease’ and ‘surplus’ are normally used in terms of profit and balance rather than to describe human beings. This reveals that he not only views life from a prism of money, but that he also thinks poor people can be written off like profits and losses.

Towards the end of the novella, we are introduced to the character of the ghost of Marley who states ‘I wear the chain I forged in life.’ Suggesting to Scrooge that he had a chance to change while it’s worthwhile so he can escape his then-inevitable future. Marley’s chain is a symbol of his own pursuit of wealth and greed, very strong in likeliness to Scrooge’s negative traits. The chains may also be a metaphor for mental imprisonment and torture in afterlife which again, is associated with religious aspects. This shifts the readers attention to a more curious sense because he is still unpredictable, this could spark some hope within the readers for a chance of redemption. Marley then warms Scrooge that his (Marley’s) own chain ‘was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas eves ago.’ This encompasses the magnitude of the the consequences of Scrooge’s actions. Readers are aware that this has provoked fear within Scrooge and although the opinion on his character is still negatively lingering, a potential transformation is proposed which causes the readers to have mixed feelings about him. Dickens has presented Scrooge as a miserly man with no kindly-intended actions or humane feelings but he had also subtly hinted at a possible reformation of his character.