A Christmas Carol Redemption Essay
In fact, through miserly protagonist Benzenes Scrooge, Dickens manages to use redemption, whilst not a dominant theme in itself, to enforce the social values he so firmly believed in. The importance of upholding ones social responsibility, of reflection and memory and of generosity and goodwill are all enforced throughout the allegory by the Ghost Of Jacob Marled and the Spirits Of Christmas he employs to see though Scrooges trip-temporal redemptive process.
In thus constructing his narrative and the characters that bring it to an uplifting conclusion, Dickens is not only establishing his want for change in the social behaviors of Victorian London, but also his over-riding belief in the beauty of the human spirit. Within ‘A Christmas Carol’, Scrooges redemption, as initiated by the Ghost of Jacob Marled, is central to Dickens’ message regarding the importance of social responsibility. In Stave One, Scrooge is initially described as a character with little care for those around him; he was a ‘squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous old sinner… Radar and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire’. He refuses to donate to ‘those who are badly off insisting that ‘if they would rather die’ than go to the cruelly overcrowded prisons and demeaning workhouses of 19th century London, they had better do so, and decrease the surplus population’. The readership are exposed to a character who has become so detached from society that he feels his only responsibility and ‘business’ are of self-serving financial matters.
This early description of Scrooge therefore is Dickens’ condemnation of the wealthy industrial class that emerged in the 19th century, particularly during the industrial revolution, who abused their social privilege and took advantage of those in ‘need’ and ‘Want’. In the same stave, Dickens uses Marled to reveal the consequences of neglecting ones ‘fellow man’; he is mode in death to ‘witness what [he] cannot share, but might have shared and turned to happiness’, weighed down by a ‘ponderous chain’ of ‘cashbooks [and] padlocks’ that he ‘forged in [his] life’ that was used only for self-gain.
Marled rails that ‘mankind was [his] business… Charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence, were, all, his, business’, and that the only way Scrooge, who had a chain as ‘long and ponderous’ as he seven years ago, could escape the same fate is by realizing his social responsibility. In this sense, the redemption of Scrooges character can come only from the realization of his social accessibility; it is the reward that Dickens gives to his protagonist for pursuing self-betterment.
Representative of memory, the Ghost of Christmas past enables Scrooge to reflect on his formative years and begin to rekindle his humanity. Scrooge is initially shown the ‘shadow’ of himself as a schoolboy, ‘lonely, ‘solitary and neglected by his friends’, and by revealing a time to Scrooge when he was in need of ‘kindness’, the spirit helps [him] to ‘open his shut-up heart’ and begin his redemptive process. Upon observing his past, he realizes that he ‘should like to have given… Meeting’ to the carol at his door last night; an indicator that he is no longer completely devoid of care for those around him, and that he is able to begin to reconnect with his community. The memory of Fuzziness’s ball extends this, and builds upon the previous Stave’s lesson of social responsibility. Scrooge realizes through the remembrance of ‘the happiness [his former employer could] bring’ that he had a duty to ‘take care’ of his clerk, a member of the struggling London underclass, Bob Karachi.
Dickens uses the power of memory to advocate his belief that those in abundance’ must aid those in ‘Want’ in order to connect truly to their humanity; in the words of the Ghost of Christmas Past, ‘bear[ins] but a touch of [memory to ones heart] will [allow them to] be upheld in more than’ the industrialized world before them. Through this, memory is revealed to be vital to the redemptive process by Dickens, who views it as the link that binds one to their society and ultimately gives purpose and meaning not only to any charitable actions they undertake, but also to their lives as a whole.
In his plight to reveal the elements that are essential to basic humanity, enormity and a good-willed mindset are traits that are not only admired, but also encouraged by Dickens as he uses them to bring about Scrooges final redemption. Through Fred in Stave Three, Dickens voices his belief in the necessity of generosity by claiming that materialistic ‘Gain’ is only worthwhile if it is used to benefit others; that ‘[Scrooge’s] wealth is of no use to him. He don’t do any good with it’. Indeed, this is supported by the conduct of the Scratchiest in the same stave.
Although representative of the poor and underprivileged classes of Victorian London, the Scratchiest are able to put their eager ‘wealth’ and time to ‘good use’ by providing their family with a Christmas dinner that is appreciated so intensely that it is regarded by Bob Charity to be his wife?s ‘greatest achievement since their marriage’. However, whilst such generosity is important, Dickens emphasizes that it is not the gift alone that is important, but the spirit with which it is given, too.
For instance, the schoolmasters gift of ‘curiously heavy’ cake and ‘curiously light wine’ was received only with an increased desire of Scrooge and his sister to escape the school because Of his ‘ferocious condescension’ towards the party. Ergo, Dickens insists, generosity and goodwill must go hand in hand: in order for Scrooge to redeem his ‘spirit’ and avoid the same eternal damnation of Marled, he must be generous and have the best interest of others in mind.
It was Scrooges ability to achieve this by Stave Five that allowed him to achieve deliverance from his possible fate by genuinely repenting cruel actions of his past, making amends for them, and changing his ways to become ‘as good a friend, as good a master and as good a man as the good old city knew. Therefore, generosity and goodwill, the author believes, is necessary for an untainted human spirit and, resultantly, necessary for the redemption of the human spirit too.
Charles Dickens, though one of the nineteenth centuries most celebrated writers, never abandoned the social problems of his time. The lack of compassion that many, and in particular the wealthy industrial class that Scrooge represented, had toward their fellow human beings saddened him. In Dickens’ writing, therefore, he sought to advocate aspects of the human spirit he felt were most important in saving Victorian London, and indeed the eider social context of his readership, from social injustices and purely materialistic lifestyles.
The importance of upholding ones social responsibility, of reflection and memory and of generosity and goodwill are immutable and throughout ‘A Christmas Carol’ prove to be indomitable aspects of a pure human spirit When Scrooge is moved by them to abandon his errant ways, he is rewarded with redemption. Therefore redemption alone is not a major theme, but an aspect of the allegory that reveals to the readership Dickens’ true belief in the need for a kind and giving demeanor.