How does the author use language to present Scrooge 's unpleasant personality? Charles dickens uses insults to portray Scrooge 's unpleasant personality. This can be alluded from Stave 1 in the novel where Scrooge can be seen snubbing the charity workers who came seeking for a donation. "If they would rather die, [...] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.", such insult allows the reader to comprehend that Scrooge is nothing more than a greedy man who solely believes that the peasants are just money scammers and that they should all be locked up in a "prison". Today 's audience will see Scrooge this way and agree that he is a misery, bitter old man, who doesn 't like giving away however back in the 19th century the audience would not be shocked to see a wealthy man as selfish as Scrooge. It was common in London at the time to see factory workers exploiting children who worked in hard conditions by hurting them with the most dangerous work and the cruelest words which is why I can only but say that Scrooge is an unpleasant, old wretch. Further to this Dickens use of metaphors paints a picture of Scrooge as a "covetous old sinner!", in Stave 1 the narrator describes Scrooge to be a "tight-fisted hand at the grindstone". A grindstone is a thick disc of stone used for grinding and it was extremely hard to hold onto however the narrator uses the adjective tight-fisted to imply Scrooge as adamant and as one who is able to hold onto the grindstone or in
Scrooge is a mean man because we can see this through the escalation of the story. “Every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through their heart.” This quote shows us the readers, that Scrooge is a mean man, also it shows us how much
Dickens also uses his characters to endorse other lessons that he believed were essential in keeping Christmas ‘well’. Scrooge’s behavior in Stave 1 towards the two portly gentlemen and his rudeness displayed towards his ‘ruddy’ nephew Fred, encapsulates all the attitudes
The text explicitly states Scrooge, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous, old sinner has passed away. According to the text, he despises many things such as happiness, humor, and even Christmas. From the reading, I know that he is depressed all the time, consequently his mental state has led him to call other people stupid, dumb, and idiots. On page three, in the conversation with his nephew Fred, Scrooge insults his nephew about marrying and loving his wife. The text states, that he also “seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the frost and even more congenial frost.” From the reading I know that Scrooge isn’t a people person and is very down about life. Based on the text he doesn’t really like being around them. For example Scrooge didn’t donate any money to the poor, and blew off his nephew about spending Christmas with them. In the text it states that there is no wind as bare as Scrooge, this means he doesn't really care or doesn't have many feelings.
From this extract the reader knows that Scrooge is a negative character. Straight away we know that he has a negative impact on others. ‘Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear Scrooge, how are you?”’ This dialogue never actually happened, this shows that the other characters in the book are too afraid to acknowledge
In the play, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley by Israel Horovitz the main character Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas and people. At the beginning, he shows very different and mean actions towards people and how he is always mad. For example when Scrooge leaves his office's people start to walk past him in a happy and merry mood. But in contrast to the people, Scrooge has a frown and looks unhappy for the Christmas time. Another example is that when his nephew is talking to him he is wanting him to leave so he keeps on repeating the words, “Good Afternoon!” until he leaves. The last example would be that when Cratchit is cold in the office, Scrooge starts yelling at him saying that he would fire him because he was showing he was cold. Scrooge also shows it in his own words by saying “...every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.”(647).
Also, Dickens describes Ebenezer Scrooge as a 'cold-hearted, tight fisted, selfish man' who despises Christmas and all things that incite happiness. In addition, the words have a rhythm, they all have three syllables. The title of this book is A Christmas Carol. A Carol is a hymn, the three descriptive words is representing a carol so this refers back to the title. A quote from the book is 'The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red'. Dickens portrays Scrooge's characteristics like the wintry weather conditions. This illustrates the readers what kind of personality Scrooge has, to me it’s like Dickens is describing Scrooge like Jack Frost. He is truly mean at the beginning but at the conclusion of his experience he changes to a nice man. Although Dickens describes Scrooge as a mean, rude man, it’s like Dickens is teaching us the viewers a lesson that everyone has a different side of them it just takes hard work to transform them.
The phrase 'no warmth could warm ,nor wintry weather chill him' really emphasises that him trying to warm himself at a fire would be useless because it would not work, which perhaps explains why he does not put his heating on in winter(besides his obsession for hoarding his money). This presents him as an outsider which is further highlighted in stave 1 when the narrator says that 'no one stopped him in the street to say ,my dear Scrooge how are you?', and even beggars and blind-men fear him and his presence. His harsh personality is shown when two gentlemen working for a charity ask him to donate to the 'poor and destitute', however he says 'are there no workhouses?' 'are there no prisons?', but the worker says that they 'would rather die' to which Scrooge responds with, 'then they had better do so and decrease the surplus population'. This selfishness ius what Dickens wanted to show his readers and that wealthy people need to help others to abolish social injustice in the Victorian
In Stave 1, Dickens’ uses similes to compare Scrooge to other matter in order to give the reader an idea of Scrooge’s personality. “Hard as sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire, and self contained, and as solitary as an oyster.” (pg. 3). With flint being a very hard rock, and with oysters being solitary and closed up, the reader can infer that Scrooge is not a very welcoming, outgoing person, but in fact, the opposite. Scrooge does outgrow this part of his personality after he realizes what an effect it has had on him, towards the end. That
Scrooge is a man all about business, largely for its own sake. He lives entirely for the moment and for work and amassing a fortune, and he does not express any vision of building for the future, of achieving some social improvement, or of contributing anything to the social order. He sees work and the creation of wealth as an end in itself. Scrooge is described as “ A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, and covetous old sinner” (Dickens, I). Marx would have described the capitalist as a class, and Marx would also find significance in the way Scrooge treats his clerk, hardly giving him even the one day off a year for Christmas. This type of men is called “Bourgeois” according to the Communist Manifesto. In Marx’s time the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and
Whenever somebody would attempt to talk to Scrooge he would just ignore them or say, “Bah, Humbug!” When he was invited to come to Fred’s Christmas party, Scrooge said, “I’ll dine alone, thank you.” This was a rude comment in response to a nice gesture from Fred, his nephew. “Are they still in the workhouses?” asked Scrooge to the gentleman visitor about the poor people. “You better be here early the next morning,” Scrooge said rudely to Bob on his way out. Scrooge has many more impolite and
At the beginning of the story, Scrooge is a very greedy man he only cares about himself. There are many ideas of knowing how he is greedy, he doesn't like giving his money to people unless he has to. Scrooge has been this way ever since his wife marley passed away because he thinks he doesn't have anything left. When he goes out on the streets,
Many people in this world wish that they could change. Although some people want someone in their life to amend themselves. In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the character Scrooge changes from mean old man to a cheerful and generous person. In Stave 1, Dickens establishes Scrooge's character as someone who is rude and doesn't care for anyone.
Scrooge is a great person , but can be moody and most of the time he is very moody.Scrooge emotions differ from the other characters.he does not have a very big heart for anyone but his self , while most of the other characters care about everyone and especially not just about themselves.Also Scrooge’s attitude was very rude about Christmas.When someone told him Merry Christmas he got an attitude with him and lectured him about how much he hates Christmas.
Nobody liked Scrooge. According to the text, he was a wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. On page 4 of Stave 4, the text tells us “no one cared, they let him die alone. The quotes are proof of what the townspeople thought of him. According to the text in Stave 4 page 4 it says, “If he wanted to keep them after he was dead a wicked old screw.” This is what the laundry lady referred to his clothes and his personal belongings. Another example is in Stave 4 page 5 it says, “He frightened everybody away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead.” This scary attitude he displayed was a reason why nobody liked him. The last example is in Stave 4 page 4 it says, “If he had been, he’d have had somebody
Ebenezer Scrooge’s major vice is his miserliness. However, he is transformed into a deeply generous man who cannot help but give away his precious money, time, and attention by the end of the play. Scrooge is selfish with his money and his heart. Scrooge is a grump and mean person while everyone is joyful and happy during the Christmas season. Scrooge is resolute about making people's lives as terrible as his.When two men came to his work and asked for a donation for the poor Scrooge and his empty heart had this to say about it, “Are there no prisons? And aren’t the Union workhouses still in operation? The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then? If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”