Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the main character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. His name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness and misanthropy, traits displayed by Scrooge in the exaggerated manner for which Dickens is well-known. The story of his transformation by the three Ghosts of Christmas (Past, Present and Future) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in some cultures.
Scrooge's phrase, "Bah, humbug!" has been used to express disgust with Christmas traditions in modern times.
The inspiration for Charles Dickens' character was from that of the Scot, Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie. [1]
The story of A Christmas Carol begins on Christmas Eve, with Scrooge at his place of business. The book does not specifically state what business he is in, though it is usually assumed that he is a banker or professional money lender; some recent versions portray him as a solicitor. Whatever his main business is, he has a good reputation as an honest businessman but seems to have usurious relationships with people of little means. These relationships, along with his lack of charity and shabby treatment of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, seem to be his major vices.
After introducing Scrooge and showing his shabby treatment of his personal business and relations the novel resumes with Scrooge at his residence, intent on spending Christmas Eve alone. Then he is awakened in the night by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob Marley in life spent his career exploiting the poor and as a result has been damned. Marley has visited Scrooge to warn him that he risks meeting the same fate, and to announce that he will be visited by three ghosts; Past, Present, and Future. The rest of the novel acts as a biography and psychological profile, showing his evolution to his current state, and the way he is viewed by others. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes him to see his time as a schoolboy many years earlier. Here it is suggested that his father abandoned him to stay at his boarding school, even during Christmas. This is relevant to Scrooge because it shows the beginnings of his lack of socialization and empathy. He does not socialize because he has never experienced steady growth in a family unit. He does not empathize thanks to the way he was treated: as a child, he was the least of his father's concerns and this in turn taught him not to feel for fellow humans. Later the ghost shows how his success in business made him become obsessive and develop a workaholic tendency. His money and work-obsessed personality traits eventually compel Scrooge's fiancée, Belle, to leave him. This hardens his heart. The untimely death of his sister Fran, the one relative who had a close relationship with him, also inures him.
The visit by the Ghost of Christmas Past also reveals the origin of Scrooge's neurotic hatred of Christmas. Most of the events that affected Scrooge's character occurred during the holiday season. The important revelation from the spirit of Christmas Past is why Scrooge has such a negative view of Christmas: the book (which was written in 1843) does not state how long ago all this, or even how old Scrooge is now.
Scrooge has only resentment for the poor, thinking many would be better off dead, "decreasing the surplus population", and praise for the Victorian era workhouses. He has a particular distaste for the merriment of Christmas, his single act of kindness being that he gives his clerk, Bob Cratchit, the day off, more as a result of social mores than any true kindness on his part. He sees the practice as akin to having his pocket picked.
One of the sources of his negative ways is the pain he feels for losing his love, Belle. Engaged to be married to her, he keeps pushing back the wedding until his finances are as healthy as he would like – something that, given his insatiable lust for money, would probably never happen. Realising this, Belle calls off the engagement, later marrying somebody else and making Scrooge further withdraw from society and relationships.
While the book has few overtly religious overtones (Christmas is shown more as a time for kindness and charity rather than worship), many note that the story follows the redemptive model taught by Jesus Christ.
Related use
- Created by Carl Barks, Scrooge McDuck was the star of a comic book series published by Walt Disney, and the subsequent 1980s animated TV series Ducktales. Scrooge (the uncle of Donald Duck) was named in tribute to Dickens' character. Barks' story Christmas on Bear Mountain (1947) marked the character's initial appearance.