THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS
(WORKS CITED)
Hancher, Michael. “Grafting A Christmas Carol.” Studies in English Literature. 48:4 (2008) pp. 813-827. (JSTOR)
Jaffe, Audrey. “Spectacular Sympathy: Visuality and Ideology in Dickens's A Christmas Carol.” PMLA. 109:2. (1994) pp 254-265. (JSTOR)
Keeling, Paul M. “A Buddhist Carol.” Buddhist-Christian Studies. 31. (2011) pp. 25-29. (JSTOR)
Sutherland, John. “The origins of A Christmas Carol.” Discovering Literature (2015) (British Library)
STAVE TWO
This play was a popular type of play at the time, which helped its popularity. "A Christmas Carol owed a considerable debt to popular effects in the early Victorian payhouse." (Hancher)
She left him, and they parted
We end up feeling sympathy for Scrooge because of the emotions he displays when seeing these things “In several ways, then, the story ties the ability to sympathize with the images to restoring of a past self to present.” (Jaffe)
The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow upon the ground.
They are arriving at their first stop of the journey in which, "Scrooge is presented with painful images of his childhood suffering as well as the kindness showed to him by others in the past, and learns how the present direction of his life has been shaped by these experiences." (Keeling)
I wish,” Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff: “but it’s too late now.” “What is the matter?” asked the Spirit. “Nothing,” said Scrooge. “Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all.”
We see a change in Scrooge here, when he thinks back to the day before when he had a chance to be nicer and didn’t. He is realizing that his life is a series of these events, which are culminating in this ghost "intervention" Scrooge is bothered by these events that are his "regrets about his wasted opportunity at living a good life, that inspires Scrooge to be a better person" (Keeling)
“Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered,” said the Ghost. “But she had a large heart!” “So she had,” cried Scrooge. “You’re right. I will not gainsay it, Spirit. God forbid!” “She died a woman,” said the Ghost, “and had, as I think, children.” “One child,” Scrooge returned.
The scene where Scrooge sees his sister bringing him home for Christmas rehashes the feelings he used to have for her. He was always so cold, he loved his sister very much and knew she had a big heart. Scrooge is once again struggling with a missed opportunity at happiness, when he realizes that although his sister is dead, part of her lives on in his nephew, who he refuses to have a good relationship with. The other part of this that sticks out is the way children are treated in general. Scrooge's dad obviously isn’t always a such a nice guy to the kids, so much so that Scrooge went away, or was sent away. Dickens believed that "How a society treats its children, Dickens believed, is the true test of that society’s moral worth." (Sutherland)
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer
1840s Fezziweg through a huge party, which showed Scrooge the error of his thoughts on Christmas. He sees what Christmas is about. This is Dickens showing the importance of Christmas a celebration. "Dickens had warm memories of his own childhood Christmases and, now the father of a young family (as was Prince Albert), made the annual event a merry holiday. Feasting, games, and domestic dramas were the order of the ‘twelve days of Christmas’ in the Dickens household." (Sutherland)
being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs, now a pair of legs without a head, now a head without a body: of which dissolving parts,
This is a symbol of all the different things that Scrooge could have done with his future, but he has let his time go by, and that's gone now.
negus
Negus is the name of a drink made of wine, most commonly port, mixed with hot water, spiced and sugared.
And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever
This was the moment that Scrooge realized that he really missed out on something great with Belle. They could have had kids together and a happy family, but Scrooge didn't care for that.
“In words. No. Never.”
He didn't ask her for "release" in words, but the way he was acting showed her that he clearly only cared about money now.
Sir Roger de Coverley
The Sir Roger de Coverley is an old English folk dance, performed in large groups at gatherings and special occasions. The dance at the party.
“True,” said the Ghost. “Your nephew!” Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind; and answered briefly, “Yes.”
Scrooge gave up on having a family a long time ago because of how close he was his sister and then she died. He knows that he could have the same relationship with his nephew if he was nicer.
“They have no consciousness of us.”
Scrooge and the ghost are merely spectators in the events of Ebenezer's past.
opaque
this shows how dark it is outside. Opaque means not transparent, so Dickens is saying that Scrooge can't tell the window from the wall, that's how dark it is.
“It’s dear old honest Ali Baba!
Ali Baba is a fictional book that Scrooge was reading while everyone else was going home for the holidays. In his isolation, the characters he read about became his friends.
he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head.
Scrooge put out the flame on the ghost making him disappear, ending the second stave. This is a symbol that he is still not where he needs to be at the end of the stave. There is no doubt at all that he is now aware of the things he has done wrong in his life. He is trying to push them away and pretend they don't exist. It could also be seen as a sign of Scrooge putting his past to rest and focusing on a brighter future.
“Something, I think?” the Ghost insisted. “No,” said Scrooge, “No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.”
Scrooge is very delighted to see his old boss, Mr. Fezziwig, and is instantly brought back to when he was being apprenticed with his friend Dick. The boss is a very nice man, and gives the two of them the day off for Christmas, a luxury that scrooge wouldn’t provide his worker when he asked for the day off. Scrooge is once again feeling regret for what he does and how he treats others, these are his breakthroughs as a person.
“Yo ho, my boys!” said Fezziwig. “No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Let’s have the shutters up,” cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, “before a man can say Jack Robinson!”
Scrooge is very delighted to see his old boss, Mr. Fezziwig, and is instantly brought back to when he was being apprenticed with his friend Dick. The boss is a very nice man, and gives the two of them the day off for Christmas, a luxury that scrooge wouldn’t provide his worker when he asked for the day off. Scrooge is once again feeling regret for what he does and how he treats others, these are his breakthroughs as a person.
“The school is not quite deserted,” said the Ghost. “A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.” Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.
The ghost is warning scrooge that these things have already happened, and that they are only spectators, they are not able to intervene or change anything about what happened. He wonders why he is joy filled when he hears the fellow children say Merry Christmas, after all he currently hates Christmas. He becomes sad when he realizes that he did used to love Christmas and was made into the person he is today by some very rough Christmases.
“Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost. “And what is that upon your cheek?”
This is the first time that Scrooge shows any real emotion in the story. He sees the boarding school that he grew up in, and remembers a time when he did care about other people, and loved Christmas time.
“Bear but a touch of my hand there,” said the Spirit, laying it upon his heart, “and you shall be upheld in more than this!”
This is when we first see the power of the ghost and what he is really there to do. This is when Scrooge realizes that this is very much real, and not a dream. He now understands what this ghost is capable of, and their journey is just beginning.
Perhaps, Scrooge could not have told anybody why, if anybody could have asked him; but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap; and begged him to be covered. “What!” exclaimed the Ghost, “would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!” Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledge of having wilfully “bonneted” the Spirit at any period of his life. He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there. “Your welfare!” said the Ghost. Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.
Scrooge seems to have a natural desire to see the extinguisher cap used on the ghost. That is not the response that most people would give to a ghost, but Scrooge is symbolically, repeating his life, and projecting his desires to extinguish the light of the ghost of Christmas past, much like he put the extinguisher cap on his light filled life so long ago. Even after learning that the ghost is there to help him, Scrooge naturally doesn't understand or care about the significance, and would rather go to sleep, wasting the rest of his life.
It was a strange figure—like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child’s proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.
Our first description of the ghost is a very thorough and detailed one. The figure is like a child, but with the features of an aged person. This is to show that the ghost represents Scrooge’s life in the past, and how he used to be a happy person. The old person features represent how long it has been since Scrooge really felt any of those positive feelings, a lifetime earlier. The contrast of white hair with a muscular body goes further to show the point that Scrooge did have a bright future and a good life, but he let it get away, and now it's just been so many years since he’s had true happiness. The ghost holds the holly branch that symbolizes the coldness of Scrooge, but it also is decorated with flowers, to show Scrooge's opportunity to change his ways, if it isn't too late. The light on his head represents the light that was so bright, symbolizing scrooge's life and future, before he became such a cold person. The extinguisher cap is a self-destructive symbol, which mirrors that of Scrooge, who has been leading a very self-destructive life.
“The hour itself,” said Scrooge, triumphantly, “and nothing else!” He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep, dull, hollow, melancholy One. Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn.
The hour arrives, and Scrooge rejoices prematurely before the curtains suddenly draw open, and in comes the ghost of Christmas past.
Marley’s Ghost bothered him exceedingly. Every time he resolved within himself, after mature inquiry, that it was all a dream, his mind flew back again, like a strong spring released, to its first position, and presented the same problem to be worked all through, “Was it a dream or not?” Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had gone three quarters more, when he remembered, on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of a visitation when the bell tolled one. He resolved to lie awake until the hour was passed; and, considering that he could no more go to sleep than go to Heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power.
Scrooge is having trouble understanding if what happened with Marley's ghost was real, which leads him to remember what Marley's ghost said about a ghost visiting at one o’clock. Scrooge decided to wait in hopes of no ghost showing up, allowing him to go back to sleep. This is much like the fear he faces on a daily basis, being an old man, and the ghost of Christmas past is going to go further n showing scrooge how much time and life has wasted. He clings to the one thing he can control, waiting for the spirit.
To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, and from seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped. Twelve! It was past two when he went to bed. The clock was wrong. An icicle must have got into the works. Twelve!
The passage of time is very prominent throughout this part of the story. Scrooge is confused by the hour, because he went to sleep at 2. The passage of time is also relevant in the fact that it is important for Scrooge because it is a symbol of how much time as has spent in his selfish ways, and how little time he has left.
Stave 2
William Rutledge
’I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribb’d sea-sand.
This story is being told by the mariner at a wedding. After hearing many of the details of the story, someone (wedding guest) speaks out saying that he fears the ancient mariner and the things that he is saying. He thinks that maybe the mariner isn't a man at all, but something to be feared, like a ghost or an apparition. The people at the wedding had surely never heard a story like this before, so this was probably a popular reaction to it amongst the guests, who are now becoming terrified of the mariner.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.
When I first read this, I thought that the crew was telling the mariner to wear the albatross as a sign of dominance. That he was able to kill this majestic bird for everyone on the ship. He would wear the Albatross as the symbol for what a brave and strong man he is. In reality though, it seems a bit different. The are giving him evil looks and he feels very uneasy about the bird on his neck. I think that perhaps his crew mates made him wear it as a sign of him being at fault for their misfortune. After all he shot the bird down, so it seems as though they are blaming the mariner for the whole situation by having him display what he has killed around his neck. There was really no reason to kill the albatross and the crew may have wanted the mariner to feel the shame of ending their lives by his actions.
’The Sun now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came he, Still hid in mist, and on the left Went down into the sea.
The mariner and his men are lost and their ship has been turned around due to his killing of the albatross. The albatross seemed to be what was providing the winds through the sails of the ship. Now that the albatross is gone, the crew are looking for the direction in which to follow. When Coleridge says that the sun now rises on the right, he is saying that the ship is turned around. This shows that they are now heading north instead of heading south like they originally were.
And I had done an hellish thing, And it would work ’em woe: For all averr’d, I had kill’d the bird That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow!
When the mariner shot the Albatross, it floundered and dropped down into the ocean. It had been following the ship for days, flying gracefully overhead. The albatross is considered to be one of the most majestic and iconic birds before extinction. It is iconic in this story because as soon as it is killed, the ship will no longer move because the winds have stopped. The irony is that they're surrounded by water "without a drop to drink." Killing the albatross killed their journey and the men on board.
he souls did from their bodies fly— They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it pass’d me by Like the whizz of my crossbow!
This symbolism is to show the fault of Mariner. The men on the ship are all dying one by one due to starvation and dehydration. The men are dying and there souls are flying by him, quicker than the arrow from his crossbow. Coleridge is comparing the two things because they are directly related. If the Mariner hadn't shot the albatross, none of the bad things that happened, would have happened.
"The souls did from their bodies fly—<br> They fled to bliss or woe!<br> And every soul, it pass'd me by<br> Like the whizz of my crossbow!' "
This symbolism is to show the fault of Mariner. The men on the ship are all dying one by one due to starvation and dehydration. The men are dying and there souls are flying by him, quicker than the arrow from his crossbow. Coleridge is comparing the two things because they are directly related. If the Mariner hadn't shot the albatross, none of the bad things that happened, would have happened.
"And I had done an hellish thing,<br> And it would work 'em woe:<br> For all averr'd, I had kill'd the bird<br> That made the breeze to blow.<br> Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,<br> That made the breeze to blow! "
When the mariner shot the Albatross, it floundered and dropped down into the ocean. It had been following the ship for days, flying gracefully overhead. The albatross is considered to be one of the most majestic and iconic birds before extinction. It is iconic in this story because as soon as it is killed, the ship will no longer move because the winds have stopped. The irony is that they're surrounded by water "without a drop to drink." Killing the albatross killed their journey and the men on board.
The crystal Cabinet symbolism. The line I focus on from the Crystal cabinet is after the narrator is released from the cabinet, and "Like a weeping babe became." This was symbol of him being reborn out of the crystal cabinet. He was free at the beginning and then he was captured. Inside the cabinet was a whole other world that he came to enjoy, only to be let out of the cabinet back to where he came. He can now see and feel the nature and the reality around him, continuing to weep.
The fifth sonnet in Poems on the Slave trade. This sonnet is the most helpful in the poem in terms of putting the reality of the situation forward.
The narrator asks if the laves should take up the sword of revenge against their oppressors and "Drove into the cold bosom of his tyrant lord". He goes on to say that nobody would blame the slaves for doing such a thing because of the terrible ways they were treated. The narrator then goes on to discuss the opportunity at great lives that these slaves one had, but had now been taken away by these "tyrant lords". This is why I thought the fifth sonnet was the most useful, because it showed how people would naturally react in the situation that these people were placed into.