Part One: Cruel Fathers
For such an uncharacteristically short work, Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol packs the punch of an epic. He achieves this through ruthless distillation; unpicking and metamorphosing the life’s path of a seemingly irredeemable character in the space of a few hours (almost in real time for the avid reader) through an intense focus on the idea that no person is born bad or above salvation and then meticulously refines the evidence to meet the criteria of his case. In doing so, he brings the full force of his flair for description to an undiluted focus to employ great exertions for significant ends. There is no fat to trim. Nothing extraneous. Ebenezer Scrooge is a man for whom it is almost too late – but while his cold heart beats, there is always a chance.
Perhaps this is why he begins with Marley – for whom we learn, it is too late. Almost straight away (and before Scrooge’s name is even mentioned) we realise that Marley was of huge significance to Scrooge. ‘Marley was dead…to begin with.’ This immortal riddle instantly captivates the reader. We don’t know who Marley is, but we do know he will somehow miraculously return. This implicit conviction is then strengthened by Dickens’ description of just HOW dead Marley is – ‘as a doornail’ – and, in an age where many readers would have been swayed only by the empirical and palpable, that is pretty damn dead. Doornails were large iron pins that were hand forged and hammered through the horizontal frame and vertical panels of solid wooden doors making them (the doors) extremely strong. The domed end of the nail would then be hammered completely flush (flat) against the panel. They could not be reused and were considered ‘dead’ – hence the term.
Dickens creates irony here as someone who is ‘dead as a doornail’ cannot logically be recycled, but Marley does have purpose beyond the grave and proves himself fundamental to Dickens’ narrative. We learn that Marley’s memory has had a substantial impact on Scrooge in the seven years since his death, and it is steadily revealed that he has become completely lost without him. Their relationship in life extended way beyond that of mere business partners. When Marley died, Scrooge took on the role of dutiful son as his heir and executor. The word ‘sole’ echoes throughout the passage about Scrooge’s death duties to deceased Marley like a death knell foreshadowing their shared fate forged, as the ghost reveals, by an allegiance to his mentor which keenly emphasises the magnitude of Scrooge’s dependence. Poor faithful Scrooge, who never changed the name above the door of their counting house and never went into business with anyone else, answered to either name – Marley or Scrooge – as it was ‘all the same to him’ – and lives in a suite of rooms that had once been Marley’s home. The house itself is described as having been lost there as a young house and never able to find its way out (reminiscent of Scrooge’s lonely childhood residence at boarding school) and it is there that Scrooge chooses to live out his lone, parsimonious existence surrounded by memories of a person he privately mourns desperately, trapped as he is in a cyclical stasis and apparently unable to dwell in any place other than memory.
It is implied in the novel that Marley was much older than Scrooge. The adornment of wigs and pigtails were common for men into the later parts of the 18th century but were falling out of fashion by the time Dickens was born in 1812. Marley’s ghost is portrayed ‘as he was in life’ sporting a pigtail. Although it has a contemporary feel, the story is most likely set at an earlier - albeit unspecified - date. Charles Dickens grew up during a particularly cold period in the Georgian Era towards the end of what is historically known as the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1550 – 1850) and the 1810s was the coldest decade on record since the 1600s so, during this time, winters were particularly severe. His childhood memories of climates so cold that the River Thames froze over (thick enough for an elephant to walk on – a stunt that actually took place at the last London ‘Frost Fair’ in 1814) would have had a huge impact on him growing up, making frozen temperatures extremely likely pervade the context of his storytelling. Therefore, the early 19th century is the most likely setting for A Christmas Carol. If this is the case, only older men, who were accustomed to them in their youth, would have kept wearing the longer style of pigtail while the younger generations of men opted for an increasingly cropped and natural look reflecting the gaining popularity of the classical styles of the ancient Romans and Greeks. If Marley was indeed a much older man, this alludes to a relationship between the men that was more like that of master and apprentice than partner and contemporary. And if, cast adrift by Fezziwig’s death, Scrooge had been seeking a replacement father figure in the wake of loss, Marley would appear to have fit the bill to perfection.
Marley’s prelude to the arrival of the spirits is instrumental in Scrooge’s subsequent receptiveness to their message. When the spectre appears, Scrooge can barely conceal his intrigue at being reunited with his old mentor – exhibiting humour and a degree of comfort in Marley’s presence that is surprising considering the frightening and abnormal situation he finds himself in. Marley, appearing as he does in a horrifying cacophony of purgatorial screaming and ironmongery, ought to be more intimidating than he is, and indeed would be, if he was a stranger. But Dickens seems keen to underline the tenderness Scrooge held for his mentor with his description of the vision in the door knocker as ‘not angry or ferocious’ but familiar and just as he ‘used to look’. Here, Dickens may have been hinting at a filial bond between Scrooge and Marley by consistently linking the spectre to doorways – as if they represent a kind of metaphorical pathway. Doorways invoke ideas of opportunity, freedom and renewal and Marley is certainly presented as a kind of gatekeeper in respect of Scrooge’s redemption. Dickens first describes him as being dead ‘as a doornail’ then has him first reveal himself to Scrooge in the brass door knocker of his home. Scrooge passes through the doorways of his apartment one by one before he ‘shut his heavy door’ suggesting that he didn’t necessarily wish to close the ghost out. The playful, childlike description of Scrooge leading a game of hide and seek – ‘nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing gown’ – hints at Scrooge’s intrigue at having the chance to see Marley again, and even gives the impression that he is actually looking for him.
When he does seal himself inside his rooms, it is to ‘brood’ and it is not long before he imagines he sees the familiar face in the tiles around the grate in his fire. He misses Marley. After the bells ring out throughout the house, and he hears the cellar door fly open and Marley approach up the stairs, Scrooge’s response is counterintuitive; instead of cowering, he tests the ghost, asking him questions and seems deferential – even pleased – to see his ‘kindred spirit’ again, which makes us wonder at the nature of the terror that ‘disturbed the very marrow in his bones’. Perhaps not Marley’s apparition per se, but anticipation of learning the reasons for the return of his teacher. Marley is angry with him and, when he will not be compassionate, Scrooge begs him to ‘speak comfort’ in a way a child might implore a parent for solace when in fear or pain. Scrooge trusted and depended on Marley, and, without Marley’s warning, he would perhaps not have been as open to receiving the spirits and their messages as he eventually becomes. Crucially, he is someone that Scrooge would have been loathe to let down or disappoint. Like a child manifesting unconditional love for a parent.
In Dickens’ view, nobody was beyond redemption, which means there is hope for Scrooge from the beginning. We couldn’t possibly care about Scrooge’s awakening though, if we were not invested in him as a character worthy of salvation, which is why Dickens details his early life. As the story develops, we become aware that Scrooge may be rich, but his past has been a labyrinth of poverty, abandonment and loss - beginning in infancy – that has unremittingly forged the character of the ‘old sinner’ we are introduced to in Stave One. Through supernatural time travel presented in vivid flashback, Scrooge’s past is ‘replayed’ allowing the reader to access the cathartic effects of his
memories and projections for themselves, which is a powerful use of the device. The audience can fly with Scrooge and the ghosts to places that they (nor he) could never witness in reality, and consider the messages they impart as Scrooge does - first hand – making the experience almost tangible in its depiction. Since they have ‘no consciousness of us’, the characters and events portrayed are neither influenced by our presence nor that of Scrooge, which creates an even greater sense of witnessing the truth, as well as allowing Dickens wider scope for the copious and colourful description he was renowned for.
Therefore, through supernatural eavesdropping, Dickens allows the ‘shut up hearts’ of those affected most by Scrooge’s cruelty to open freely. Scrooge is even witness to himself and Dick Wilkins ‘pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig’ juxtaposed with a proliferation of minor acquaintances, business partners, family and clientele freely expressing contempt, callousness, ridicule, and even guilty respite and rejoicing at the news of his death. Even these easily overlooked fragments contain sufficient impact to provoke a credible epiphany in Scrooge while also evoking sympathy for the protagonist in the reader, despite his flaws. The reader might also imagine the impact of their absence on the lives of their own acquaintance and perhaps feel moved to examine the quality of their own legacy, which was undoubtably the writer’s intention. Before settling on the medium of a novella to express his contempt for the hardships he witnessed being faced by working class families in the industrial slums of Manchester, it had originally been his intention to pen a pamphlet intended to harangue Parliament and the rich Industrialists profiteering from the essential workforce that ensured their success but lived in poverty. Potentially due to the poor sales of his previous novel, he chose instead to create a work of fiction as his publishers had given him notice of their intention to reduce his royalties because of Martin Chuzzlewit’s poor reception, and Dickens was himself facing a massive dip in income and feeling the pinch.
The agonies of a writer torn between his art and a relentless drive to overcome his circumstances are evident as Dickens repeatedly underscores the undesirability of a life less than well lived. The acidic awkwardness of the scenes in Stave Four where the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come wordlessly reveals that people’s lives are either unstirred by Scrooge’s passing (or even made ‘brighter’ and ‘happier’ as a result) is not just for his discomfort, it is for ours. Employing the contrast of light and dark to demonstrate Scrooge’s negative impact on the world, Dickens speaks to all in Stave Four when he describes how the protagonist casts a shadow over the lives of others that is dispelled only by his un-mourned death. ‘Shadow’ is used to describe the visions brought by the ghosts throughout the novella hinting at Scrooge’s malign effect on all around him as a warning to those who choose to walk in darkness and shun virtue and truth. Scrooge suffers the loss of precious people which he uses as a reason to remain in the dark but, in Stave Four, we are shown that, in doing so, his own death will mean as little to others as Marley’s did when he finds himself standing as the ‘sole’ mourner of his own existence beside a grave marked with his own name.
By bringing our attention back to the original image of Marley un-mourned in the later stages of the novella, the reader understands that – for all his faults – Marley at least had one witness at the graveside, whilst Scrooge apparently has none. This vision is presumably meant figuratively. It is feasible to assume that Fred - and even benevolent Bob - might attend his ‘cheap’ funeral. However, both men had the comfort of sterling partners to move forwards with, whereas Scrooge did not, surely magnifying the impact of Scrooge’s decision to succumb to the teachings of the spirits.
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