Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"

HEADING

“ A Christmas Carol” is a renowned novel written by prominent British writer, Charles Dickens which was published on 19th december,1843. He had written five books about Christmas, this being the most famous one which sold thousands of copies in the first week alone. The story has been interpreted in many languages and is popular all over the world. Filmmakers have also used this story many times in different versions. The book gained a high level of fame and appreciation due to its emphasis on Victorian era and culture, the significance of Christmas shown using Christmas ghosts, the interpretation of the writer’s own life in the story, creation of fictional characters like Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and his beautiful way of contrasting between their personalities and their traits has given the story an honourable position in the history of English literature.

The Victorian age was the most prosperous and influential period in United Kingdom. It was the time when Queen Victoria reigned for 64 consecutive years, after whom the era was named. During this time, the educated middle class people in Britain gained a massive financial uplift. Similarly, British people prospered as the industries thrived and profits began coming in from the overseas British Empire too. The major factor for the upliftment of British lifestyle was the Industrial Revolution. During this revolution, British troops conquered various countries like Hong Kong and India establishing new colonies and empires like East India Company. Charles Dickens utilized his literary work for interpreting lifestyle and people during this period in a very efficient manner. In the novel, “A Christmas Carol,” he introduces a number of characters with diffe...

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...me who was Ebenezer Scrooge, who later realizes his awful way of life and raises the salary for his clerk. Likewise, in the author's life, he finally got rid of his debts and financial problems through a massive success of the book “A Christmas Carol”. Thus, these real life situations that the author faced have been reflected in the story.

The story comprises of very well thought fictional characters with unique traits. Talking about Ebenezer Scrooge, he is presented as a miserly old man with a never ending hunger for wealth and commodities. The writer uses metaphors like 'wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner’ to describe his personality. He is a mean old man who is least interested in Christmas and other people’s business. He has no heart for the poor and pity for the suffering. Thus, he shows no interest in