Bah Humbug!: Having No One To Share Your Fortune With

“A fortune is of no use if there’s no one to share it with.” Day after day I hear this saying from my mother yet never think much about it. On the evening of Thanksgiving Day at the Broadway Palm Theatre in Fort Myers, Fl I had the chance to experience the meaning of such a quote in the production of A Christmas Carol, titled after Charles Dickens story. As a central figure in the play, Scrooge’s character development throughout the play acts out a major theme of the power of kindness and cheer in relationships in the production.

As the protagonist of the play, Scrooge’s decisions and actions are central to the theme and development of the production as a whole. Throughout the first part of the play it becomes obvious that a cycle of greed, misery and loneliness surrounds Scrooge. In the first half of the play, the plot enters a period of discovery as the spirit of Christmas past visits Scrooge and it is here that the viewer sees the beginnings of Scrooge’s greed. As his father is sent to prison for his debt he tells Scrooge to “save your pennies, make a fortune and keep it!” Scrooge keeps this saying with him throughout his life eventually building a habit of greed. When both Scrooge’s mother and sister die, there is nothing else but his gold to embrace. Gold becomes a central figure in his life and later he starts to push people away as his greed grows. In his proposal to the love of his life Belle, he says that he must make more money before they are married. As a result of his greed, time is consumed and Belle leaves Scrooge with no one to hold onto but his gold. As gold is the only stable thing in his life he grows to appreciate it more than human relationships, growing his need for more. This is clearly shown when Scroo...

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... with the children with the entire town looking on, it is in this final song that Scrooge himself admits that he is as “giddy as a schoolboy”. As Scrooge is finally able build relationships with the people of his town, he sheds the misery that once took over his life in order to live a happy, merry life with the people in his life.

All is merry and well when the one’s outlook on life dwells not only in the materials but in the relationships with others. Throughout the production as Scrooge clutched to the gold he grew to love out of desperation, he grew lonely, cold and miserable. In doing so he drove everyone away thus effectively showing the evil of the only holding onto the materialistic in life. In his experience with the spirits of Christmas he learns the power of a kind word and cheerful heart and gives the viewer a look at such a carefully plotted theme.