Examples Of Regret In A Christmas Carol

Regret is a powerful feeling that can fill you with a disheartening pain or even push you to do better in life. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a grumpy Ebeneezer Scrooge is shown shadows of the past, present, and future by the three Ghosts of Christmas. Scrooge sees how the decisions he’s made have affected him as well as those around him. He develops a sense of regret and finally learns that he needs to change. The theme, or overall message that an author wants the reader to learn from a piece of literature, in A Christmas Carol is that, although being an arduous feeling, regret is sometimes what makes you strive to be a better person. Dickens shows this theme through Scrooge’s character development as he grows from unpleasant and grouchy to jubilant and merry. The regret he felt over his deplorable past made him want to be a more enjoyable person. …show more content…

Without realizing his mistakes through his memories, Scrooge would have never wanted to change. For example, at the point in the story before being visited by the spectors, Scrooge had no fervor for Bob Cratchit’s poor family, as demonstrated by Dickens on page twelve. “‘It’s not convenient,’ said Scrooge, ‘and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half a crown for it, you think yourself ill used, I’ll be bound?’” But, by the end of the novel, Scrooge learns to be sympathetic. Dickens uses the following quote to show that Scrooge grew from his regretful mistakes and became less relentless and much more kind on page one hundred twelve. “‘I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a bowl of smoking bishop,