Characters of a Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge - The miserly owner of a London counting-house, a
nineteenth century term for an accountant's office. The three spirits of
Christmas visit Scrooge in hopes of reversing his greedy, cold-hearted
approach to life.
Key Quotes
“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing,
wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp
as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and selfcontained, and solitary as an oyster.”
Bob Cratchit - Scrooge's clerk. A kind, mild, and very poor man with a large
family. Though treated harshly by his boss, Cratchit remains a humble and
dedicated employee.
Tiny Tim - Bob Cratchit's young son, crippled from birth. Tiny Tim is a highly
sentimentalized character who Dickens uses to highlight the tribulations of
England's poor and to elicit sympathy from his middle and upper class
readers.
Key Description:
"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied
Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.
"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting
by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told
me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because
he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon
Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see."
Jacob Marley - In the living world, Ebenezer Scrooge's equally greedy
partner. Marley died seven years before the story opens. He appears to
Scrooge as a ghost condemned to wander the world bound in heavy chains.
Marley hopes to save his old partner from suffering a similar fate.
Key Description:
“The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights
and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts,
and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle.
It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge
observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy
purses wrought in steel.”
The Ghost of Christmas Past - The first spirit to visit Scrooge, a curiously
childlike apparition with a glowing head. He takes Scrooge on a tour of
Christmases in his past. The spirit uses a cap to dampen the light emanating
from his head. This spirit is interested in making Scrooge feel nostalgia for his
lost innocence.
Key description
“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.”
The Ghost of Christmas Present - The second spirit to visit Scrooge, a jolly
giant clad in a green robe. He escorts Scrooge on a tour of his
contemporaries' Holiday celebrations and shows Scrooge how less fortunate
people celebrate Christmas around the UK. This spirit is interested in making
Scrooge feel pity for his fellow man.
Key Description
Scrooge reverently did so. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle,
bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its
capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any
artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare;
and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with
shining icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its
sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its
joyful air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it,
and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - The third and final spirit to visit
Scrooge, a silent phantom clad in a hooded black robe. He presents Scrooge
with an ominous view of his lonely death. This spirit is interested in making
Scrooge fear his future if events are left unaltered.
Key Description:
The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge
bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it
seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
Fred - Scrooge's nephew, a kind hearted man who loves Christmas. He
invites Scrooge to his Christmas party each and every year, only to be refused
by his grumpy uncle. Fred is persistent.
Fezziwig – The happy merchant with whom the young Scrooge apprenticed.
Fezziwig was known for his wonderful Christmas parties.
Key Description
"Hilli-ho!" cried old Fezziwig, skipping down from the high desk, with wonderful
agility. "Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here! Hilli-ho, Dick!
Chirrup, Ebenezer!"
Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't
have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute.
Belle - A beautiful woman who Scrooge loved deeply when he was a young
man. Belle broke off their engagement after Scrooge became consumed with
greed and the lust for wealth. She later married another man.
Key Quote:
"I would gladly think otherwise if I could," she answered, "Heaven knows!
When I have learned a Truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it
must be. But if you were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe
that you would choose a dowerless girl—you who, in your very confidence
with her, weigh everything by Gain: or, choosing her, if for a moment you were
false enough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your
repentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you. With a full
heart, for the love of him you once were."
The Portly Gentlemen - Two gentlemen who visit Scrooge at the beginning
of the tale seeking charitable contributions. Scrooge promptly throws them out
of his office. Upon meeting one of them on the street after his visitations, he
promises to make lavish donations to help the poor.
Fan - Scrooge's sister; Fred's mother. In Scrooge's vision of Christmases
past, he remembers Fan picking him up from school and walking him home.
Key quote:
“we're to be together all the Christmas long, and have the merriest time in all
the world."