GRADE 9 Charity in A Christmas Carol Essay GCSE English Literature
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This essay focuses on the theme of Charity in A Christmas Carol, including an introduction, a variety of quotes from throughout the text, and their analysis. It focuses on charity as a general theme, and how it is expressed through different characters and their transformations as the novella progr...
Write about how Dickens presents charity in his novella.
In your response you should:
• Refer to the extract and the novel as a whole
• Show your understanding of characters and events in the novel
• Refer to the contexts of the novel (40 marks)
In his novella A Christmas Carol, Dickens presents charity as one of the main
themes of the play, encouraging his readers, in an Era in which compassion to
the lower class was scarce and avarice prevalent. This is presented through the
uncharitable character of Scrooge, using him to emphasise how his lack of
charity contributed to the unfair wealth distribution in society. Charity is also
presented as the giving of love, joy and kindness, but all forms are depicted as
important to the character of a person, and at the end of the play the newly
reformed Scrooge embodies all of these.
At the beginning of the novella, Dickens successfully presents charity
through Scrooge’s lack thereof when describing him at the beginning of the
novella, criticising the uncharitable behaviours in society. He is described as:
‘Oh! But he was a tight fisted hand at the grindstone Scrooge!’ The exclamative
emphasises his uncharitable character and how it impacts his character overall.
The adjective ‘tight fisted' depicts how he is unwilling to use his money for
charitable causes despite having more than enough to do so, foreshadowing his
refusal to the charity workers. The noun ‘grindstone’ alludes to Scrooge’s
harshness and lack of charity – his isolation causing his lack of empathy towards
the poor – Dickens criticising the avarice of businessmen and their lack of
charity. Dickens then comments the weather: ‘often ‘came down’ handsomely
and Scrooge never did.’ The verb phrase ‘came down’ demonstrates how the
cold is described as more charitable than Scrooge, the use of the adverb ‘never’
illustrating his lack of charity and support to the lower classes, the totality of the
adverb showing Scrooge’s complete greed. Dickens successfully presents
Scrooge’s lack of charity uses to criticise society but also as detrimental to his
own character.
As Stave One continues, Dickens effectively presents charity through Fred,
contrasting his uncle’s uncharitable character, associating charity with
Christmas. He states Christmas is a ‘good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable,
pleasant time.’ The noun ‘good’ highlights how charity falls under this category
of goodness, associated with holiness and religion. Dickens here refers to the
Christian beliefs on charity and helping the poor, as the Victorian Era was a
period of deep and sustained religious revival, therefore encouraging the reader
to give charity. The adjective ‘charitable’ however, could implicates the non-
financial definition: love for mankind, and charity in love, and placed in an
asyndetic list of good attributes reflects its own importance. Fred’s
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