A Christmas Carol
'A Christmas Carol' Summary
Stave one
A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred—the son of Fan, Scrooge's dead sister. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.
That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.
Stave two
The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge, upset by hearing Belle's description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost remove him from the house.
Stave three
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market with people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and to celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1843Author
Charles Dickens
England
Charles Dickens created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 18...
More on Charles DickensDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books
The House of Mystery by Richard Marsh
The House of Mystery is based upon the complicated plot involving two women who look exactly alike, one rich and one poor, and so mistaken identities...
Hindoo Tales or the Adventures of Ten Princes by Dandin
There was formerly, in the most fertile part of India, a city called Pushpapuri, the capital of Magadha, magnificent as a mine of jewels, abounding in...
Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum
Rinkitink in Oz is the tenth book in the Land of Oz series written by L. Frank Baum. It was published on June 20, 1916, with full-color and black-and-...
Azabache by Anna Sewell
"Azabache" es una obra maestra de la literatura que te llevará al mundo de un noble caballo negro y sus experiencias con diferentes dueños, algunos cr...
Popular Tales from the Norse by Sir George Webbe Dasent
The most careless reader can hardly fail to see that many of the Tales in this volume have the same groundwork as those with which he has been familia...
The Junior Classics Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales by William Patten
This collection of The Junior Classics is compiled from many wonderful authors including Alcott, Dickens, Hawthorne, and Carroll. The stories are suit...
The Blue Lagoon by H. De Vere Stacpoole
The Blue Lagoon is a romance novel written by Henry De Vere Stacpoole and was first published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1908. It is the first novel of the...
Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout by Victor Appleton
Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout, or, The Speediest Car on the Road, is Volume 5 in the original Tom Swift novel series published by Grosset & Dunl...
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria is a fantasy story originally written in 1841 by John Ruskin for the twelve-yea...
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
The Castle of Otranto is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition...
Reviews for A Christmas Carol
No reviews posted or approved, yet...