Exemplar AQA A Christmas Carol Essays (2024)

Starting with this extract, explore how Dickens uses the ghosts to help Scrooge change his attitudes and behaviour.
Write about:
• how Dickens uses Marley’s Ghost in this extract
• how Dickens uses the ghosts to help Scrooge change his attitudes and behaviour in the novel as a whole.

Dickens, in his political diatribe, ‘A Christmas Carol’, introduces the gothic element of ghosts to bring about a transformation in Scrooge, while subsequently subverting the notion of an ideal Christmas to haunt his readers ‘pleasantly’.

At the beginning of Stave 1, Marley and Scrooge are described as “kindred spirits”. The adjective “kindred” suggests ‘two of a kind’ or in general suggests the similarities between Scrooge and his colleague. Scrooge is described as “hard and sharp as flint”. The simile expresses Scrooge to have the characteristics of a flint – dull and ugly, which reflects his personality too. Flints are common rocks, which suggests that he is a representation of the masses: for example, the upper class of 19th century Victorian England. The adjective “hard” suggests that he is impenetrable or difficult to change. It also suggests that Scrooge is cold-hearted and reserved. In addition, the adjective-suffix “sharp” has connotations of jagged or scabrous, which make Scrooge seem very unpleasant.