Who Is Charles Dickens

Who Is Charles Dickens

  • Submitted By: megzh
  • Date Submitted: 02/28/2009 8:32 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1309
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 548

“A Christmas Carol” Coursework

“A Christmas Carol” is “more than a ghost story; it is an allegorical tale.” Do you agree? Explain why Dickens uses features of the ghost story in Stave 1 to “hook” his Victorian audience while delivering a message on morality in stave 5.
Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Hampshire, in 1812 and died of a stroke in 1870. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office and his family life was occasionally hard, especially when his father had to go to the debtor’s prison. At twelve years old Charles became the main money-maker in the family and worked in a blocking factory. Charles’ father was released a year later and Charles was able to go to school.
After school he became a clerk for solicitors, later becoming a journalist, a reporter at Doctors’ Commons and at 22 he joined a London newspaper. He published various papers in the Monthly Magazine, following this up with sketches and articles for the Evening Chronicle. In 1836 his sketches by Boz and Pickwick Papers were published, also in this year he married Catherine who was the daughter of his friend George Hogarth. They had ten children but were separated in 1858. Dickens background may have inspired him to create the character Ebenezer Scrooge based on his father and his personality traits. The story may be about how he wished his father could have had the chance to change for the better therefore, he created the story “A Christmas Carol” to ‘warn’ people about how their attitudes to life are portrayed. This could be how the story ended up with a moral- to be aware of your personal attitudes and present a way to change for the better.
My opinion on the above statement and question is “A Christmas Carol” is not just a story; it does try to deliver a message on morality. This can be shown in comparison using Stave 1 and Stave 5. In Stave 1 Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as a selfish, cold-hearted, tight fisted man, who despises Christmas and all things...

Similar Essays