How is the theme of regret shown in A Christmas Carol?
For the first time, Scrooge expresses regret over a past lack of generosity. Scrooge has just relived the events of his boyhood, when he was left alone at school over Christmas. The narrator describes Scrooge’s regret as he sees the daughter of Belle, his former fiancée.
How is guilt shown in A Christmas Carol?
Guilt and Innocence Scrooge certainly has enough to feel guilty about: he is mean and tight-fisted with his assistant, Bob Cratchit; dismissive of his nephew, Fred; miserly and cold with the men from the local charity association; and nasty to the little caroler that he chases away from his keyhole with a ruler.
What does Marley regret in A Christmas Carol?
Regret 1: Marley regrets the way he lived his life because he missed out on so many opportunities for happiness. He neglected the people around him and focused only on his own wealth, and for that he is doomed to spend eternity walking in chains and watching joy without being a part of it.
What do Marley’s chains symbolize?
These chains are made of steel and are weighed down with “cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses.” Further on, we learn why Marley is forced to wear this chain in the afterlife: This chain, then, is symbolic of Marley’s business affairs and his pursuit of wealth when he was alive.
What does a chain symbolize?
Chains consist of the circles that are linked together. There are no beginning and no end, just like everything in the world that is eternal. Of course, through centuries, chains had also have less positive connotations. They became the symbol of imprisonment, slavery, oppression and great pain.
What is the function of Marley’s ghost?
Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s business partner, and the narrator goes to some lengths to make us accept he is dead. His Ghost appears to Scrooge on Christmas Eve with a warning for Scrooge about the need to change his focus in life from money to ‘mankind’.
What ghost is Jacob Marley?
Scrooge
Was Jacob Marley good or bad?
In life, Marley, like Scrooge, was a bitter, greedy and selfish man. When he died, he was damned to eternally wander the earth as a decrepit spirit, forever burdened by a mass of chains that represent his accumulated sins.