Carole and I went to see a very good production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ a couple of days ago and so I thought I would post this

As part of my Christmas tradition I am reading, Charles Dickens’  ‘A Christmas Carol’.  A truly fabulous story but…and mine is a big but…

I am saddened by the dreadful press that Scrooge gets, not especially in the book but by all critics since its publication!

Scrooge as an adult  was the product of the neglect he suffered in his childhood. Unloved and indeed hated by his father who blamed for causing the death of his mother  when giving birth to the child. As soon as he was old enough he was sent to a cold and dismal boarding school where he endured great privation and was left there  during the school holidays by his father. His older sister, Fan, was loved and cared for by their father, all his spleen was vented on Ebeneezer.

Picture the young Ebeneezer, watching his schoolmates and friends travel home for the holidays and festivities with their loving families whilst he had to remain alone in that terrible place knowing his father hated him and hsd abandoned him there.

When he was in his teens his father allowed him to return home, a message sent to Ebeneezer via a third party, his sister.  No apology or words of  regret from the old man for his treatment of the boy, no words of love or welcome, just the information from his sister that ‘Father’s mood   has improved’ and that she had managed to persuade him to let Ebeneezer return home. Did his father want him home  or was it because Fan wanted him back that his father relented?

But what would his home life have been like upon his going  back to live at his father’s house after spending most of his young years away fom it?  Could he have trusted his father’s offer and could he have learned to love him? Did his father love him? Is Love a good and dependable emotion for him to attach to?

As an apprentice at Fezziwig’s he saw fun and jollity at Christmas time, but could he trust it or was  it a sop to the workers by the employer to make them feel wanted and so work harder?  If it was a genuine outpouring of Fezziwig’s love and friendship ! how does Ebeneezer  react to seeing such  benevolence? He sees that Fezziwig likes his workers and loves his children and shares  happiness with them. He sees that Fezziwig’s children love him! But was it  a prudent business practice or is there the fear that the workers will think less of their employer and so shirk their duty through the rest of the year?

Has Ebeneezer read Machievelli’s book ‘The Prince’ which advises that it is better for a leader to be feared than loved by his vassals?

Ebeneezer falls in love but tries his best to ensure his loved one’s  future comfort and happiness by the accumulation of status  and wealth.  In so doing he  becomes avaricious and loses his Loved  One’s respect..

Ebeneezer  rejects love because Love asks naught of him but to be Loved and does not appreciate what he  needs to offer it. , Can  we see shades of Alberich the Nibelung emerging here!

Ebeneezer’s beloved sister dies giving birth to his nephew and this nephew grows up and  rejects his ‘good’ advice. We do not know if he rejected financial or career advice fron Ebeneezer, but he does not seem to be a businessman. (Has he a private income from his late mother’s will? . But Ebeneezer  is heard at one point to chide the boy for marrying someone ‘as poor as himself’, so maybe there was none!

This nephew, whose mother died giving birth to him and who, on her death bed asked Ebeneezer ro look after the child,  marries someone for love, paying no heed to how he will provide for this woman.  Not only is this a  sign  to Ebeneezer of folly on the part of the nephew but further ‘proof’ of Ebeneezer’s intrinsic worthlessness as his counsel is ignored!

By the time that the ghost of Jacob Marley has left him on that gfateful night Ebeneezer’s  bad grace is beginning to weaken and during the visit of the Spirit of Christmas Past he is seeing that life could be different, could be better and that he has the ability to enjoy it if it was. It is, however, necessary for the Spirits of Christmas Present and Future to  visit to convince him that he can change, that it is worth him changing, that he can join Life,  that Life will accept him if he does and  that he can sustain and maintain those changes.

Poor Ebeneezer, weep for his loneliness and his rejection of human interactions. Rejoice in his Salvation. And God Bless Us, everyone!