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In this extract from 'A Christmas Carol', Scrooge encounters Marley’s Ghost, who reveals the heavy chain he forged in life as a consequence of his selfishness. The Ghost emphasizes the burden of his choices and the lack of rest he experiences due to his past actions. This encounter sets the stage for Scrooge's transformation as he reflects on his life and the potential for change through the visits of other spirits.

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17 views1 page

Acc Q

In this extract from 'A Christmas Carol', Scrooge encounters Marley’s Ghost, who reveals the heavy chain he forged in life as a consequence of his selfishness. The Ghost emphasizes the burden of his choices and the lack of rest he experiences due to his past actions. This encounter sets the stage for Scrooge's transformation as he reflects on his life and the potential for change through the visits of other spirits.

Uploaded by

mansasingh2007
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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12

or

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

Read the following extract from Chapter 1 of A Christmas Carol and then answer the
question that follows.

In this extract Scrooge is visited by Marley’s Ghost.

Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands.
“You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why?”
“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and
yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is
5 its pattern strange to you?”
Scrooge trembled more and more.
“Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of the strong coil
you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves
ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!”
10 Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding himself
surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing.
“Jacob,” he said, imploringly. “Old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to
me, Jacob!”
“I have none to give,” the Ghost replied. “It comes from other regions, Ebenezer
15 Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell
you what I would. A very little more is all permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot
stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our
counting-house—mark me!—in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits
of our money-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!”
20 It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he became thoughtful, to put his hands in
his breeches pockets. Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but
without lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees.

0 8 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.
[30 marks]

IB/M/Jun19/8702/1

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