The Significance Of Marley's Ghost In A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

Marley’s Ghost is presented in a chilling fashion to frighten Scrooge to changing his selfish ways for the better.

One way Marley is presented in a chilling fashion is when he appears to Scrooge, Dickens present Marley with a long chain wrapped around him made of “cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses” and this list of items reflect the way Marley was obsessed with money which made him lost sight of important things in life like generosity, family, kindness to others etc. The items also suggest the heaviness of his burden due to his numerous wrongdoings like not being charitable . The items, like the padlock and ledger, are symbolic of greed. When he was alive, he was completely driven by making money like Scrooge. By

The verb ‘wound’ emphasizes the image of entrapment. Marley is physically and metaphorically trapped in this eternal torment that he created and this whole description gives a

He uses Scrooge’s views and descriptions of the ghosts to portray their significance. However the most transformative ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Future because it has the most effect on Scrooge.

One way the Ghost of Christmas Future is the most transformative is when Scrooge asks ‘ Are these the shadows of things that will be or shadows of things that may be. The modal verbs (May, Will) shows that Scrooge is concerned about the future. The verb ‘ May’ implies he is eager to try to change the course of his future and the verb ‘Will’ suggest he wants to know if the future is fixed and worries that he cant redeem himself to prevent his lonely death .

Another way this ghost is the most transformative is when Scrooge claims ‘ I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future’. This whole quote is opposite of Bah! Humbug’, He now knows the importance of Christmas and will honour it. He realizes that if he wants redemption he needs to offer charity and selflessness and promises to keep these values ‘all year’. ‘ I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future’ Capitalisation conveys the importance of the way the ghosts have changed him.Scrooge learns to make changes on his behaviour and become a better person which he has to