The Ghost of Christmas Past is the first of the three spirits to greet Scrooge. The spirit is characterised with a peculiar and obscure appearance. It seems to possess several characteristics of an elderly individual, yet nevertheless simultaneously has a youthful appearance. This reflects the elusive notion of time, and the intrinsic link between the past, present, and future. Most notably, the spirit has a beam of light which shoots from its head, only able to be extinguished by a cap which it carries with it. This light, and the white of its tunic, characterise the spirit as angelic or spiritual, connoting purity and divinity.
This spirit’s role in the novel is to show Scrooge several scenes from his past which contribute to his character development. These scenes elucidate Scrooge’s difficult and lonely past, and outline his descent into greed, thus playing into the theme of time in the novel.
The Ghost of Christmas Past imparts the perils of greed and the merits of embracing the Christmas spirit to Scrooge, and help him come to the realisation that while wealth may offer material gains, it also ultimately cannot provide any of the fundamental aspects of human relationships and empathy.
