Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, and is depicted as a bitter an unpleasant man who views Christmas as a “humbug!” It is clear that he is solely concerned with wealth and financial gain, paying his poor clerk Bob Cratchit a meagre wage, and refusing to donate to or help others in any way.
Due to Scrooge’s rejection of everyone who enters his life, most notably his nephew Fred, Scrooge is a highly isolated character. Despite his blatant greed and ignorance, the reader cannot help but pity him for his chilling solitude. Scrooge’s indignant outlook on life however, transforms with the visits of the three spirits. Thus, the Scrooge we see in the last stave of the novella is entirely different from that witnessed in the first stave. By the end of the novella, Scrooge is depicted as a generous, charitable, and benevolent character. He has changed his ways, and pledges to honour Christmas and all that it represents.
Scrooge’s character is used by Dickens to represent the broader issues in Victorian society – specifically greed, want, ignorance, and indifference to the poor. Through Scrooge, Dickens thus imparts his core message – that greed and individualism can only lead to an isolating and sad life, and to achieve true happiness one must be compassionate and kindhearted to people from all walks of life.
