Compassion and forgiveness

In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens espouses compassion as the key antidote to greed and ignorance. Whilst characters like Fred, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim are defined by their limitless ability to empathise with others, Scrooge is deficient in this quality. Despite the hardships Scrooge’s greedy frugality has inflicted upon the Cratchit family, Bob Cratchit nevertheless attempts to silence his wife when she begins to castigate Scrooge’s lack of generosity at the dinner table on Christmas.