Discussion Topic
Conflicts in A Christmas Carol
Summary:
The main conflict in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge's internal struggle between selfishness and empathy. Initially, Scrooge is a miserly figure, disconnected from others and solely focused on wealth. Through visits from three spirits, he is forced to confront his past, present, and potential future, realizing the negative impact of his actions on himself and others, particularly the Cratchit family. This internal conflict, reflective of broader social issues in Victorian England, ultimately leads to his redemption and transformation into a compassionate figure, embracing community and generosity.
What is the main conflict in A Christmas Carol?
Ebenezer Scrooge, the central character in the novella, faces internal conflict that drives the plot. Although he used to enjoy friends and family and was even engaged to be married, Scrooge has become increasingly miserly and concerned solely with the acquisition of wealth. He has become a miserable human being and is fairly blind to how his inner conflict has ruined his life.
Three spirits visit Scrooge in an attempt to help him refocus his priorities. Scrooge recalls the love of his sister and of Belle, his former fiancée. He realizes that Tiny Tim suffers, at least in part, because of the meager wages Scrooge provides to Tiny Tim's father, Bob Cratchit. Poverty is given a face, and it becomes difficult to ignore the plight of those who are suffering around him. In a chilling scene, Scrooge is led to his own grave and is shown the lack of remorse...
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that anyone feels about his death.
Through these painful scenes, the spirits transform Scrooge's attitude, and he emerges with new appreciation for life and for the lives of others. At the end of the story, Scrooge's conflict is resolved as he uses his wealth to improve the lives of those around him, including Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, to whom Scrooge becomes a "second father." Scrooge is no longer focused on the importance of personal wealth but becomes concerned with using his resources in ways that benefit others, and he becomes known as a man who knows "how to keep Christmas well."
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens does not have a plot revolving around a single central protagonist involved in a struggle against an antagonist. Instead, it is an allegory, showing Scrooge's transformation as he undergoes a series of mystical experiences and achieves a form of redemption. If for an assignment you need to specify a central conflict, it is that between good and evil or selfishness and empathy.
The three Christmas spirits in the story reveal to the cold-hearted miser Scrooge the true nature of his past, present, and future. As he grows in self-understanding, he makes a moral choice to eschew his previously selfish behavior and make amends, discovering that true joy can be found in a life fully engaged in a community.
A second conflict we find in the play is that of the Cratchit family in their struggle to live a joyous life despite their poverty and the illness of Tiny Tim. Their antagonist is actually Scrooge. It is through Scrooge's transformation and generosity to the Cratchit family that all conflicts in the story are resolved, and all the characters find happiness.
The main conflict is the underlying real-life struggle of the poor in England, especially the industrial cities since A Christmas Carol is allegorical.
As a social reformer, Charles Dickens presents Scrooge as the embodiment of the cold-hearted and aloof wealthy in London and other industrial cities of the mid-nineteenth century. While these cities were flooded with people from rural areas where farm machinery replaced them as they sought employment in the new factories of the urban area, the plight of these people living in squalid conditions was ignored. Debtor prisoners and workhouses were instituted to remove some of the poor from the streets, but these were squalid places, too, and many starved and died. Disease spread and children were orphaned.
When the Ghost of Christmas Present carries Scrooge as symbolic of the callousness and disconnect of the frivolous upper class and owners of factories, he shows Scrooge how his unconcern for other Londoners affects them, especially by using Scrooge's own words against him. At the end of Stave Three, the Ghost reveals two children named Ignorance and Want. When Scrooge, who has witnessed love in homes and merriment in the streets as people celebrate Christmas, is now disturbed by these wretched creature. He asks the Ghost, "Have they no refuge or resource?" to which the Ghost retorts pointedly in Scrooge's words, "Are there no prisons? No workhouses?" and Scrooge is ashamed.
References
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is another of his social criticisms. With the character of the parsimonious curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, Dickens points to the terrible social prison of his time in which the disadvantaged poor moved, one that afforded only the choice between starvation and crime. He also pointed to the difficulties of interpersonal relations with people. These conflicts arise from Scrooge's initial refusal to change; for instance, Scrooge continues in his criticisms against his nephew Fred and is unforgiving of his marriage and untouched by Fred's charitable overtures to have Christmas Dinner with him.
So resistant is he to changing his heartless and stingy ways, that Scrooges's dead partner's ghost appears to conduct him to places which will produce a tremendous effect upon Mr. Scrooge, a spiritual awakening, so to speak. After his experiences with the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Future, Scrooge perceives the errors of his ways, and he strives to renumerate Bob Cratchitt by buying things for Tiny Tim, and he goes to Fred's house on Christmas.
What are some examples of person versus self conflicts in A Christmas Carol?
Over the years, Scrooge's soul has become corrupted by a love of money. But once upon a time, as the Ghost of Christmas Past shows us, that wasn't always the case. Young Ebeneezer used to be a kind, loving, normal kind of a person. Unlike the miser of later years, he even used to enjoy Christmas. The Ghost of Christmas past shows us a surprisingly human side to Scrooge, one completely at odds with the grumpy old man he later became.
So Scrooge has a genuine chance at redemption. He is not a wholly bad person and has shown that he has the capacity to love, and in turn be loved by others. The question, though, is whether or not he can dig deep and find it within himself to rediscover his former self. This is the conflict he must overcome. If Scrooge had been thoroughly wicked, then such a conflict would not have arisen, making his character and the story much less complex and interesting.
To a large extent, Scrooge has internalized an external conflict common during the Victorian era. On the one hand, 19th century England experienced an enormous economic and social upheaval in which rampant free market capitalism was allowed to develop virtually unchecked, posing a serious threat to prevailing moral values. We see this illustrated most starkly in Oliver Twist, in the appalling treatment of women and children in the workplace.
At the same time, however, Victorian England was a deeply religious society in which most people lived their lives according to the precepts of Christian morality. In Scrooge's internal conflict, Dickens is challenging his readers to confront the ambiguity of their own social attitudes. Jacob Marley never managed to do this, being forced as a consequence to wander in chains throughout all eternity. Thankfully, Scrooge does finally resolve his own tortuous inner conflict. In doing so, he provides an example to both a contemporary Victorian audience, and to successive generations of readers.
A person versus self theme refers to an inner conflict a character has, struggling with his or her own prejudices, flaws, mistakes or doubts. One might say the entire novel A Christmas Carol is an example of a person versus self theme since the premise of the novel is that Scrooge comes to realize he has been a miserly, cruel person and needs to change his ways before it is too late. However, specifically there are examples of person versus self in the novel such as the spirits point out.
As the ghost of Christmas past points out to Scrooge, he once deeply cared for and loved his sister but has since been an uncaring and cruel person. Scrooge struggles with this realization about himself. The ghost of Christmas present shows Scrooge the way that the Cratchits, poor as they are, spend a joyous family Christmas together and Scrooge struggles with the way that he has treated his own family by comparison. When the Ghost of Christmases yet to come visits Scrooge, terrifying him into believing that he will die a lonely, bitter old man, Scrooge must overcome self doubt and rise above it in the final person versus self struggle in Dickens' novel.
What conflicts do the main characters in A Christmas Carol face?
We find the main conflict in the person of Scrooge, the central character. It is not a conflict which is apparent at first, but we gradually become aware of it as the story goes on and we learn more and more about his past. At first he appears every inch the most miserable of misers, utterly indifferent, even callous towards other human beings. However, particularly with the visit of the first Spirit which shows him visions of his past, we come to realise that he has been repressing his better self all along. The main conflict is therefore internal in Scrooge. We see that he became the hard man he is at the beginning of the story due to his poverty-stricken background, which led him to seek out wealth at the expense of all else. There are also strong hints of family problems, that his father neglected him. We can deduce that this has led him, a a grown man, to try and keep his better feelings hidden, but the visit of the three Spirits bring out the more loving and human side of his nature again. Thus the internal conflict is finally resolved, as his better side wins out.
What is the conflict in A Christmas Carol?
The key to writing a paragraph like this is to determine which conflict you would like to examine. There are several in the story, but the most prominent is the conflict Scrooge faces within himself. He is not a very good person and the story is about him struggling to see that and then change into a better person. It takes a lot of work on the parts of four spirits (Marley included) to get Scrooge to change!
If we use this conflict as an example, you might want to find some quotes that would support this conflict. If you are only writing a paragraph, you probably only need two-three examples, but it might be a good idea to find those in advance so you know who you will tie all of them together. Here is one quote that exemplifies his inner conflict. Here, he is talking to the Ghost of Christmas Future and asking if he were to change his behavior if his own future would change:
“Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”
Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me" (Stave Four)!
While this quote is fairly long for a paragraph, you could easily choose one portion of it to talk about. Consider grouping it with one or two other examples of this conflict and then writing a paragraph that focuses on that conflict in the story.