March 29, 2024

A Cherished Christmas Classic

Rehoboth Ramblings

Posted

Two our most enduring holiday traditions date back to the 1840’s. One is the Christmas tree, introduced to England by a very young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert from his native Germany; the festive holiday trees soon became popular in America. The other is Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” which was first published in 1843. Here is a local note of interest: Charles Dickens gave a dramatic reading of “A Christmas Carol” in Boston, to great acclaim, on his 1867 American tour.

Since then, so many versions of this beloved story have been told in public readings, in theatrical performances, and filmed as movies and television shows that it would take several pages to list them all, including all the spin-offs. (The very popular annual production at Trinity Rep in Providence will continue through January 1). One can picture the famous author in the Great Beyond wishing he was still around to collect all the royalties.

As for the movies, I’m partial to the 1984 made-for-TV version starring George C. Scott and also the more whimsical “A Muppet Christmas Carol” from 1992 with Michael Caine as Scrooge. And where do you think Dr. Seuss got the idea for The Grinch?

But let’s go back to the source. You can find the original 1843 version of “A Christmas Carol” online, including illustrations, free to read courtesy of Project Gutenberg. I found several lines from the story I hadn’t heard before, such as: “He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again.”

The three ghosts, or spirits, that take Scrooge on his transforming journey each have a lesson to teach. With the Spirit of Christmas Past, Scrooge realizes that looking back on past happiness long ago and mistakes made can bring great pain: “Spirit! Remove me from this place!”

Having suffered a grim childhood himself, Dickens was a keen observer of the miserable lives of the poor. One gripping scene that is not always included in  film versions occurs when the Spirit of Christmas Present, who at first seems like a jolly Father Christmas, opens his robe: “From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.” 

Scrooge is told that “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want … Scrooge started back, appalled … ‘Have they no refuge or resource?’ cried Scrooge. ‘Are   there no prisons?’ said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. ‘Are there no workhouses?” Then the Spirit of Christmas Future appears as the Grim Reaper, showing Scrooge his tombstone and revealing the scorn that others felt for Scrooge and his miserly ways.

Charles Dickens was a wonderful storyteller. “A Christmas Carol” has a little of everything from humor to pathos to social commentary, plus a happy ending. Although the saintly Tiny Tim is portrayed to tug on readers’ heartstrings, the loss of a child was a tragedy that many 19th century families were all too familiar with.

The language of the story is still easy for modern readers to understand even if it was written nearly 180 years ago. It is a ghost story, yet it is full of Christmas cheer. It’s the story of a miserable old miser who sees the light, thanks to those three cautionary ghosts (four, if you count Marley). Scrooge’s glee at finding himself alive and well on Christmas morning is also a reminder that one of the most underrated human emotions is simple relief.

 Not only is the mean old miser reformed completely but “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father … It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

Share!
Truly local news delivered to every home in town