The issue of charity was an important concern to Charles Dickens. It was his belief that charity was linked closely to religion and Jesus Christ. Dickens was a Unitarian Christian, which meant he was more interested in morality and ethics. Dickens believed that Jesus was the perfect example of a good, honest and giving character. This message is the driving force behind A Christmas Carol and is shown in the transformation of Scrooge, who becomes kind, charitably, honest and giving.
Lack of charity and compassion:
Scrooge:
Mrs Dilber (Stave Four)
Collecting for Charity
Kindness to strangers/ compassion
Lack of charity and compassion:
Scrooge:
- Scrooge represents man's desire for material wealth and ignorance of the need for charity.
- We see that his main concern about Christmas is the fact that he doesn't make much money. He sees it as a “poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!”
- We see how the Ghost of Jacob Marley warns him that this puts his life (and afterlife!) in grave danger. Marley is bound and covered in chains that he “forged in life.” He tells Scrooge that he “made link by link, and yard by yard”.
- We see how Belle, his fiancé, leaves him because of his love and focus on money and wealth. She tells him “another idol has displaced me.”
Mrs Dilber (Stave Four)
- Mrs Dilber, as well as the many of the other characters in this stave, show a complete lack of compassion and sympathy towards the dead businessman.
- She takes his bed curtains and even the shirt from his corpse, without feeling any emotion. She states “`I certainly shan't hold my hand, when I can get anything in it by reaching it out, for the sake of such a man as he was” and “He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead.”
- This character, as well as the other unsympathetic characters we meet in this stave, offer a sharp reminder that not everyone has changed or has compassion.
Collecting for Charity
- The portly charity collectors remind us of the importance of charity and giving, particularly at Christmas
- “A few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth...We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices” This shows that Dickens considers himself to be one of the few that strive to make a difference for the poor.
- They act as a powerful contrast with Scrooge's miserly and penny-pinching ways, and serve to highlight the contrasting attitudes towards poverty in Victorian England.
Kindness to strangers/ compassion
- Fred demonstrates this form of charity in offering Bob comfort and friendship in Stave Four in the vision of Tiny Tim's death.
- Fred “whom [Bob] has scarcely seen” asks what happened to cause Bob upset and when told about Tiny Tim's death he states : “'If I can be of service to you in any way,' he said, giving me his card,' that's where I live. Pray come to me.'”
- In this way Fred is a reminder of the charitable act of understanding, compassion and empathy.