Detailed Character Analysis of Ebenezer Scrooge - Page 1

The character profile presents six fundamental aspects of Scrooge's personality that are crucial for understanding his role in A Christmas Carol. Each trait is supported by textual evidence and analysis.

Quote: "No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him" demonstrates Dickens' use of pathetic fallacy to characterize Scrooge's emotional state.

Highlight: The repetition of 'sole' in describing Scrooge's relationship with Marley emphasizes his profound isolation: "sole executor, sole administrator, sole assign, sole residuary legatee, sole friend and sole mourner."

Example: Scrooge's response to charitable requests - "I can't afford to make idle people merry" - reveals both his miserliness and his adherence to Malthusian social theories.

Vocabulary: Avaricious - characterized by extreme greed for wealth or material gain.

Definition: Pathetic fallacy - the attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or nature, particularly weather.

The analysis presents Scrooge as cold-hearted through weather imagery, ill-mannered in his violent rejection of Christmas cheer, self-deluded in his denial of supernatural events, stingy in his refusal to help others, profoundly lonely in his isolation, and avaricious in his relentless pursuit of wealth. The character is described through an "asyndetic list of verbs" - "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous" - which emphasizes his greedy nature through its accumulative effect.