TNT THEATRE

A Christmas
Carol BY CHARLES DICKENS

Di d ac ti c Materi al

Directed by Paul Stebbings & Christian Flint

 CHARLES DICKENS

Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam

Dickens) was born in LANDPORT,
PORTSMOUTH in February 1812. Charles was
the second of eight children and they all
moved to London in 1814. Two years later,
the Dickens family moved to Kent where
Charles spent part of his childhood. In fact,
they moved again, back to London, in 1822
and the family settled in CAMDEN TOWN, a
very poor neighbourhood. Charles Dickens
experienced poverty during his childhood
and, in 1824, his father John was sent to
prison for his debts. The young boy was
forced to leave school and to work in a boot-
blacking factory. This was a very important
moment in his life since he felt betrayed by
adults and he had to say goodbye to his
innocence. Working in a boot- blacking
factory was very hard and this experience
will influence his writing. He grew up in
poverty, he was forced to work, and this is
why he became one of the most influential
voices of the working class.

1827-1828
Dickens works as a clerk in an attorney’s
office. In the evenings he studies shorthand.

1829-1831
Charles meets Maria Beadnell, the daughter
of a London banker, he falls in love with her.
Then, he gains employment as a shorthand-
writer for the Proctors in Doctors’ Commons.
In his spare time he reads at the British
Museum.
PAGE 3 CHARLES DICKENS

1832-1835
He begins his CAREER as a JOURNALIST, doing general reporting. In December 1833,
Dickens’s first published work appears in the Monthly Magazine. August: he is taken on
as a full-time Parliamentary reporter by the Morning Chronicle, and uses the pen- name
“BOZ” for the first time. Dickens makes his name as a Parliamentary reporter and
political correspondent.

1836-1840
February 1836: Publication of SKETCHES BY BOZ. In April, he published THE PICKWICK
PAPERS, a great success. He devoted himself to his writing and he married Catherine
Hogarth. In 1838 Dickens repeats his success with the publication of OLIVER TWIST. His
reputation grows, he makes many new friends and he is introduced into fashionable
LONDON LITERARY SOCIETY

1841-1851
Charles Dickens creates MASTER HUMPHREY’S CLOCK, a weekly periodical. He also
went to the United States. He receives a great welcome, but he left the country
disillusioned. The publication of his AMERICAN NOTES causes a furore in America.
Between 1842 and 1843 Dickens begins to work on MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. In 1843 he
publishes A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The novel is published during the holiday season. The
young writer moves to Italy and, with his family, they settle in Genoa. In 1844, he returns
to London to read THE CHIMES to his friends. After the reading, he goes back to Italy
and, with his family; they make a tour through Italy and France, before returning to
English. His life was pretty tumultuous.

In 1846 there was the first publication of the DAILY NEWS UNDER DICKENS’S
EDITORSHIP but he resigns after three weeks and he goes abroad again. He lives with
his family between Lausanne and Paris where he meets French literary celebrities. Then,
he wrote DOMBEY AND SON and CHRISTMAS STORIES, immersed in
social/philanthropic and journalistic activities, he produces and acts in amateur
theatricals. In 1849, he publishes the first instalment of DAVID COPPERFIELD, Dickens’s
favourite and probably most successful novel.
PAGE 4 CHARLES DICKENS

1851-1869
Dickens and his amateur company perform before the Queen and the Prince Consort at
Devonshire House, in London. His life continues to be very tumultuous; he keeps
travelling all the time. In 1860 he publishes GREAT EXPECTATIONS and in five years
later he is involved in the Staplehurst railway accident. From this time his health begins
to deteriorate rapidly. He goes back to the United States where he gives public readings
and, this time, they are a huge success and the PRESS CLUB in NEW YORK celebrates
him.

In 1870 Dickens gives his last public reading in London and Queen Victoria receives him
in audience. In April there was the publication of the first instalment of THE MYSTERY
OF EDWIN DROOD and, in June, Charles Dickens collapses from a stroke at Gad’s Hill
Place, he dies the following day. Dickens’s remains are buried in the Poet’s Corner at
Westminster Abbey.

CHARLES DICKENS' WRITING

- The poor universe of lower classes;

- industrialism;
- his characters: people from middle and lower
classes in modern London. He was a very creative
writer; he was able to write artificial and
sentimental plots;
- children are very important in his writing. His
stories have – very often – a didactic aim: the
wealthier classes will “meet” the poverty of poorer
neighbours through his writing.

MORE INFO: www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk

He was a journalist, he was able to observe life in detail, he cares about contemporary
social problems. He had a great ability to portray people and to describe environments
and he spent his life fighting against the inhuman aspects of his society (not only
thought his writing).

Dickens is also a master of dialect. He loves exaggeration and his novels have a lot of
autobiographical elements.

His characters can be very comic or very sentimental. His style is intense.
PAGE 5 VICTORIAN ERA

CHILDHOOD AND POVERTY

DURING THE VICTORIAN AGE

1837: Accession of Queen Victoria

The POOR LAW, passed in 1834, encouraged the large scale development of
WORKHOUSES where the poor were segregated into four distinct groups.

WORKHOUSES These places gave free food and shelter to poor people but they were also
a type of punishment for being poor. They were run rather like prisons. A Beadle ran
each workhouse – this officer could easily steal money set aside to feed and clothe the
poor...and the Beadle often did just that! Poor people feared the workhouse and would
do almost anything to escape its clutches. The workhouses continue right up until the
First World War. Dickens hated workhouses. His character from one of his novels, Oliver
Twist, is a typical victim of the workhouse. As an illegitimate orphan there was nowhere
else for him to go except the street and a life of crime.

DID YOU KNOW? Also in the workhouses: orphans and abandoned children, the
physically and mentally sick, the disabled, the elderly and unmarried mothers.

BACKGROUND

In 19th century Britain there were many poor people. That may be true of many societies
even today but the type of poverty in Britain then was new. Poor farmers were leaving
the land through pressure from the new industrial agriculture that did not need humans.
Even more importantly than that the new industrial cities lured country people to them
as there was a huge need for factory workers.

A PRIVATE VIEW AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY

(1883) BY WILLIAM POWELL FRITH

A PRIVATE VIEW AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY (1883) BY WILLIAM POWELL FRITH[

PAGE 6 VICTORIAN ERA

CHILD LABOUR, during The Victorian Age, was linked to CHILDE CRIME Prostitution was
also common. Children were “sold” as apprentices and no protection was offered to
children during their long hours of work. “All the other people of his time are attacking
things because they are bad economics or because they are bad politics, or because they
are bad science; he alone is attacking things because they are bad” - from Appreciations
and Criticism of the Works of Charles Dickens, 1911 by G.K. Chesterton in 1833 the
FACTORY ACT claimed that children could no longer work in textile factories under the
age of nine. BUT from nine to thirteen they could work and they were limited to nine
hours a day and 48 hours a week in 1870 the ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT introduced
compulsory schooling for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 in England and Wales.
The Victorian Age was – indeed – characterized by POVERTY – INJUSTICE and SOCIAL
UNREST. However it was also the AGE OF GREAT REFORMS and the AGE OF PROGRESS.

QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE VICTORIAN AGE

On June 28, the 18-year-old Queen Victoria was crowned as monarch of the United
Kingdom and Ireland in London’s Westminster Abbey. At the time Victoria took the
throne, the role that Buckingham Palace’s chief resident should play in British politics
had become unclear, and the on-going existence of the monarchy was by no means
certain. Victoria’s rule would change that during her long reign, Britain made its
transition to a constitutional monarchy, even as Victoria’s influence on British society
ensured the continuance of the crown itself.

“Poor little Queen! She is at an age which

a girl can hardly be trusted to choose a
bonnet for herself; yet a task is laid upon
her from which an archangel might
shrink.” – T. Carlyle

QUEEN VICTORIA was very young when she became

queen but she learned how to deal with power and
she is considered a very POWERFUL FEMALE figure.

QUEEN VICTORIA
PAGE 7 VICTORIAN ERA

Victoria's reign saw great cultural expansion:

- advances in industry;
- progress in science and communications;
- the building of railways and the London Underground She was always able to retain
control of her affairs;
- she becomes empress of India in 1876;
- she proposed to her husband, Prince Albert, and not vice versa: “My mind is quite made
up – and I told Albert this morning of it.... He seems perfection, and I think that I have the
prospect of very great happiness before me.” – Queen Victoria to King Leopold;
- she was raised by a single mother, and later became a single mother herself.

The Victorian period formally begins in 1837 (the year Victoria became Queen) and ends
in 1901 (the year of her death). As a matter of expediency, these dates are sometimes
modified slightly. 1830 is usually considered the end of the ROMANTIC PERIOD in Britain
and thus makes a convenient starting date for Victorianism. Similarly, since Queen
Victoria’s death occurred so soon in the beginning of a new century, the end of the
previous century provides a useful closing date for the period.

The common perception of the period is the Victorians are “prudish, hypocritical, stuffy”
(...) This perception is (as most periodic generalizations are) not universally accurate (...)
However, it is also true that this description applies to some large segments of Victorian
English society, particularly amongst the middle-class, which at the time was increasing
both in number and power. Many members of this middle-class aspired to join the ranks
of the nobles, and felt that acting “properly,” according to the conventions and values of
the time, was an important step in that direction.

Another important aspect of this period is the large-scale expansion of British imperial
power. By 1830, the British Empire had, of course, existed for centuries, and had already
experienced many boons and setbacks. Perhaps the most significant blow to its power
occurred in the late 18th century with the successful revolt of its 13 American colonies,
an event which would eventually result in the formation of the United States as we now
know it.
PAGE 8 A CHRISTMAS CAROL

THE STORY OF
A CHRISTMAS CAROL

"Marley was dead". Marley was the partner of Scrooge, a mean, bad-tempered
merchant who strikes fear and discomfort in the hearts of all he meets; not
least his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit, who on Christmas Eve is working late in a
freezing cold office for a miserly wage. Reluctantly Scrooge lets him go home to
celebrate Christmas with his family, but refuses to accept his Christmas wishes.
"Humbug!" he replies.

Likewise he turns away carol singers, his nephew Fred, who invites him to dinner,
and a gentleman collecting money for the poor. Cynically Scrooge asks him "Is
there no Poor Law, are there no Workhouses?" "Many can't go there; and many would
rather die." "If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus
population," replies Scrooge.

In the streets Christmas is in the air: "the fog and darkness thickened so that people
ran about with flaring links, proffering their Services to go before horses in
carriages and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose
gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the
wall, became invisible and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous
vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there.
The cold became intense.

In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-
pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men
and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze
in rapture. The water plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly
congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops, where
holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp heat of the Windows, made pale faces ruddy
as they passed." But Scrooge notices none of this as he walks back to his huge
and desolate house. As he opens the door he thinks he sees in the door-knocker the
face of his dead partner, Marley. Humbug, he decides - but sees it again in the fire
place. And at midnight he is woken by the fearful sight of Marley's ghost,
wrapped in endless iron chains.
PAGE 9 A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Marley explains that he has come to give him a last chance to change his ways, and so
avoid becoming a tortured soul, as he is forever doomed to be. Three ghosts will come
to visit Scrooge: the Ghost of Christmas Fast, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. These three ghosts in turn take Scrooge through life:
back to his own unhappy childhood when he still had feelings for others; to families and
homes celebrating Christmas with love and joy, even the poorest of them like the
Cratchits with their crippled son, Tiny Tim; and finally into the future, where he sees a
body lying on his bed, hears people discussing his death, is shown his own
gravestone and visits a den of thieves where his belongings, even his own clothes, are
being sold.

After these shattering revelations Scrooge realises how much happiness he has missed
in his life and how much unhappiness he has caused. He repents and decides to change
his ways - which he does with gusto! He visits his nephew Fred with Christmas
greetings, he gives a large sum of money to the poor, he sends the biggest turkey in
the town to the Cratchits, and gives Bob a rise in pay - in short he becomes a true -
and happy Christian gentleman.

"And it was 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 EveryOne!"
PAGE 8 MAIN CHARACTERS

MAIN CHARACTERS:
A CHRISTMAS CAROL

EBENEZER SCROOGE
A miserable old man, the cruel-hearted protagonist of
“A Christmas Carol”. Scrooge underpays his clerk and
he disrespects all Christmas festivities and all people
who like to celebrate, to irradiate joy and to praise
life. When he his visited by the ghost of his old
partner, Marley, he begins to rethink his way to see
life. Then, several ghosts visit his house showing him
his mistakes in the past, his faults in the present time
and where these errors will lead him if he does not
change his way to approach life and people around
him. Scrooge will be transformed at the end of the
story and he will become a “better man” embodying ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS
the message of hope and compassion Dickens BY JOHN LEECH

intended for the readers.

JACOB MARLEY
Ebenezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner who died
on Christmas Eve. His spirit appears to Scrooge as chained
and tormented, chastened by his avarice and his
stinginess. He puts Scrooge on his way to redemption.

BON CRATCHIT Mrs. CRATCHIT

Ebenezer Scrooge’s underpaid clerk. He Bob Cratchit’s wife. She tries to
symbolises the abused workers, the ones convince his husband that he should
enduring unacceptable work hours. He is value his work more and ask for a pay
humble and values his family above raise. She takes care of their weak
everything and anyone else. child, Tiny Tim.
PAGE 11 MAIN CHARACTERS

FRED
Scrooge’s nephew. He is the son of
Scrooge’s sister Fan and he does not want
his uncle to stay all alone, all the time. In
fact, he visits his uncle to invite him to
spend Christmas together but Scrooge
refuses since he hates Christmas.

GHOSTS

Ghost of Christmas Past

It is the first spirit that appears to Scrooge.
He/she shows to Ebenezer scenes from his
past, all related on / around Christmas.
They fly over London and retrace Scrooge
past including his first love BELLE. She
broke up her engagement to Scrooge
because of his avidity.

Ghost of Christmas Present

It is the second spirit that appears to
Scrooge. He/she incites Scrooge to repent.
He shows to Ebenezer what other people do
to celebrate Christmas and how happy they
are to be together.

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

It is the third and final spirit that appears to
Scrooge. He/she appears as the most
impressive spirit to Ebenezer. This spirit
does not talk but shows to Scrooge what will
happen after his death. In particular,
Scrooge sees his funeral – empty with no
one to remember him. He realises all the
mistakes he is making; he realises where his
greed is leading him.
PAGE 12 QUOTES

QUOTES FROM
A CHRISTMAS CAROL

“Morality can not be purchased, nor accountancy save

your soul.”

“Mankind was my business.”

“Quite alone in the world, I do believe.”

“The past is always with us. Time moves forward.

Time crushed your finer feelings and hardened your
heart.”

“Bah! Humbug!”

“What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor

enough. What reason have you to be so dismal? You’re
rich enough.”

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly

contagious as laughter and good humor.”
PAGE 13 GAMES

GAMES AND QUESTIONNAIRES

Answer questions below in full sentences.

1. Who is Marley and what is his relevance to the story?

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2. Explain the expression “dead as a door nail” in your own words.

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3. What relationship links Fred to Scrooge?

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4. When and why Scrooge realises he is wasting his life?

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5. Who is your favourite character? Why?

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PAGE 14 GAMES

Below you find some excerpts of the stage text.Explain what they mean in
the context and what is your point of view.

Marley: “Morality can not be purchased”

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Christmas Past: “And was it money well spent?” Scrooge: “It gives me happy memories.”
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Christmas past: “The young are not always foolish.” Tenants: “Nor the old wise.”
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Scrooge: “Bah…humbug!”
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Scrooge: “Aah! I know who you are without looking. You're the spirit of Christmas Yet
To Come? Yes. You're going to show me what hasn't happened but will happen? I know
you mean to do me good? Yes? Please, I do mean to be a different man! Speak! In the
name of goodness!”
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PAGE 15 GAMES

Answer:
True or False?

1. The play takes place in Dublin.

2. Jacob Marley is Scrooge’s business partner.

3. The first ghost who visited Scrooge is the Yet to Come Ghost.

4. All ghosts speak to Scrooge.

5. Scrooge owns a bank.

6. The ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the Scratchit’s.

7. Scrooge’s nephew name is John.

8. Young Scrooge was in love with Belle.

9. Scrooge likes darkness since it helps him to forgot the past.

10. Belle ended her engagement to Scrooge because he is too poor for her.

11. Scrooge’s sister is Mrs. Fezziwig.

12. Tiny Tim is finally adopted by Scrooge.

13. Scrooge is a lawyer.

14. Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas Present how to help Tiny Tim.
PAGE 16 GAMES

Discuss the questions below in groups.

1. Ebeneezer Scrooge is tormented and then eventually redeemed by the Ghosts in

his dream, what do you think they represent?

2. Dickens keeps reminding us of the poverty in Victorian London that Scrooge

encounters, can you see any contemporary parallels?

3. Bob Cratchit is always passive in Scrooge’s presence, why does he not protest or

complain? Should he behave differently at any point?

4. The Ghosts show Scrooge his past including an episode where Belle rejects him.

Does Scrooge deserve this rejection? If so why?

5. Scrooge is transformed when he wakes. Will he continue to be generous and

caring or will he return to mean, ruthless ways?

6. Charging Poor people high rent is how Scrooge makes his wealth. Is Dickens

criticising Capitalism?

7. Scrooge is saved from himself at the last minute. Do you think people can be

redeemed in real life?

8. Scrooge’s nephew Fred is nearly always kind, generous and forgiving. Is this a

good philosophy for life?

9. Have you learnt anything from this play? Will it make you more generous- kinder/

less mean with money and kindness?

10. Dickens uses extreme, extraordinary characters to entertain us often described as

grotesques. Have you ever seen any of these amazing, eccentric characters in real

life?

11. Scrooge at the beginning of the play has rejected friendship, friends and society.

But is he lonely? Do we need other people?

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Published by American Drama Group Europe

© American Drama Group Europe - TNT Theatre, 2020

Made in EU

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written
permission of the publishers.

CREDITS

Published by American Drama Group Europe:

Authors - Paul Stebbings, Federica Parise
Graphic Designer - Domante Tirylyte

Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders. If any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.

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