A Christmas Carol
             How Dickens Portrays the Character of Scrooge
            
             Ebenezer Scrooge, is the main character in the story, A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens. The book tells how the spirits, from the past, present and future influence Scrooge for the better and change his personality. Dickens creates a cold-hearted, miserly character and shows how he changes his attitude and relationships with other people, his language and behaviour.
            
             The first description of Scrooge emphasises his harsh, unforgiving personality, which is mirrored in his physical features:
             'The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue.'
             Dickens lists adjectives such as, 'grasping' and 'clutching', which conjure up an image of Scrooge in your mind. From the beginning we are told he is an unpleasant character. This is also reflected in his name, which is used as an adjective today to describe someone who is unpleasant and stingy. Dickens uses similes to stress how unsociable Scrooge is:
             'Hard and sharp as flint' and 'solitary as an oyster', these are negative comparisons along with:
             'No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.' which compares Scrooge to foul weather. He is portrayed in a very melancholy light.
            
             When Scrooge speaks he sounds as though he doesn't want to be involved in conversation and does not care what people think about him. To create this impression Dickens uses very short, snappy and infantile phrases, which are limited to insults. 'Bah! Humbug!' is an example of his speech and it suggests he doesn't want to communicate. Dickens also writes so that Scrooge talks in his head, which suggests that he has no one else to talk to and so he speaks to himsel...