The best-loved of Britain’s novelists, Charles Dickens, shared a tale that transformed the season of goodwill and Christmas traditions.
“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is one of the most iconic and heartwarming Christmas plays of all time. It shares the story about a mean-spirited and selfish old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who hates Christmas. He is then visited by his old business partner Jacob Marley and three ghosts who take him on a journey through his past, present, and future in the hope of transforming his bitterness.
It was released during the Christmas season of 1843. It had a high production cost and low selling price, it did not generate a lot of profit in the initial stages but it was an immediate success.
At the beginning of the Victorian period, the celebration of Christmas was in decline. The medieval Christmas traditions, which celebrated the birth of Christ, the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia and the Germanic winter festival of Yule, had come under intense scrutiny by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell. The Industrial Revolution, in full swing in Dicken’s time, allowed workers little time for the celebration of Christmas.
The new urban population of Britain didn’t have much energy or opportunity to celebrate Christmas, thanks to the extremely un-festive combination of long hours of unregulated industrial toil and displacement from the rural communities they’d grown up in. Many of our ideas about what makes a merry Christmas (including the phrase itself) were first seen in Dickens story. Dickens placed charity at the heart of the season and made us hope for snow.
The Christmas stories of Dickens, particularly his 1843 masterpiece A Christmas Carol, rekindled the joy of Christmas in Britain and America. A Christmas Carol continues to be relevant, sending a message that cuts through the materialistic trappings of the season and gets to the heart and soul of the holidays.
When Charles Dickens passed away in 1870, a young girl in London asked a question that demonstrated just how strongly Dickens’s writings were associated with the festive celebrations. She asked, “Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die, too?”
It made a permanent mark on how Christmas is viewed and celebrated in modern times. You could say that every aspect of the festive season – turkeys, mince pies, mistletoe, present giving, and overall merriment – was down to Dickens’s portrayal of Scrooge’s spiritual transformation.
Dickens shifted the focus from one of the community-based activities to be much more family-centred and equal. The welfare of children and the welfare of the poor were an issue close to his heart, which can be seen in The Christmas Carol where he popularised the idea of the “spirit of Christmas” and the need for generosity throughout the year, rather than just one day.
The vocabulary used in the play has crept into today’s conversations, with “Scrooge” being someone who refuses to get into the holiday spirit, 176 years later.
A Christmas Carol delivered just the right message to bring families back to a holiday that often becomes a celebration of wealth and consumerism. Charles Dickens reminded his readers that a joyful Christmas morning does not require money or wealth, but heart, love, and family.
Charles Dickens did not create Christmas, but he influenced the spirit of Christmas we know today!
FAQs
The present-day Christmas celebration is famously attributed to Charles Dickens, who associated Christmas with generosity and various virtues in his book 'A Christmas Carol' written in 1843. In the book, Dickens presented Christmas as a time of festivity, which seemed to have helped reinvent the festival.
How did Charles Dickens impact Christmas? ›
A Christmas Carol delivered just the right message to bring families back to a holiday that often becomes a celebration of wealth and consumerism. Charles Dickens reminded his readers that a joyful Christmas morning does not require money or wealth, but heart, love, and family.
What does Dickens have to do with Christmas? ›
Thanks to his seminal 1843 novel A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens is often credited with inventing winter festivities as we know them.
Why is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens important? ›
While A Christmas Carol was written in response to the specific challenges of the Victorian era, its message is still relevant today. Dickens' critique of social inequality, his call for empathy and compassion, and his belief in the power of personal transformation continue to resonate with readers today.
Which of Charles Dickens books is associated with Christmas? ›
Christmas approaches, and at this time of year many of us will read, listen to, or watch adaptations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. This story, now canonical, has in fact been immensely popular and influential since the very first day it appeared.
What was Charles Dickens inspiration for A Christmas Carol? ›
Dickens was no stranger to these institutions, which provided free education to poor and destitute children – they'd directly inspired fa*gin's Den in Oliver Twist – and a visit in 1843 further convinced him that poverty, ignorance, redemption and kindness should be central to A Christmas Carol.
Who invented Christmas Day? ›
Early celebrations of Christmas are thought to have derived from Roman and other European festivals that marked the end of the harvest, and the winter solstice. Some customs from those celebrations that have endured include decorating homes with greenery, giving gifts, singing songs, and eating special foods.
What did Charles Dickens think of Christmas? ›
Charles Dickens is famous for popularising many of our modern Christmas traditions. But he was also only too aware that it can be a time of suffering, especially after he lost his own sister in 1848. That same year, he penned his fifth and final Christmas book, The Haunted Man.
How does Dickens present Christmas as a special time? ›
Furthermore, Dickens presents Christmas as a joyful time through Fezziwig's Christmas party. 'Fuel was heaped upon the fire' and the warehouse was transformed into a 'snug, and warm' ballroom filled with light. The use of the adjective 'warm' connotes kindness and comfort.
What is the famous Christmas story Charles Dickens? ›
A Christmas Carol was first published on December 19, 1843, with the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. By 1844, the novella had gone through 13 printings and continues to be a robust seller more than 175 years later. Did you know… Dickens didn't make very much money from early editions of A Christmas Carol.
Dickens emphasizes throughout the novella that people have a duty to take care of one another, to uphold Christian values such as charity, compassion, and forgiveness.
What does Dickens teach us in A Christmas Carol? ›
Dickens uses A Christmas Carol to explore the possibility of change. On a personal level, Scrooge changes from being mean and miserable to being generous and kind. His decision to change shows the reader that all human beings can behave in kinder ways towards each other.
What was Charles Dickens' purpose? ›
Micawber (David Copperfield), and Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger (Oliver Twist). Renowned for his ability to mix comedy and pathos and to move readers, Dickens was also a pioneering social reformer who fought throughout his life to improve the living and working conditions for the poor.
Did Charles Dickens write a Christmas tree? ›
A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens | Goodreads.
How does Dickens portray Christmas in A Christmas Carol? ›
How does Dickens show this? Fred is persistent in his cheerful approach to Christmas. We see him celebrating wholeheartedly with his friends. After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.
How many Christmas carols did Charles Dickens write? ›
A Christmas Carol was the first of five Christmas tales authored by Dickens, which have come to be known collectively as his 'Christmas Books'. A Christmas Carol was followed by The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846) and finally, in 1848, The Haunted Man.
What is the impact of the Christmas carol? ›
While Dickens did not invent the Victorian Christmas his book 'A Christmas Carol' is credited with helping to popularise the spread of the traditions and festivities associated with it as its themes of family, charity, goodwill, peace, and happiness encapsulate the spirit of Victorian Christmas.
What is the message of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? ›
The main message of A Christmas Carol is the importance of love, kindness, and generosity. At the beginning of the story, Ebenezer Scrooge has become a bitter old shell of a man with no compassion or kindness in his heart.
What is the problem in the A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? ›
Answer and Explanation: The conflict in A Christmas Carol is that of Ebenezer Scrooge's attitude toward others in life. He is indifferent to the sufferings of the common man, asking "Are there no prisons?" when asked to contribute to the poor who cannot enjoy Christmas.
When did Charles Dickens write Christmas? ›
Dickens began to write what would become A Christmas Carol in October 1843. He was determined to get the book out in time for Christmas that year, giving him a very short window to work in. However, the pressing schedule wasn't solely motivated by authorial inspiration — Dickens also had a desperate need for money.
