`The Portrayal of Poverty in a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - Research Paper Example

?Client’s 12 October Charles dickens is considered one of the best by many and his stories are still read with zeal by the people all across the globe. October 1843 was the year in which Dickens first started writing A Christmas Carol and he completed the same in the end of November. A Christmas Carol is arguably the most famous work of Charles Dickens and he could not get any sponsors to sponsor his book and in the end decided to shell out money himself. It proved a very beneficial deal as the book became an instant hit among the people. This paper will throw light upon the portrayal of poverty in A Christmas Carol, a comprehensive analysis of how the main characters suffer from poverty in the story will be provided in this paper. Poverty is an integral part of the play, Bob Cratchit suffers from poverty in the play and in-spite of that manages to keep happy, this is a very important message for all the readers to understand and implement in their lives. “Ebenezer Scrooge is a penny-pinching miser in the first degree. He cares nothing for the people around him and mankind exists only for the money that can be made through exploitation and intimidation.” (Mini Plot). He is one of the most important characters in the novel and the whole novel revolves around how the other characters manage to keep themselves happy in-spite of being poor but how Scrooge remains unhappy all through the story except the end in-spite of being so rich. Literary Analysis Dickens stories have always brought to light the injustice in the society and the case is no different with A Christmas Carol. The portrayal of poverty in the story has been excellent. He was the most promising writers of the Victorian Era and some critics have compared his worked to Shakespeare and other great writers. His contribution is considered pivotal and he is still recognized as one of the best all time writers of the Victorian Era. This story provides an excellent answer as to why people must celebrate Christmas and how people should keep happy all the time. “The novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ was set at Christmas time in the 19th Century. This was a time of terrible poverty and men who lost their jobs had no money to keep their families living in houses. This sometimes meant to living on the streets, which may have led to death for some.” (A Christmas Carol). Scrooge has a very sad past in the novel and because of the same he becomes a worthless man in the play, he loved a Girl by the name Belle and she deserted him for the sake of money. This goes to show that money plays a very important role in the novel; Scrooge gets transformed in the play and becomes crazy after money. The poverty shown in the novel is very close to the heart of Dickens as he had a very bad childhood; he grew up in destitution and was forced to work in a Boot factory. Poverty in The Victorian Era Poverty was a very big factor in the Victorian Age, there were several poor families in Victorian Age, this is also evident in the play, the wages of Bob Cratchit are far from good enough to keep his family in good condition. Poverty was also a predominant factor in the life of Dickens. He witnessed many a situation where he had no money. “Many people could not afford the rents that were being charged and so they rented out space in their room to one or two lodgers who paid between twopence and fourpence a day. Great wealth and extreme poverty lived side by side because the tenements, slums, rookeries were only a stones throw from the large elegant houses of the rich.” (Overcrowding). David Copperfield David Copperfield is another very intriguing novel which again highlighted the state of Britain back in the 1850s, Charles Dickens kept portraying the reality of Britain and how poor and needy people were exploited by the superior people who were in cruise control. The novel portrays the life of the author himself and it can be called an autobiographical novel, Dickens grew up in penury and the same is reflected in the novel. “David Copperfield examines those who have power over the weak, and finds that they often abuse it. David's first experience of this is as a child, when a kind and gentle authority figure, his mother, is supplanted by cruel authority figures, the Murdstones. The Murdstones stop David's education and send him to work in a factory, where he is unhappy, poor, and hungry. Mr. and Miss Murdstone crush Clara Copperfield's spirit, make her ill, and arguably are responsible for her death - all under the pretence of improving her mind and firmness of character.” (Abuse of Power) Social disgrace, poverty and child labor are some of the most important themes that have been portrayed by Dickens in David Copperfield, the importance of kindness and charity have also been highlighted. The hand to mouth survival of David becomes the highlight of the novel, he works all day long but at the end of the day he is left with nothing. Again the superior powers queer the pitch for him over and over again. He is assiduous but he gets disappointed over and over again in the novel. “The novel attacks social institutions Dickens viewed as unjust and cruel. The first is the boarding school system that permitted sadistic men, like Creakle, to be in charge. No one checks his power or tries to stop his cruelty; as a result, the children under his care are tormented physically and emotionally. Dickens also highlights the abusive situation that can result in the home where the man holds all power over the household, and no law or agency can be exerted on behalf of a wife or child. No one rebukes Murdstone for his tyranny over David and his savage beating of him. Even after David's mother dies, Murdstone has complete control over the boy until Aunt Betsey intervenes. There are also no child labor laws to make illegal the employment of a ten-year-old boy for long hours of work in a warehouse.” (Answers) Erwin Piscator On of the most important modernist theater director, Erwin was predominantly German and he was responsible for coming up with theories which made people believe that theater was a form of protest and played a propagandistic function. Totality, immediacy and authenticity were some of the most important theories put forward by Piscator. He was responsible for the development of epic theater, in addition to this he came up with multi-media productions. “It will be possible to make practically every bourgeois play, whether it expresses the decay of bourgeois society or whether it clearly shows the capitalist principle, into an instrument to strengthen the concept of the class struggle, to deepen revolutionary insight into historical necessities. It will be useful if such plays are introduced by a talk, so as to prevent misunderstandings and wrong effects. In certain circumstances changes can be made in plays (concern for the feelings of the author, is a conservative affair) through cuts, through amplifying certain passages, even by adding a prologue and epilogue in order to make the meaning of the whole more clear. In this way a large portion of world literature can be made to serve the cause of the revolutionary proletariat, just as the whole of world literature can be used for the political purpose of propagating the concept of class struggle.” (Erwin Piscator) Richard Kearney This great author talks about how the narrative portrays a very sharable world in front of the audience and how we relate to the narrative. He also underlines the role of a narrative, it is quintessential according to him, and in addition to this the narrative also makes our condition human and makes us feel wanted. The power of narrative is also discussed by this great author, he goes on to say that the narrative plays the role of a lynchpin in our lives. The narrative brings a crucial difference in our lives and it is quintessential. The importance of stories has also been highlighted by this great author, the author feels that stories make our condition human and to reiterate it makes us feel wanted. The changes that take place in civil society must be observed with a keen eye, for instance in David Copperfield the exploitation of a David, a young boy goes to show slavery and other disheartening aspects, similarly other factors can be observed in the civil society that indicate the well being of the people living in that particular society. Narrative and image are two very important aspects; they communicate meaning and a lot of other important aspects. To conclude it is very fair to say that a lot of changes took place in the British theater back in 1030s, theater was considered as the second cousin to politics and witnessed a lot of changes back then. Plays like Uncle Tom’s cabin transformed the society for the better; it mobilized sentiments behind the anti-slavery cause and made the people aware. The workers theater movement kicked off in the year 1926 and continued till 1935; one act plays became the highlight of this movement. These plays were of social significance and brought awareness amongst the people of Britain. Conclusion Poverty comes to light because of Scrooge; he pays his employee Bob Cratchit very minimal wages for his services and in-spite of this he manages to keep his family happy, this is evident from the fact that they eat and celebrate Christmas together, on the contrary Scrooge even after being a wealthy man, disregards and swindles the people. He gets completely transformed in the play at the end. Hence to conclude it is very fair to say that the factor of poverty shapes up the novel, Scrooge increases the wages of Bob his employee and they live happily ever after. The ghosts in the play, play a very important role, they help in transforming Scrooge for good. The bearing of poverty on people has been very intriguingly describes by Dickens and this is because he was a poor man just like Bob in the novel. Overall the novel is very interesting and seems to be a fairytale. There is a very good message to be learnt from this novel and the message is that no matter what the situation is in our lives, we must learn to keep ourselves happy like the family of Bob Cratchit did in the novel. This should be implemented in our day to day life. References Answers. In David Copperfield. Retrieved from: Abuse of Power. In Novel Guide, Retrieved from: A Christmas Carol. In Essay Info. Retrieved from: Erwin Piscator. In Homepages. Retrieved from: Mini Plot. In A Christmas Carol. Retrieved from: Overcrowding. In Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era. Retrieved from: Read More