Episode 1.2: A Christmas Carol Stave I, Marley’s Ghost

Living Literature

In this episode, Dr. Himes steps you through Stave I of A Christmas Carol, giving you background and context to get the most out of your reading.

He frames Carol as Scrooge's journey through Purgatory, helping you understand Dickens' interpretation of Christianity through the ideas of Dante. Then he discusses Charles Dickens as a narrator, that his "First Person Omniscient" style wasn't just Dickens' particular style, but how he enhanced his "brand" by personalizing himself in the text.

Next, he covers the opening paragraph and why it's important that Marley was as dead as a doornail, and why the Hamlet allusion is key to understanding Dickens' Christian worldview.

Dr. Himes then explains where "Bah Humbug" comes from, and he breaks down Scrooge and Marley's company, putting it in the context of London and the financing of the British Empire in the 1840s. He covers Scrooge's politics by describing the real politician who said that the poor should die and rid England of its surplus population.

Dr. Himes ends the episode with a brief tour through Scrooge's London, including Marley's house that Scrooge inherited, which is a serious piece of London real estate with its roots in the Dutch Empire of the 1600s. He returns to Dante to help us understand Dickens' description of Marley Ghost, and why the chains are so significant.