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Dickens: A Christmas Carol
In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In the first module, we introduce the novel by looking at the first two paragraphs of the story, including its famous opening line (“Marley was dead; to begin with”) and the reader’s first impression of the character of Scrooge (“Scrooge's name was good on ‘Change”). In the second and third modules, we go through some of the literary, cultural and historical context for the novel, including Dickens’ life and career up to 1843, the impact of the Industrial Revolution on British society and culture, the ‘invention’ of the ‘traditional, family Christmas’ in this period, and Dickens’ preoccupation with capitalism, poverty and children. In the following twelve modules, we read through the novel stave by stave: the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh modules cover Stave One; the eighth and ninth cover Stave Two; the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth cover Stave Three; the thirteen and fourteenth cover Stave Four; and the fifteenth covers Stave Five.
Introduction
In this module, we introduce the novel by looking at the first two paragraphs of the story, focusing in particular on: (i) the fun Dickens’ has with his characters’ names – Ebenezer Scrooge, Mrs Fezziwig, Tiny Tim, etc.; (ii) the famous opening line of the novel (“Marley was dead; to begin with”); (iii) the comic bureaucracy of Marley’s funeral (“The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner”); (iv) our first impression of Scrooge as man whose name was “good”; and (v) the narrative persona and the relationship established with the reader. (“Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge…”).
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens,
00:00:06one of the great stories of all time,
00:00:08one of the stories that you cannot imagine the world
00:00:11without this story in it.
00:00:14It's a ghost story.
00:00:16It's a Christmas story.
00:00:18And it's a story of transformation
00:00:20of a miserable old git called Ebenezer Scrooge.
00:00:23Isn't it a wonderful name?
00:00:26Dickens is fabulous with names.
00:00:29They've got some great names in here--
00:00:30Ebenezer Scrooge, and the Fezziwig.
00:00:33Think of the contrast with Scrooge,
00:00:38sounds all horrible and negative.
00:00:40Mrs Fezziwig, she sounds all sort of fezziwig.
00:00:42You've got to enjoy that sort of thing about Dickens.
00:00:46Dickens's names, Dickens's language--
00:00:49Dickens is simply fun to read.
00:00:51We're going to read the very first sentence or two
00:00:56of this novel, just to-- novella,
00:00:58let's call it a novella.
00:01:01Just to get into the idea.
00:01:02Wonderful opening sentence.
00:01:05"Marley was dead-- to begin with."
00:01:07[CHUCKLES] What?
00:01:12If somebody's dead is usually dead, do you know what I mean?
00:01:16"Marley was dead, to begin with."
00:01:18Well, it's, to begin with because he's not dead.
00:01:23He's going to come back as a ghost.
00:01:25Hehe.
00:01:26"Marley was dead-- to begin with."
00:01:28And then Dickens has a whole paragraph which
00:01:30you've got to find amusing.
00:01:35It's not real, it's setting the tone.
00:01:38It's funny.
00:01:43"There's no doubt whatever about that.
00:01:44The register of his burial was signed
00:01:47by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker,
00:01:49and the chief mourner.
00:01:51Scrooge signed it-- and Scrooge's name
00:01:53was good upon 'Change, for anything
00:01:56he chose to put his hand to.
00:01:58Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."
00:02:00Now, that's just five lines, and he's done everything here.
00:02:06He's established dead, dead, dead, dead,
00:02:13and all the people, the bureaucracy that
00:02:16had to sign off this death, including,
00:02:19and we get the first mention of Scrooge.
00:02:22And the first mention of Scrooge is if you like positive,
00:02:25because his signature is worth something, "on 'Change",
00:02:29that means the exchange like we have today the Stock Exchange.
00:02:35He's putting it straight into the context
00:02:41of business and money.
00:02:43And Scrooge's name was good.
00:02:46We thought Scrooge's a funny name.
00:02:50Well, wait a minute.
00:02:51He will come out as more negative.
00:02:52"Old Marley was dead as a door-nail."
00:02:56We have no idea who Old Marley is,
00:02:59we have no idea who Scrooge is.
00:03:01But then we have at the beginning
00:03:05of the Second paragraph, something amazing.
00:03:07"Mind!", he says, with an exclamation mark.
00:03:11"I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge,
00:03:16what there is particularly dead about a doornail.
00:03:20I might have been inclined, myself,
00:03:27to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongering
00:03:28in the trade.
00:03:32But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile--
00:03:33and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it,
00:03:37or the Country's done for.
00:03:41You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically,
00:03:43that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."
00:03:49Got it?
00:03:55He could have just written Marley was dead.
00:03:57That's the fun of Dickens.
00:04:00Because what he has established here is really fun.
00:04:03It's that there's I, and I'm telling you the story,
00:04:08and there's you, and you're with me on the story.
00:04:12You're sharing the story with me.
00:04:17And if we don't establish that kind of give and take,
00:04:21the country's has done for, because, things
00:04:26could fall apart very easily.
00:04:31And this I, that he introduces, the narratorial persona,
00:04:33don't see it as Dickens himself.
00:04:40It's an authorial persona, the authorial or narrative, I,
00:04:43who's telling you this story.
00:04:51
Cite this Lecture
APA style
McRae, J. (2020, March 24). Dickens: A Christmas Carol - Introduction [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/dickens-a-christmas-carol-mcrae/stave-1-marley-was-dead
MLA style
McRae, J. "Dickens: A Christmas Carol – Introduction." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 24 Mar 2020, https://massolit.io/courses/dickens-a-christmas-carol-mcrae/stave-1-marley-was-dead