ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Themes Videos 151 videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123038 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

ELA 5: Themes
1128 Views

Picking a theme for a party is pretty easy—always go karate party, because they come with nunchuck egg rolls. Themes in writing are a little diff...

See All

A Christmas Carol 33104 Views


Share It!


Description:

How did Scrooge go from being naughty to nice so quickly, and why? (Hint: contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with the ghost of Santa Claus...thank goodness.) Just one question to think about in Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol .

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

A Christmas Carol, a la Shmoop. At the beginning of every year, many of us

00:09

sit down and jot down our New Year’s resolutions.

00:14

While snacking on our plate of nachos, we vow to lose weight…

00:18

…or while throwing our pen across the room because it’s out of ink, we swear we’re

00:23

going to exhibit more patience. The fact is that it is simply hard for human

00:29

beings to change.

00:32

So what makes Ebenezer Scrooge, the hero—of sorts—of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol…

00:37

…suddenly go from awful, curmudgeonly grump…

00:40

…to upbeat, generous, heck-of-a-great-guy? The short answer, of course, is that he is

00:49

visited by three spirits who don’t feel he has enough…spirit.

00:54

But what changes inside Ebenezer to… turn his frown upside-down?

00:59

Does his transformation take place because of fear?

01:02

After all, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows him his own grave…

01:07

…you’d think that would be enough to scare the crankiness out of Oscar the Grouch.

01:09

Scrooge isn’t ready to join Marley and company in the hereafter…

01:11

…and he seems pretty upset about his corpse being robbed.

01:15

So…does he just turn things around because he feels that’s the way to change history’s

01:22

course…

01:23

…and avoid an untimely—and horribly depressing—demise? Or… maybe he genuinely regrets hurting the

01:30

people he once cared about.

01:34

When visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present...Scrooge witnesses firsthand the plight of the Cratchits.

01:41

And how his penny pinching habits affected the life of Tiny Tim.

01:45

It could be that it just took this drastic measure to wake Scrooge up…

01:48

…to shake him by the shoulders and make him turn an eye to the people he was injuring

01:52

with his actions. Or maybe it isn’t about fear or regret at

01:59

all…but love.

02:00

Yeah, yeah, we know… bah humbug.

02:03

But maybe we have a Grinch situation going on here. Maybe Scrooge’s heart grew three

02:08

sizes.

02:09

He used to be that kind, loving lad back in the day… perhaps he simply…got back in

02:14

touch with his old, happy self?

02:16

Since this is a Christmas story, it sure would be nice if love had a little something to

02:20

do with it. So, what drove Scrooge to…be less Scrooge-like?

02:25

Fear?

02:26

Regret?

02:28

Or love? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Related Videos

Utopias Becoming Dystopias
29768 Views

This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...

Shakespeare on Love
17378 Views

We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...

ELA 5: Themes
1128 Views

Picking a theme for a party is pretty easy—always go karate party, because they come with nunchuck egg rolls. Themes in writing are a little diff...

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123038 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...