A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol, novella by Charles Dickens, first published in December 1843. After the relative failure of Martin Chuzzlewit, A Christmas Carol proved a great success and led to a series of seasonal novellas over coming years—The Chimes, The Cricket on the Heath, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man, which were gathered together in the collection Christmas Books in 1852.

The most famous of the Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol begins on Christmas Eve and centres on the conversion of the wealthy old miser Scrooge, whose initial character is revealed by his own words, “I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry.” He is visited that night by the suffering ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who tells him to expect a visitation by three Spirits, in turn. The ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come respectively show Scrooge the happiness he might have had, the happiness of his poor nephew and his clerk Bob Cratchit at Christmas, and the bleak tomb that awaits him unless he reforms. On the next morning, Christmas Day, Scrooge rises, a changed man, and orders a fine turkey for his nephew. He also gives toys to Cratchit’s children, and by creating joy for others, finally finds happiness himself.