Ebenezer Scrooge

Ebenezer Scrooge is a fictional character and the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 short novel, A Christmas Carol. Initially a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas, his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in the English-speaking world.

Dickens describes Scrooge thus early in the story: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Towards the end of the novella, the three spirits show Scrooge the errors of his ways, and he becomes a better, more generous man.

Scrooge's last name has entered the English language as a byword for greed and misanthropy, while his catchphrase, "Bah! Humbug!" is often used to express disgust with many modern Christmas traditions.

Description
Charles Dickens describes Scrooge as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint... secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." He does business from a Cornhill warehouse and is known among the merchants of the Royal Exchange as a man of good credit. Despite having considerable personal wealth, he underpays his clerk Bob Cratchit and hounds his debtors relentlessly while living cheaply and joylessly in the chambers of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Most of all, he detests Christmas, which he associates with reckless spending. When two men approach him on Christmas Eve for a donation to charity, he sneers that the poor should avail themselves of the treadmill or the workhouses, or else die to reduce the surplus population. He also refuses his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner and denounces him as a fool for celebrating Christmas. He even frightens a young carol singer by gripping a ruler with a fit of energy. Scrooge reluctantly gives Cratchit Christmas Day off, as there will be no business for Scrooge during the day.

That night, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, who is condemned to walk the world forever bound in chains as punishment for his greed and inhumanity in life. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits, in the hope that he will mend his ways; if he does not, Marley warns, Scrooge will wear even heavier chains than his in the afterlife.

The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, shows Scrooge visions of his early life. These visions establish Scrooge's unloving childhood in a boarding school, where at Christmas he remained alone while his schoolmates returned home to their families. One of Scrooge's happy memories was when his sister Fan — later Fred's mother — came to take him home one Christmas, saying that their hard-hearted father had changed. Scrooge then apprenticed at the warehouse of a jovial and generous master, Mr. Fezziwig. He was engaged to a young woman named Belle, but gradually his love for Belle was overwhelmed by his love for money. Belle realised this and, saddened by his greed, left him, eventually having children with another man. The present-day Scrooge reacts to his memories with nostalgia and deep regret.



The Ghost of Christmas Present arrives and shows Scrooge that his greed and selfishness have hurt others as well, particularly Cratchit, who cannot afford to provide his desperately ill son Tiny Tim with medical treatment because of Scrooge's miserliness. The Spirit tells an ashamed Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless something changes, and throws back at Scrooge his own heartless words about the poor and destitute. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred defends his uncle from his guests' snide remarks. Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge where his greed and selfishness will lead: a lonely death and a neglected grave, unpaid servants stealing his belongings, debtors relieved at his death, and the Cratchit family devastated by the loss of Tiny Tim. Scrooge asks this Spirit if this future can still be changed, and begs the Spirit for another chance, promising to change his ways – and finds himself in his bed on Christmas Day.

An overjoyed Scrooge commits to being more generous and compassionate; he accepts his nephew's invitation to Christmas dinner, provides for Cratchit and his family, and donates to the charity fund. From then, he is said to have become the embodiment of the Christmas spirit and became a "second father" to Tiny Tim.

Origins
Several theories have been put forward as to where Dickens got the inspiration for the character.

Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie was supposedly a merchant from Edinburgh who won a catering contract for King George IV's visit to Scotland. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard, with a gravestone that is now lost. The theory is that Dickens noticed the gravestone that described Scroggie as being a "meal man" (grain merchant) but misread it as "mean man." This theory has been described as "a probable Dickens hoax" for which "[n]o one could find any corroborating evidence". There is no record of anyone named Scroggie in the Edinburgh census returns of the period. Jemmy Wood, owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and possibly Britain's first millionaire, was nationally renowned for his stinginess, and may have been another model for Scrooge. The man whom Dickens eventually mentions in his letters and who strongly resembles the character portrayed by Dickens' illustrator, John Leech, was a noted British eccentric and miser named John Elwes (1714–1789). Another suggested inspiration for the character of Scrooge is Daniel Dancer, who Dickens mentions, along with Elwes, in Our Mutual Friend.

It has been suggested that he chose the name Ebenezer ("stone (of) help") to reflect the help given to Scrooge to change his life. Commentators have suggested that the surname was partly inspired by the word "scrouge", meaning "crowd" or "squeeze". The word was in use from 1820.

Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens' conflicting feelings for his father, whom he loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale—one a cold, stingy recluse, the other a benevolent, loving man. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, a professor of English literature, considers that in the opening part of the book portraying young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration to rise from poverty to riches "is something of a self-parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself.

One school of thought is that Dickens based Scrooge's views of the poor on those of political economist and demographer Thomas Malthus, as evidenced by his callous attitude towards the "surplus population". "And the Union workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the reactionary philosopher Thomas Carlyle: "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?"

There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between Scrooge and the title character of Martin Chuzzlewit, although the latter is "a more fantastic image" than the former; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable man is parallel to that of Scrooge. Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from The Pickwick Papers was also an influence when creating Scrooge.

Analysis
Scrooge's character, particularly how it changes throughout A Christmas Carol, has been the subject of several analyses.

The psychological phenomenon of increased generosity and altruism following encounters with mortality or existential dread is called the Scrooge effect.

In other media

 * The character of Scrooge McDuck, created by Carl Barks, was at least partially based on Ebenezer Scrooge: "I began to think of the great Dickens Christmas story about Scrooge… I was just thief enough to steal some of the idea and have a rich uncle for Donald."

Portrayals

 * Richard John Smith in A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future (1844)
 * Tom Ricketts in A Christmas Carol, 1908
 * Marc McDermott in 1910
 * Seymour Hicks in Scrooge 1913, and again in Scrooge, 1935
 * Rupert Julian in 1916
 * Russell Thorndike in 1923
 * Bransby Williams in 1928 and 1936, 1950 on television
 * Lionel Barrymore on radio 1934–1935, 1937, 1939–1953
 * John Barrymore in 1936 on radio, for ailing brother Lionel
 * Orson Welles in 1938 on radio replacing Lionel Barrymore for one appearance only.
 * Reginald Owen in 1938
 * Claude Rains in 1940 on radio
 * Ronald Colman in 1941 on radio and again in 1949
 * John Carradine in 1947 on radio and television
 * Taylor Holmes in 1949
 * Alastair Sim in 1951, and again in 1971 (voice)
 * Fredric March in 1954
 * Basil Rathbone in 1956 and 1958
 * John McIntire in 1957
 * Stan Freberg in Green Chri$tma$, 1958.
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo in Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, 1962
 * Cyril Ritchard in 1964
 * Sterling Hayden as Daniel Grudge in Rod Serling's A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
 * Wilfrid Brambell in a 1966 radio musical version (adapted from his Broadway role)
 * Sid James in the Carry On Christmas Specials, 1969
 * Ron Haddrick in the animated TV film A Christmas Carol (1969) and again in the Australian animated film A Christmas Carol (1982)
 * Albert Finney in 1970
 * Paul Frees in Santa Claus Is Comin To Town, 1970
 * Marcel Marceau in 1973
 * Michael Hordern in 1977
 * Rich Little as W. C. Fields playing Scrooge in Rich Little's Christmas Carol, 1978
 * Walter Matthau (voice) in The Stingiest Man in Town, 1978
 * Henry Winkler as Benedict Slade in An American Christmas Carol, 1979
 * Hoyt Axton as Cyrus Flint in Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol, 1979
 * Mel Blanc (as Yosemite Sam) in Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol, 1979
 * Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch in A Special Sesame Street Christmas, 1979 and again in A Sesame Street Christmas Carol, 2006
 * Alan Young (as Scrooge McDuck) in Mickey's Christmas Carol, 1983
 * George C. Scott in 1984
 * Mel Blanc (as Mr. Spacely) in The Jetsons episode "A Jetson Christmas Carol", 1985
 * Oliver Muirhead as "Constable Scrooge" in A Christmas Held Captive, 1986
 * John Duda as Scrooge as a boy for Goodman Theatre, 1987
 * Bill Murray as Frank Cross in Scrooged, 1988
 * Buddy Hackett (as himself) played Scrooge in the film-within-a-film.
 * Rowan Atkinson as Ebenezer Blackadder in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, 1988
 * Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992
 * Jeffrey Sanzel has appeared in more than 1,000 stage performances since 1992.
 * Frank Welker as Thaddeus Plotz in the Animaniacs episode, "A Christmas Plotz", 1993
 * James Earl Jones in Bah, Humbug, 1994
 * Henry Corden (as Fred Flintstone) in A Flintstones Christmas Carol, 1994
 * Walter Charles, Tony Randall, Terrence Mann, Hal Linden, Roddy McDowall, F. Murray Abraham, Frank Langella, Tony Roberts, Roger Daltrey, Jonathan Freeman, and Jim Dale in the stage version of Alan Menken's musical
 * Susan Lucci as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge in Ebbie, 1995
 * Tenniel Evans in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's version of A Christmas Carol (1996)
 * Cicely Tyson as Ebenita Scrooge in Ms. Scrooge, 1997
 * Tim Curry (voice) in 1997; A Christmas Carol (the Theater at Madison Square Garden 2001 play)
 * Jack Palance in 1998
 * Patrick Stewart in 1999
 * Vanessa Williams as Ebony Scrooge in A Diva's Christmas Carol, 2000
 * Ross Kemp as Eddie Scrooge in 2000
 * Adrienne Carter as Annie Redfeather as Annie Scrooge in Adventures from the Book of Virtues: Compassion Pt. 1 & 2, 2000
 * Dean Jones in Scrooge and Marley, 2001
 * Simon Callow (voice) in Christmas Carol: The Movie, 2001
 * Tori Spelling as "Scroogette" Carol Cartman in A Carol Christmas, 2003
 * Kelsey Grammer in 2004
 * Helen Fraser as Sylvia Hollamby in Bad Girls 2006 Christmas Special
 * Joe Alaskey (as Daffy Duck) in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, 2006
 * Morwenna Banks as Eden Starling (Barbie) in Barbie in A Christmas Carol, 2008
 * Kevin Farley as Michael Malone in An American Carol, 2008
 * Jim Carrey in 2009 (Carrey also played the three spirits haunting Scrooge).
 * Catherine Tate as Nan in Nan's Christmas Carol, 2009
 * Matthew McConaughey as Connor "Dutch" Mead in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, 2009
 * Christina Milian as Sloane Spencer in Christmas Cupid, 2010
 * Mark Rhodes in the 2010 Christmas special of ''Sam & Mark's TMi Friday
 * Eric Braeden as Victor Newman in "Victor's Christmas Carol" on The Young and the Restless, December 2010
 * Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Carol" on Doctor Who, December 2010
 * Brenda Song as London Tipton in The Suite Life on Deck episode, "A London Carol", 2010
 * George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
 * Emmanuelle Vaugier as Carol Huffman in the 2012 TV film It's Christmas, Carol!
 * Andy Day in the 2013 CBeebies pantomime A CBeebies Christmas Carol
 * Robert Powell in Neil Brand's 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
 * Ned Dennehy in the BBC drama Dickensian, 2015
 * Kerry Shale as Diesel in the Thomas & Friends episode, "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas", 2015
 * Jason Graae in the musical Scrooge in Love!, 2016
 * Kelly Sheridan as Starlight Glimmer (playing Snowfall Frost) in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "A Hearth's Warming Tail", 2016
 * Henry Shields as Chris Bean (with Henry Lewis as Robert Grove attempting to take over, with the role being usurped from Derek Jacobi to begin with) in Mischief Theatre's A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, 2017.
 * Christopher Plummer in The Man Who Invented Christmas, 2017
 * Denny Laine in Decker, "Double Decker", 2017
 * Stuart Brennan in 2018
 * Guy Pearce in the BBC/FX miniseries, 2019
 * Nicholas Farrell in A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (2021)
 * Will Ferrell in Spirited, 2022
 * Luke Evans (voice) in Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, 2022
 * Paul Giamatti in a series of Verizon commercials