How to write the perfect Christmas Carol GCSE essay on GREED! 🎅

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol as a harsh and scathing criticism of his rich readers (many of whom were business owners and industrialists) to highlight to them how underpaying their workers was a form of greed.

Remember, this novel was written at the height of the Industrial Revolution where many factory owners made huge profits yet paid their workers a pittance and Dickens wanted to use Scrooge as a reflection of them – to highlight to them how morally corrupt their refusal to pay their workers and to help the poor was a form of greed that would ultimately place them beyond redemption when they die – like Marley!

If you get a question on GREED – here’s exactly what you should write about!

✨PS: I’ll be having a Christmas Carol Class TODAY at 5pm – join in here: https://www.firstratetutors.com/october-christmas

1) Greed isolates Scrooge:

Scrooge’s single minded obsession with making and hoarding money in a miserly way completely isolates him from society humanity and makes him alienated.

Quote: “solitary as an oyster”

2) Greed corrupts Scrooge’s moral values:

Greed completely corrupts and warps Scrooge. Also what’s ironic is he mistakenly believes that being greedy will help him escape poverty and gain happiness, yet it actually destroys his relationship with Belle and any hope he would have had creating a happy family with her.

Quote: “another idol has displaced me”

3) Greed can be forgiven:

Greed can be reversed through charity which leads to redemption. Marley’s ghost appears – he’s clearly suffering in purgatory and Dickens wanted to tell his rich readers this is what will happen to them if they don’t change and give to the poor and pay their workers better. BUT charity would reverse this fate – in fact, in Stave 5, Scrooge is given another chance given he decides to give charitably and become a benefactor to Tiny Tim. Charity can lead to forgiveness and redemption!

Quote: “I am as happy as an angel!”

I hope that helps! 😃

PS: I am running Christmas Carol HALF TERM class on 28 October going over a GCSE model answer plus you’ll get a 3-page cheat sheet for your mocks: https://www.firstratetutors.com/october-literature