The Ghost of Christmas Past helps Scrooge in A Christmas Carol by showing him scenes from his past, including childhood Christmases and a special celebration with his former employer. The ghost is described as genderless and changes appearance, evoking the blending of memories. Many adaptations cast a woman in the role. The memory of Fezziwig’s Ball highlights the importance of kindness and concern for employees. The visit ends with Scrooge observing the family of the woman he once loved, realizing how his choices could have made him happy.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is one of the ghostly visitors who helps Ebenezer Scrooge on his path to redemption in Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol. Also called a spirit and a wraith, this ghostly visitor isn’t particularly scary, except for the power to evoke emotional pain and scrutiny by detailing how Scrooge has celebrated Christmas in years past. In this role, the Ghost of Christmas Past is quite effective and manages to put Scrooge in touch with his previous feelings about Christmas, which weren’t all negative.
Dickens gives this character an unusual description. The figure is genderless and appears to vacillate between young and old faces, but is approximately the size of a child. His constant change in appearance is evocative of how the past is filled with numerous memories that can sometimes blend together. Some scholars of Dickens’ work believe that the ghost of Christmas passed in the description is similar to Christkind, an alternative to St. Nicholas proposed by Martin Luther in the 16th century.
The changing description of the Ghost of Christmas Past has led many who dramatize A Christmas Carol to make interesting choices about who will play this spirit. In many film and stage versions, the spirit is played by a woman. This is not necessarily inaccurate because Dickens describes ghost as genderless. Furthermore, modern representations of Christianity tend to portray this figure as female.
While traveling with the ghost from Christmas Past, Scrooge is aware that the spirit represents his past and is shown scenes from his childhood and on. These include many of his childhood Christmases in a classroom, the breakup of his love relationship because he was too fond of money, and a special Christmas celebration in his former employer Fezziwig’s warehouse. Of the scenes on this first visit, most people find Fezziwig’s dancing incredibly memorable. Through him, Dickens emphasizes that it is possible to be an employer interested in the care of employees and that it takes little to show kindness and concern.
The memory of Fezziwig’s Ball evoked by the Ghost of Christmas Past is an important part of the story’s action. It puts Scrooge’s clerk Bob Cratchitt in a very different light. For the first time Scrooge recalls that his poor employee is made happy or unhappy by the actions of the employer, and never before has Scrooge acted responsibly towards him.
Scrooge’s visit with the Spirit of Christmas Past ends with Scrooge observing the family and children of the woman he once loved. Having opened his heart, the Spirit nearly breaks it by showing him how his choices could have made him happy instead of miserable. The effect is almost more than Scrooge can handle, and Scrooge wrestles with the ghost, smashing his cap on his head which extinguishes his light and the source of his memories. Despite this painful interlude at the end, Scrooge is quite willing to continue with visions of him the next night with the ghost of the Christmas present.
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