This is not Casper the Friendly Ghost
The Charles Dickens classic
A Christmas Carol
is not a story for children.
You could be excused for being mistaken about that. After all, the childrens “adaptations” of this timeless tale are almost too numerous to list - from Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (which I watched) way back in 1962, to the Bugs Bunny version in 1979, then Mickey, the Flintstones, and the Muppets (twice). There has even been a Barbie version of the Christmas Carol.
But it’s not a children’s story. It is a story for adults - a morality story - aimed by the morally conscious Mr. Dickens at the selfishness, lack of charity, and disregard for those less fortunate that typified many of the Londoners of his day as, sadly, it does a great many people in our own day.
The fundamental lesson is set forth early in the story, when Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his seven-years-deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. The years have not been kind to Marley - he is colorless, disheveled, and his eyes are glazed over and unblinking. Still bound around his face is the jaw band used to tie the jaws closed before burial in those days. When he unties it, his mouth gapes open hideously, exposing a swollen tongue and teeth that are not nice.
This is not Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The two men’s conversation is brief and to the point. Marley is miserable, without hope and, as he makes plain to Scrooge, suffering the pains of a damned soul. As part of his penance, he has been sent back to warn his former partner of the fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways.
Their conversation follows below. You can watch the video clip further down and follow along, if you like.
SCROOGE: Why do spirits walk the earth? Why do you come to me?
MARLEY: It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide. And if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world and witness what it cannot share - but might have shared, and turned to happiness…
Scrooge inquires about the chain wrapped around Marley’s body.
M: I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard. Is its pattern strange to you, or would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was as full, as heavy, and as long as this seven Christmas eves ago. You have labelled on it since. It is a ponderous chain!
S: I see no chain.
M: Mine were invisible until the day of my death, as yours shall be.
S: Jacob, tell me no more. Speak comfort to me.
M: I have none to give. My spirit never walked beyond our counting house. In life, my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole.
S: No doubt of that. You always were a good man of business.
M: Business? Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business. Charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!
S: I'm sorry for you, Jacob. Is there anything I can do for you?
M: For me? Nay. It is too late.
Here is the video for the above dialogue. It is from the excellent 1984 US/British production of A Christmas Carol, which is the only modern version that is faithful to the storyline and message of the Dickens original. Scrooge was portrayed in a truly masterful performance by George C. Scott.
