First published in 1843, Charles Dickens' work 'A Christmas Carol'' (in full "A Christmas Carol, in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas") is probably his most well-known and beloved piece. The story, suddenly conceived and written in a few weeks, is one of the outstanding Christmas stories of modern literature. Each year during the Christmas season, this famous story is revived again and again.
This short tale takes place on Christmas Eve when Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three spirits. Scrooge's name has become synonymous with not only greed but a hatred of Christmas cheer. He's portrayed at the start of the show as a man who only cares for money. His business partner Jacob Marley died years earlier and the closest things to a friend he has is his employee Bob Cratchit. Even though his nephew invites him to Christmas dinner, Scrooge refuses, preferring to be alone.
That night Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Marley who warns him that he will be visited by three spirits.
The first is the ghost of Christmas past who takes Scrooge on a journey through the Christmas's of his childhood. Scrooge is reminded of how much fun he had during those years.
The second spirit is the ghost of Christmas Present, who takes Scrooge on a tour of his nephew and Bob Cratchit's holiday. We learn that Bob has a sickly son named Tiny Tim and that Scrooge pays him so little the Cratchit family lives in near poverty.
When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives things take a bleak turn. Scrooge is shown his lonely and miserable death so he changes his ways and becomes a charitable person.
Charles Dickens (1812 -1870), geboren in Landport bei Portsea, begann seine schriftstellerische Karriere als Gerichtsreporter. Seine liebevollen Schilderungen menschlicher Schwächen, sein Kosmos skurriler und schrulliger englischer »Originale« und die satirische Anprangerung sozialer Mißstände machten ihn bereits zu Lebzeiten zu einem der beliebtesten Romanciers der Weltliteratur.
