English Literature: A Christmas Carol - Character of Scrooge - Revision Cards in GCSE English Literature

Scrooge doesn't seem to care about anything except

At the start of the novel, Scrooge is portrayed very negatively, as someone who only care about money - he's described as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"
He's so miserly and mean that he begrudges Bob Cratchit his Christmas wages, and won't allow him a decent fire.
In a vision of Scrooge's past, his fiancée Belle, says that Scrooge sees money as an "Idol", and that it has "displaced her" in Scrooge's affections. This suggest that Scrooge worships money as if it's a good, and his love for it is great than his love for Belle.
Scrooge is described as bitter - "No wind that blew was bitterer than he", cynical - "What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money", and isolated - "secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster".

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Scrooge is unsympathetic towards other people, so he has no interest in helping the poor. He refuses to donate to charity - he thinks he's done enough by paying taxes to support the prisons and workhouses.
He's indifferent to how poor people might feel, and he believes it's not his "business" to care about them.
Dickens describes Scrooge using cold and icy language - there's a "cold within him" that "froze his old features" and he's described as having a "frosty rime". This association with the cold emphasises Scrooge's cold-hearted nature.

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As the reader sees more of Scrooge's past, it becomes easier to understand why Scrooge is so cold and bitter - the events of his past are partly responsible for his present-day personality.
Scrooge is shown sympathetically as "a lonely boy" near a "feeble fire" at his old school. We learn that he's been left there because his father won't let him come home for Christmas.
Scrooge is eventually brought home by his sister, who he clearly had a close relationship with. It's possible that he isolates himself from Fred because he's a sad reminder of the sister he lost.
Scrooge is distressed at the vision of Belle leaving him, and this painful memory is made worse by the vision of Belle's happy family. The reader feels sympathy when he pleads "in a broken voice" to be shown no more. It seems like the heartbreak Scrooge suffered may have contributed to his bitter, closed-off personality in Stave One.

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Throughout the visions, Scrooge is forced to see how other people talk about him when he's not around:
- Mrs Cratchit calls Scrooge an "odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man".
- Fred says he's "a comical old fellow" and "not so pleasant as he might be".
- A businessman calls Scrooge "Old Scratch" - a nickname for the devil.
- A couple, who owe Scrooge money, called him "merciless".
At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is selfish - he doesn't care about how his attitude to life affects others. However the spirits show him the way other people talk about him, which makes him realise his faults and convinces him to change his attitude.

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Seeing Tiny Tim helps Scrooge to feel empathy again. Scrooge asks the spirit if Tim will die, with "an interest he had never felt before" - Tim's situation makes Scrooge start to care about other people.
The Ghost of Christmas Present uses Tim to show Scrooge how wrong his beliefs about "surplus population" are, and force him to think about poor people as individuals. Scrooge is saddened by how cruel his opinions were.
Scrooge is "overcome with pentience and grief" when he realises how wrong he's been. He starts to accept that helping people like Tim is his responsibility.

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Scrooge's character changes completely by the end of the novel. He laughts at himself and says he's "as merry as a school-boy".
He also learns to be charitable. He buys the Cratchits a Christmas turkey and makes a large donation to charity.
Scrooge completely changes his mind about Christmas - the narrator says he "knew how to keep Christmas well".
The spirits teach Scrooge to value family and companionship, so he embraces his nephew's family and becomes a father figure to Tiny Tim.
Scrooge becomes generous - "I'll raise your salary", happy - "Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile", and sociable - "Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity".

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