Encountering Christ in Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol
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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Stave V "The End of It" Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in! “I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. “The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!” He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears. “They are not torn down!” cried Scrooge, folding one of his bed- curtains in his arms, “they are not torn down, rings and all. They are here – I am here – the shadows of the things that would have been, may be dispelled. They will be! I know they will.” His hands were busy with his garments all this time; turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance. “I don’t know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. -
CHRISTMAS-CAROLS-Notes-Rev.Pdf
CHRISTMAS CAROLS Although any Christmas song might be called a ‘carol’ these days, the word actually refers to an ancient English song-form where a refrain or chorus repeated after every stanza (or verse) and is often connected to celebrations like Christmas or Easter. The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin choraula). Carol’s origins are complex and disputed. Some of our familiar Christmas carols were originally pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations They were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious mystery plays. Whatever the origin, composers all over Europe started writing carols but most people could not understand them since they were written and sung in Latin. This changed in the early 13th century when St. Francis of Assisi introduced Christmas songs in church services in Italy for the first time — and true Christmas carols were officially born. In Assisi’s Nativity plays, which began in 1223, actors sang songs that described the scenes in the plays. Although the choruses were sometimes in Latin, the songs were usually written in the language that people could understand. The actors composed Christmas carols to sing during their Nativity plays and, later, they would walk through the streets still singing. It didn’t take long for these plays to spread to France, Spain and the rest of Europe. The tradition of singing Christmas songs in native languages became well established. -
Charles Dickens' Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist
Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings Student Scholarship 2018-06-02 Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist Ellie Phillips Western Oregon University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/aes Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Phillips, Ellie, "Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist" (2018). Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings. 150. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/aes/150 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Byrd 1 Ellie Byrd Dr. Lange ENG 218w Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the depictions of corruption and virtue are prevalent throughout most of the novel and take the physical form in the city and the country. Oliver spends much of his time in London among criminals and the impoverished, and here is where Dickens takes the city of London and turns it into a dark and degraded place. Dickens’ London is inherently immoral and serves as a center for the corruption of mind and spirit which is demonstrated through the seedy scenes Dickens paints of London, the people who reside there, and by casting doubt in individuals who otherwise possess a decent moral compass. Furthermore, Dickens’ strict contrast of the country to these scenes further establishes the sinister presence of London. -
A CHRISTMAS E Y CAROL
D is c G o v u e id r A CHRISTMAS e y CAROL Written Adapted and Music and by Directed by Lyrics by Charles Mark Gregg Dickens Cuddy Coffin P.L.A.Y. (Performance = Literature + Art + You) Student Matinee Series 2017-2018 Season 1 About Scrooge’s Journey, from Dear Educators, Director Many of us know well this classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemptive journey, second Mark Cuddy: chance at life, and change of heart. It’s a story, we assume, most people know. Yet every year at our Teacher Workshop for A Christmas Carol, I am pleasantly reminded by our local “I’m a proponent of saying that the educators that, quite often, our production is many a young student’s very first exposure to more you know, this story, and to live theatre as a whole. the more you real- When you take a moment to let it sink in, isn’t that incredibly heartening and delightful? ize you don’t know. That this story, of all stories – one so full of compassion and forgiveness and hope – is so often It was important the first theatre performance many of our children will experience? And, furthermore, that we for me that, during Scrooge’s journey, get to watch them discover and enjoy it for the first time? What a gift! he started to place For many others, adults and kids alike, who consider it an annual tradition to attend A himself in context, Christmas Carol, why do we return to this tale year after year, well after we know the and that it was part outcome and could, perhaps, even recite all the words and songs ourselves? Some, I imagine, of the lesson for him. -
A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens Putting the novel in context A Christmas Carol • A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (commonly known as A Christmas Carol) is a novella by Charles Dickens • First published on December 19, 1843 • The story was an instant success, selling over six thousand copies in one week, and the tale has become one of the most popular and enduring Christmas stories of all time. • A Christmas Carol was written during a time of decline in the old Christmas traditions • "If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease", said English poet Thomas Hood • A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one night. • Mr. Scrooge is a financier/money- changer who has devoted his life to the accumulation of wealth. He holds anything other than money in contempt, including friendship, love and the Christmas season. Major themes • The story deals with two of Dickens' recurrent themes, social injustice and poverty. • Dickens wrote in the wake of British government changes to the welfare system known as the Poor Laws, changes which required among other things, welfare applicants to "work" on treadmills, as Scrooge points out. • Scrooge embodies selfishness and indifference to the poor. Dickens' reading • A Christmas Carol was the subject of Dickens' first ever public reading, given in Birmingham Town Hall to the Industrial and Literary Institute on 27 December 1852. -
THE PICKWICK PAPERS Required Reading for the Dickens Universe
THE PICKWICK PAPERS Required reading for the Dickens Universe, 2007: * Auden, W. H. "Dingley Dell and the Fleet." The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays. New York: Random House, 1962. 407-28. * Marcus, Steven. "The Blest Dawn." Dickens: From Pickwick to Dombey. New York: Basic Books, 1965. 13-53. * Patten, Robert L. Introduction. The Pickwick Papers. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. 11-30. * Feltes, N. N. "The Moment of Pickwick, or the Production of a Commodity Text." Literature and History: A Journal for the Humanities 10 (1984): 203-217. Rpt. in Modes of Production of Victorian Novels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. * Chittick, Kathryn. "The qualifications of a novelist: Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist." Dickens and the 1830s. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. 61-91. Recommended, but not required, reading: Marcus, Steven."Language into Structure: Pickwick Revisited," Daedalus 101 (1972): 183-202. Plus the sections on The Pickwick Papers in the following works: John Bowen. Other Dickens : Pickwick to Chuzzlewit. Oxford, U.K.; New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Grossman, Jonathan H. The Art of Alibi: English Law Courts and the Novel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. Woloch, Alex. The One vs. The Many: Minor Characters and the Space of the Protagonist in the Novel. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003. 1 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Compiled by Hillary Trivett May, 1991 Updated by Jessica Staheli May, 2007 For a comprehensive bibliography of criticism before 1990, consult: Engel, Elliot. Pickwick Papers: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1990. CRITICISM Auden, W. H. "Dingley Dell and the Fleet." The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays. New York: Random House, 1962. -
New Stage Theatre Presents a Christmas Arol a C GHOST STORY of CHRISTMAS by Charles Dickens Adapted by Michael Wilson Directed by Peppy Biddy
New Stage Theatre Presents A ChriStmas arol A C GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS by Charles Dickens adapted by Michael Wilson directed by Peppy Biddy musical director Carol Joy Sparkman choreographer Drew Stark EBENEZER SCROOGE December 3-22, 2019 Sponsored by Production Manager / Stage Manager Lighting Designer Scenic Designer Technical Director Josh Harris Bronwyn Teague Chris Rich Richard Lawrence Sound Design and Costume Designer Properties Designer Original Music Caleb Blackwell Marie Venters John Gromada acc_program_final.indd 1 12/2/19 2:09 PM A ChriStmas Carol By Charles Dickens Adapted by Michael Wilson Originally produced by the Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas, Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director; Paul R. Tetreault, Managing Director Sound Design and Original Music by John Gromada “A CHRISTMAS CAROL – A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.” The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. Theatrical Fog and Smoke are used in this production There will be one 15-minute intermission Please silence your cell phone THE SETTING London, 1843 acc_program_final.indd 2 12/2/19 2:09 PM THE CAST (in order of appearance) EBENEZER SCROOGE ........................................Turner Crumbley* MRS. DILBER/PARTY GUEST .......................................Jenn Harris BOB CRATCHIT ..............................................Christopher Sferra FRED/YOUNG SCROOGE .......................................... Sam Lovorn FIRST SOLICITOR/UNDERTAKER/PARTY GUEST ......................Drew Stark SECOND SOLICITOR/MR. FEZZIWIG ......................... Christan McLaurine DOLL VENDOR (MRS. PIDGEON)/SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST .....Mandy Kate Myers FRUIT VENDOR (BERT)/SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT . Joseph Frost CLOCK VENDOR (MR. MARVEL)/PARTY GUEST/ ..................Cameron Pitre SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE THE GHOST OF JACOB MARLEY/OLD JOE .........................Chris Roebuck MRS. -
To Download a PDF Version of This Booklet
very year, we say Advent is a time of spiritual preparation Efor Christmas. But what needs to be prepared? If not the presents we’ll give or the food we’ll make to celebrate, what needs to be tended in the weeks before the holy day? It is our own sense of being. Advent, which means “beginning,” allows us time and space to nurture a fragile, new understanding of who we truly are, as tenderly as we would care for a new baby. The story of Mary and Joseph and the divine child born in a manger has resonated with us for 2,000 years because we feel ourselves to be part of it. Christmas represents the divine child born in each of us and the divine attributes we can develop as we learn to express our God nature in human form. The four Sundays of Advent proclaim aspects of that divine nature—hope and faith, peace, love, and joy. The weekday messages will guide you in contemplating the attributes of Spirit in you. Our booklet continues through the 12 days of Christmas, to Epiphany on January 6, with an exploration of your 12 divine powers. YOUR SUPPORT As this unusual year draws to a close, we are especially attuned MAKES A DIFFERENCE to its lessons and legacies. We hope this booklet reawakens in you a sense of oneness with God and a knowing of yourself as Generous donations from friends like you allow us to make holy too. Unity literature available to those most in need of spiritual encouragement. -
Fiction Excerpt: from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Fiction Excerpt: From Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist was the second novel written by Charles Dickens. It was first published as a serial, with new chapters printed monthly in the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany over the course of two years (1837–1839). The novel tells the story of an orphan named Oliver Twist, who was born in a workhouse and later escaped to join a gang of thieves. This excerpt takes place during Oliver’s time in the workhouse. The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper [a large, heated copper pot] at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel [a watery cereal like very thin oatmeal] at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer [small bowl], and no more—except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously [diligently], with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. -
Skipper Sketches
1 Skipper Sketches An 8th Grade Production - 13th Edition make new friends and meet people with the Student Editors: Maddie M. Miles M. and Caleb L. same likes as you. You can meet people in the Table of Contents school that you may have never known and grow a friendship with them. It’s also a time Christmas Carol Play… p. 1 to show off the talents you have in acting. If Tesla Cyber truck……...p. 1 you have time after school then you should Tesla History………….. P. 2 definitely check it out and if acting isn’t your thing you can also try helping backstage and Winter Weather……....p. 2 be part of the crew. For that, you would help Penny Drive…………....p. 3 with maybe lights or making the set or maybe even helping with special effects. National Saint Nicholas Day...p. 3 The Maltz Museum….. p. 3 Weird Week……………..p. 3 Best Christmas Movies..p. 3-4 Anti Bullying Assembly… P. 4 Climate Change………...… p. 4 Christmas Traditions……..p. 4-5 World News……...…...p. 5 Roblox………………..p5 Hanukkah……...p. 5 The Christmas Carol Play Christmas Carol By Gavin G. A Christmas Carol is a cool idea for a play, I like the message that it spreads about how being mean and grouchy can affect other people. The play was longer than I expected and the acting was good. My favorite character was Scrooge, I thought that he was funny and he made the play entertaining. I thought that everyone did a great job in the play, and the extras were very good as well. -
The 105Th Annual Christmas Carol Service
The Harvard University Choir presents The 105th Annual Christmas Carol Service 1 ELCOME TO THE MEMORIAL CHURCH and to America’s Woldest carol service. In 1910, the newly appointed University Organist and Choirmaster, Archibald T. Davison, and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Edward C. Moore, devised the first annual Christmas Carol Service for Harvard University. The liturgy they prepared has remained virtually unchanged since: three lessons from scripture, interspersed with choral and congregational carols, beginning with “Adeste, Fideles” sung in Latin. Over a century later, this service continues to be a cherished part of the festive season for the Harvard and Cambridge communities. As a courtesy, we ask that you silence all electronic devices. Photography and the use of recording equipment are not permitted during the service. 2 MUSIC NOTES One of the great treasures of the Christian world is the abundant heritage of Christmas songs; for, in the words of Robert Herrick, What sweeter music can we bring Than a carol, for to sing The birth of this our heavenly King? Awake the voice! Awake the string! Indeed this most familiar of narratives — with its cast of angels and shepherds, kings and camels — continues to be a source of inspiration for poets and composers alike: through its constant retelling, this miraculous story retains its freshness. Tonight, we contemplate the Christmas message from a variety of countries and eras, with festive offerings from England, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland, the United States of America, and Wales. Our service opens in the Memorial Room, which documents the names of Harvard’s men who perished in World War One: on the centenary of that conflict’s sad beginning, this very building adds its note of poignancy to the proceedings. -
The Man Who Invented Christmas Film Adaptations of Dickens’ a Christmas Carol Dr Christine Corton
10TH DECEMBER 2019 The Man Who Invented Christmas Film Adaptations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Dr Christine Corton A Christmas Carol is now over 175 years old. Written in 1843, it is certainly the most televised of Dickens’s works and equals if not beats, its closest rival, Oliver Twist (1837-39) for cinema releases. It’s had a huge influence on the way we understand the Christmas festival. It was written at a time when the festival was being revived after centuries of neglect. And its impact was almost immediate. A Christmas Carol quickly achieved iconic status, far more so than any of Dickens’s other Christmas stories. You have to have been living on some far-off planet not to have heard of the story – the word ‘Scrooge’ has come to represent miserliness and ‘Bah, Humbug’ is a phrase often resorted to when indicating someone is a curmudgeon. Even, Field Marshall Montgomery concluded his Christmas Eve message to the Eighth Army on the battlefield with Tiny Tim’s blessing. In 1836 Dickens described Christmas at Dingley Dell in The Pickwick Papers in which of course one of the most famous of the interpolated tales appears, The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton and for those who know the tale, the miserable and mean Gabriel Grub is not a million miles away from Scrooge. Both Mr Pickwick’s Christmas at Wardle’s (1901) and Gabriel Grub: The Surly Sexton (1904) were used as the basis for silent films at around the same time as the first silent version of the 11 minute long: Scrooge: Or Marley’s Ghost which was released in 1901.