Character Analysis — Scrooge

Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of A Christmas Carol and one of the most iconic characters in English literature. Understanding his transformation — from cold-hearted miser to generous benefactor — is central to succeeding at GCSE. This lesson examines Scrooge in detail across all five Staves.

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Scrooge at the Start: Stave 1

Dickens introduces Scrooge with an extraordinary accumulation of negative descriptors:

"Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!"

Key characteristics in Stave 1

Trait	Evidence
Miserly	Keeps his office freezing to save money on coal
Isolated	"Secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster"
Cold	"The cold within him froze his old features"
Cruel	Dismisses the charity collectors; suggests the poor should die
Anti-Christmas	"Bah! Humbug!" — rejects the spirit of Christmas entirely

Semantic field of cold

Dickens deliberately associates Scrooge with cold throughout Stave 1: