marley was dead: to begin with quote analysis marley was dead: to begin with quote analysis
There is no doubt whatever about that. Scrooge signed it. Scrooge knew this, by the smart sound its teeth made, when the jaws were brought together by the bandage. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Authors; Topics; Quote of the Day; Picture Quotes; . Save it to put in your poetry book. It is a ponderous chain!. `Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. and youll keep your Christmas by losing your situation! But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Countrys done for. It is a ponderous chain! Aye by the best blood that ever was broached. What could it mean? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. Scrooges countenance fell almost as low as the Ghosts had done. Scrooge signed it. "Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years," Scrooge replied. The narrator considers that the phrase "dead as a doornail" doesn't even describe Marley's lifelessness well enough. Dickens uses pathetic fallacy to build the tension in Stave 1. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. Mankind was my business. But how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast! You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. In life, Jacob Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. It was not angry or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look: with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead. The narrator here certainly doesnt know what it means, as he reflects on it and wonders what it could mean: Marley was dead, to begin with. As dead as a doornail is a very old English phrase that Shakespeare used in Henry IV Part 2. Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The Royal Albert Bridge, carrying trains over the River Tamar between Plymouth, Devon and Saltash, Cornwall, is officially opened by. "Marley was dead, to begin with. Once upon a timeof all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eveold Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. Whats Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. Which Charles Dickens novel opens with the line Marley was dead to begin with there is no doubt whatever about that the register of his burial was signed by the clergyman the clerk the undertaker and the chief mourner? $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% A Christmas Carol (Grades 91) Why is this section important? You are not looking at it, said Scrooge. Proudly powered by WordPress | `Because, said Scrooge, `a little thing affects them. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that ithasdone me good, andwilldo me good; and I say, God bless it!. Theres more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!. It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. But I see it, said the Ghost, notwithstanding., Well! returned Scrooge, I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Second, it emphasizes that this is the FIRST thing we are to know. By describing Scrooges white hair as a coating of frost (rime), he emphasizes that Scrooge is enclosed in a shell of frozen emotion. Most idiomatic expressions have some poetry in them along with a vivid image. It is required of every man, the Ghost returned, `that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Out upon merry Christmas! Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory. If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirits nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, The sound resounded through the house like thunder, but I mean to say you might have got a hearse up that staircase, and taken it broadwise, with the splinter-bar towards the wall and the door towards the balustrades: and done it easy. `Christmas a humbug, uncle! said Scrooges nephew. Marley was dead: to begin with. It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices. A poor excuse for picking a mans pocket every twenty-fifth of December! said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed. First Lines: A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens. Though he looked the phantom through and through, though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes, `How now! said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. . There is no doubt that Marley was dead. Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more. Pick a familiar subject and type a pen picture of your own. as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. lect adjectives that describe sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course, said Scrooge. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. He was obliged to sit close to it, and brood over it, before he could extract the least sensation of warmth from such a handful of fuel, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the Scriptures. Why give it as a reason for not coming now?, I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?, I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medications, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product. Why?, Because you fell in love! growled Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddy as they passed. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call `nuts to Scrooge. Marley has been dead these seven years, Scrooge replied. He is portrayed to be punished for this focus in his afterlife. Its enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other peoples. `You dont believe in me, observed the Ghost. There is no doubt whatever about that. Dickens introduces the character of the ghost of Marley into the story to warn Scrooge of the consequences of his selfish life, for example how Marley says he is condemned to wander the world bound by chains, chains he says he forged in life (suggesting to Scrooge that he has a choice). . Marley visits Scrooge to offer him redemption from his own fate, in the hope of changing his mean ways. It is doomed to wander through the worldoh, woe is me!and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!. I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. Date: First published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. Learn how your comment data is processed. (Stave 1) "Marley was dead; to begin with." This is the opening line to the book. Marley and Scrooge were business partners once. Much good may it do you! Foggier yet, and colder. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooges keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of, God bless you, merry gentleman! FALSE Marleys ghost visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve at the beginning of the story. II. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. Oh! 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Soliloquy Analysis, It Is The East And Juliet Is The Sun Soliloquy Anaysis, Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent Soliloquy Analysis, Now Might I Do It Pat Soliloquy Analysis, O God Of Battles! And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant. Dickens uses the weather to set the tone and reflect Scrooges state of mind. Scrooge never painted out Old Marleys name. My spirit never walked beyond our counting-housemark me!in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!. Is its pattern strange toyou?, Or would you know, pursued the Ghost, the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? However Marley does not as he is "doomed to wander the world". We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Perhaps that is why we talk about someone being as dead as a doornail. Seven years dead, mused Scrooge. Oh! Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark for ever. Of course he did. You dont believe in me, observed the Ghost. He fastened the door, and walked across the hall, and up the stairs; slowly too: trimming his candle as he went. These will help develop a stronger picture of what you are describing. This lunatic, in letting Scrooges nephew out, had let two other people in. `I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. Without their visits, said the Ghost, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. My time is nearly gone., I will, said Scrooge. `Dont be cross, uncle! said the nephew. A far more famous use of the as dead as a doornail phrase than Shakespeares is by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol. `The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. The clerk in the Tank involuntarily applauded. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Summary of Stave 1 No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. Dickens wants Marley's return to be difficult for US to accept, as readers, too. TRUE, 15 PTS PLS HURRY Here is your goal for this assignment: Mind! Oh! Can youcan you sit down? asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again. This builds inital anticipation and tension all throughout Stave one. " Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for that. "no rest, no peace. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before; he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses. There was no doubt whatever about that. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. There is no doubt whatever about that. `We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner, said the gentleman, Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back, `At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, said the gentleman, taking up a pen, `it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. But he couldnt replenish it. At this the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise, that Scrooge held on tight to his chair, to save himself from falling in a swoon. The register of his burial was signed by the church, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Some more recent texts have changed this colon or comma to a hyphen. Marleywas dead: to begin with. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. This acts as a mirror image of Scrooge and the things he values, which reflects on Dickens moral message- to take care of those less fortunate of lower classes and to be socially responsible. " The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. Dickens uses the opening line to hint at the supernatural story to come: Marley was dead to begin with (p. 1). What else can I be, returned the uncle, when I live in such a world of fools as this? It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. In fact, they are dead. The door of Scrooges counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened. Remember to se Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. Tell me why?, I wear the chain I forged in life, replied the Ghost. Scrooge could not feel it himself, but this was clearly the case; for though the Ghost sat perfectly motionless, its hair, and skirts, and tassels, were still agitated as by the hot vapour from an oven. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner, Click here to see our collection of quotations related to the character of Jacob Marley. Because the sentence is doing two different things. Oh! He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. You have laboured on it, since. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. May nothing you dismay!. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. It also has that d-alliteration and a nice iambic rhythm. The cold became intense. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. Christmas! In his ghost form, he looks the same but is transparent and must wear and drag heavy chains which symbolize his. captive, bound, and double-ironed, cried the phantom, not to know, that ages of incessant labour by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlets Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spotsay Saint Pauls Churchyard for instanceliterally to astonish his sons weak mind. The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue. Scrooge signed it. He tried to say Humbug! but stopped at the first syllable. But they and their spirit voices faded together; and the night became as it had been when he walked home. for a group? Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob? he demanded, in a faltering voice. What right have you to be merry? http://www.AllisonTuffs.com These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This suggests that everyone will change to be better at some point, and scares the Victorian reader into changing before suffering further. He tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit that night. Oh! There is no doubt whatever about that. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. When the story begins, Scrooge is asked about his partner Marley by the men collecting money for charity. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchants cellar. Oh! But there was nothing on the back of the door, except the screws and nuts that held the knocker on, so he said Pooh, pooh! and closed it with a bang. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action. Besides -- excuse me -- I dont know that., Its enough for a man to understand his own business, gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge. When he came to revise the text, Dickens changed the colon to a comma, and later editions of the novella have the opening sentence appearing as Marley was dead, to begin with. Were there no homes to which [the Christmas star's] light would have conducted me! His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come roundapart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from thatas a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. Marley's Ghost M ARLEY WAS DEAD: to begin with. It was the very thing he liked. Renews May 8, 2023 Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew. Come! Old fire-guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and a poker. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. Phrase of four words I'LL GIVE 15 PTS HELP PLS Here is your goal for this assignment: The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! There is no doubt whatever about that. Youre rich enough., Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment. When they were within two paces of each other, Marleys Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. Type the text of your Cinquain in the space below. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark alreadyit had not been light all dayand candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one lifes opportunity misused! Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail." Yet such was I! External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. Chapter 1 - Marley's Ghost. More than that, he feels hostility toward those who appear to be happy, as if happiness itself is a threat to him. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. I help to support the establishments I have mentionedthey cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there., Many cant go there; and many would rather die., If they would rather die, said Scrooge, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. `He died seven years ago, this very night.' `We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,' said the. Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. Yet such was I! (Couldn't I take 'em all at once and have it over, Jacob" hinted Scrooge. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honour of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindmans-buff. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooges name was good upon Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Scrooges counting house is still named Scrooge and Marley. He even answers to both names. As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. The novels abrupt opening line aims to startle the reader, and the paragraph afterward establishes a tone of facetious humor that creates a sense of intimacy between reader and narrator. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes. Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, `My dear Scrooge, how are you? It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he became thoughtful, to put his hands in his breeches pockets. The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddy as they passed. Scrooge knew he was dead? Taken from the following passage of Stave 1 (Marleys Ghost) of A Christmas Carol: Marley was dead: to begin with. Of course he did. As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Dickens wants us to pause after digesting the first of those facts, then proceed to the second. Dickens reinforces the fact that Marley was indeed dead and that all the officials have signed off on papers stating that he was dead. You may talk vaguely about driving a coach-and-six up a good old flight of stairs, or through a bad young Act of Parliament; but I mean to say you might have got a hearse up that staircase, and taken it broadwise, with the splinter-bar towards the wall and the door towards the balustrades: and done it easy. Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but without lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees. It is also a fact, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London, even including -- which is a bold word -- the corporation, aldermen, and livery. But he couldnt replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You must have been very slow about it, Jacob, Scrooge observed, in a business-like manner, though with humility and deference. Scrooge never painted out Old Marleys name. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years dead partner that afternoon. They often `came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did. But you were always a good man of business, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost. On the wings of the wind, replied the Ghost. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conductedme!. Write a cinquain and a shaped poem of your own Charles Dickens. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. It was not angry or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look: with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead. Terms in this set (10) "Marley was dead to begin with" Dickens begins the first stave with this spontaneous infomation that Marley is dead to indicate to readers that Marley is a significant character in the novella and makes readers question if he will com back as a supernatrual incarnation. And Marley was not so dead after all, as he was able to come back in the form of a ghost, and talk to Scrooge. Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. There is no doubt whatever, about that. Scrooge, Marley's business partner, signed the register of his burial.
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