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Write about: • how Dickens presents the theme of regret in this extract • how Dickens presents the theme of regret in the novel as a whole.
The theme of guilt in a christmas carol is presented throughout majority of the novel, but mostly through scrooge and jacob marley. This is through their regret of what they have done in their past and how this may then affect their future, and life after death. Dickens has done this in order to create sympathy for them from the audience, however a main reason why he had done this is to make the readers of that time and modern readers reflect on their own ways and see how this could effect their future and afterlife. He did this so readers then (mostly the rich) felt a tinge of sorrow due to their actions. He wanted this message to be directed towards the rich in order for them to feel more inclined to give to the poor and not behavior as scrooge has. In this essay i will look further into why Dickens has done this and why he has chosen these certain characters to feel regret and how this is meant to affect the readers.
In stave 1 we can see that Jacob Marley is feeling regret for what he did in his time alive and would redo his ways if he were to be alive again – and due to this he warns Scrooge as a way for him to not experience the same regret he went through in his time in purgatory. This can be seen in the quote “business! (...) mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business...” From the use of repetition used in this quotation we can see that Marley is appalled with scrooge for seeing business as the only thing that matters with a person and that Marley being a good business partner and business man equaled to him being an overall good person. From his use of repetition and exclamations we can then see that Marley himself does not believe this and is inferring that he regretted his ways of acting. This can be seen through the use of ‘mankind’ and ‘ common welfare’ through marly saying that this was his business he is therefore saying that this should have been his business and what he should have cared for rather than money and being greedy. From this we can then see that Marley is saying that ‘business’ should not only be financially driven but rather on what they think is important. By Marely saying that common welfare and mankind is his business we can see that he is now seeing more importance in them and therefore seeing the fault in his ways, from this Marley is warning Scrooge to change his ways before it is too late for him and he only sees his faults through purgatory like Marley did. Dickens does this as he is warning his readers that they should change their ways before they realize it too late. He is doing this by using Marley as an ‘image’ of this. Although this is fictional dickens knew that his audience was likely to change due to them being mostly Christian – this is due to Victorian society being heavily religious, and as a result they would believe in purgatory making it so this apparition of Marley would appeal to them more.

Reply 1

Mimiqjfs

Hello!
I’ve marked your work and would give it an 18/30. You’ve made some really thoughtful points, and it’s clear that you understand how Dickens presents regret in A Christmas Carol, especially through Marley and Scrooge. Your use of quotations, like “Mankind was my business,” is effective, and you’ve begun to explore Dickens’ message well.

To improve, try to make your analysis more precise. Instead of just explaining that Marley regrets his actions, go deeper into why Dickens presents regret in this way how does it connect to Victorian society, Christian beliefs, or Dickens’ own views on social responsibility? Structurally, breaking up some longer sentences and organising each paragraph around a clear point would make your argument even stronger. Be mindful of repetition some ideas, like Marley’s warning, are repeated in different ways when they could be condensed to allow more space for a detailed exploration of language, structure, and context.

Overall, this is a solid response with a lot of potential. With more precise analysis and a clearer structure, you could easily push this into a higher band. Keep up the good work, and let me know if you’d like any further guidance!

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