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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

This is Charles Dickens' Ghost Story about Scrooge, now a byword for self-centred acquisitiveness and avarice, who is transported through time to the Christmases of his childhood, of the present and the future. Written in 1843, (when W S Gilbert was about seven years old) it was a gigantic best seller, and William would soon have been very impressed.

Charles wrote a preface to his book:

'I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it^1,2. Their faithful Friend and Servant,
CD.  December 1843'

The main characters include: Bob Cratchit, clerk to Ebenezer Scrooge. Tim Cratchit (Tiny Tim), Bob's youngest son and a cripple. Ghost of Christmas Past - a phantom showing things past. Ghost of Christmas Present - a spirit of kind, generous and hearty nature. Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - an apparition showing the shadows of things which yet may happen. Ghost of Jacob Marley - a spectre of Scrooge's former partner in business. Ebenezer Scrooge - a grasping, covetous old man, the surviving partner of the firm Scrooge and Marley. And Fred - Scrooge's nephew. (Charles' descriptions, not ours.)

It's Christmas Eve in London, work is finished (well hardly) for Scrooge and his clerk, Bob Cratchit. 'A Merry Christmas Uncle' calls Fred, Scrooge's nephew. 'Bah!' says Scrooge, 'Humbug'. One reluctantly conceded day off. Then it will be back to the relentless grind! On the dark, foggy, snowy way home, Scrooge is shocked by his door knocker which resembled his dead partner - Jacob Marley. But there are bigger shocks to come.

Scarcely able to sleep after his scarcely sustainable gruel, he is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, who introduces three other ghosts, clank! clank! clank! (an undigested bit of beef?). These take him on vividly contemplative journeys to the past, the present and 'the future?' After these remarkable, thought-provoking expeditions he vows to mend his ways. On Christmas Morning he awakes, a new man! He gives the Cratchit family a splendid Christmas Dinner, Bob a very much deserved rise and better working conditions. And as Tiny Tim says "God bless us every one!" 

There have been innumerable plays, films, and TV productions of (and inspired by) this story. However, the book tugs at the heartstrings, and has some serious social messages to digest. But above all, Charles' descriptive narrative is spellbinding.

1.    Footnote: Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of this book: 'What a jolly thing it is for a man to have written books like these and just filled people's hearts with pity'. Robert declared all the Christmas Books to be 'so good', and said that he felt so good after reading them he 'just wanted to go out and comfort someone'.

2.    MusicSmiles Footnote:  When I first read this book at home (aged about 14) I started it at about 11pm on yes, a Christmas Eve. I sat the fire out, and finished it in one sitting at about 2.30am! It's terrific story-telling, you can't put it down. Don't wait for Christmas Eve, slip to your local library or bookshop and try it. JEA. Return to story.

Now what about some well received Great Expectations . . .

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