Scenes 8-13:
Scene 8: SCROOGE AND MARLEY, LTD.
CREDITORS - usually, people to whom money is owed. However, creditors here appear to owe Scrooge and Marley money.
Banknotes - a demand note issued by private banks presumably backed up by gold or silver coin. Until the middle of the 19th century, privately owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland could issue their own banknotes. One year after A Christmas Carol was published, the Bank Charter Act of 1844 passed, restricting banks' note-issuing powers (giving exclusive rights to the central Bank of England). Therefore, the notes coming in and out of Scrooge and Marley's money-lending business were likely provincial.
CREDITORS - usually, people to whom money is owed. However, creditors here appear to owe Scrooge and Marley money.
Banknotes - a demand note issued by private banks presumably backed up by gold or silver coin. Until the middle of the 19th century, privately owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland could issue their own banknotes. One year after A Christmas Carol was published, the Bank Charter Act of 1844 passed, restricting banks' note-issuing powers (giving exclusive rights to the central Bank of England). Therefore, the notes coming in and out of Scrooge and Marley's money-lending business were likely provincial.
Scene 9: A STARRY NIGHT.
THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT - according to most scholars, including Michael Patrick Hearn, this ghost is "no more than Father Christmas," the ancient patriarch of the English holiday, traditionally a pagan giant dressed in a fur-lined green robe and a crown of holly, bearing mistletoe, the yule log, and a bowl of Christmas punch [or wassail"]". Our modern "Santa Clause" comes from a combination of this figure with the gift-giving Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of children. According to Hearn, this "Father Christmas derives himself from the Roman Saturnalia [Roman festival of Saturn in December; a period of general merrymaking and the predecessor for Christmas], from Saturn himself". |
Cornucopia - an ornamental container shaped like a goat's horn filled with flowers, fruit, and corn. Hearn suggests this to be "an obvious allusion to the pagan origins of this spirit...[as the cornucopia] often appears int eh left hand of the goddess Ceres, in whose honor the Saturnalia rites were celebrated".
Baubles - small, showy trinkets or decorations
Mother Goose - the fictitious creator of a collection of nursery rhymes and fairytales that was first published in London in the 1760s.
Pauper - a very poor person.
Baubles - small, showy trinkets or decorations
Mother Goose - the fictitious creator of a collection of nursery rhymes and fairytales that was first published in London in the 1760s.
Pauper - a very poor person.
Millionairity - not a real word; the state of being a millionaire. Likely Mencken's jovial attempt to illustrate how carefree the Dancing Girls are.
Yen - informal way to indicate an inclination, hankering, or craving for something.
Domicile - residence or home
"heavy leather braces" - common leg brace for those ill or injured during Dickens' time. Dickens' never explicitly names what disease Tiny Tim suffers from; some scholars propose it either to be renal tubular acidosis (kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic) or rickets (caused by lack of Vitamin D. Both options are treatable but deadly if left untreated.
Yen - informal way to indicate an inclination, hankering, or craving for something.
Domicile - residence or home
"heavy leather braces" - common leg brace for those ill or injured during Dickens' time. Dickens' never explicitly names what disease Tiny Tim suffers from; some scholars propose it either to be renal tubular acidosis (kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic) or rickets (caused by lack of Vitamin D. Both options are treatable but deadly if left untreated.
Scene 10: THE STREETS OF LONDON
CHRISTMAS TOGETHER
Christmas Cracker - a Christmas tradition in the UK, fist made in 1845-50 by a London sweet-maker named Tom Smith and later his three sons (one of whom added the now iconic hats inside). To this day, special, themed crackers are still made for special occasions like Coronations of the British Royal Family. Today, Christmas Crackers are short cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper and, when the crackers are pulled (with a cracking sound), a party hat, toy, or festive joke falls out.
segue - (in music and film) move without interruption from one song, melody, or scene to another: allowing one song to flow seamlessly into the next.
Convivial - lively, cheerful, and friendly.
Jigger - a measure or small glass of spirits or wine.
Dearth - scarcity or lack of something.
Fragile - easily broken or damaged; delicate.
"Wot?" - spelling of "What?" indicating a strong British accent
Scene 11: ST. PAUL'S GRAVEYARD
Premonition - a strong feeling of foreboding
YESTERDAY, TOMORROW, AND TODAY
CHORISTERS - members of a choir, usually referring to young singers.
epiphany - a moment of sudden revelation or insight
Premonition - a strong feeling of foreboding
YESTERDAY, TOMORROW, AND TODAY
CHORISTERS - members of a choir, usually referring to young singers.
epiphany - a moment of sudden revelation or insight
Scene 12: SCROOGE'S BEDROOM. CHRISTMAS MORNING.
Delirious - incoherent, babbling, frenzied.
Sovereigns - former British gold coins worth one pound sterling each, now only minted for commemorative purposes.
"Blimey!" - exclamation used to express one's surprise, excitement, or alarm; altered form of "(God) blind/blame me!"
Delirious - incoherent, babbling, frenzied.
Sovereigns - former British gold coins worth one pound sterling each, now only minted for commemorative purposes.
"Blimey!" - exclamation used to express one's surprise, excitement, or alarm; altered form of "(God) blind/blame me!"
Scene 13: THE STREETS OF LONDON.
NOTHING TO DO WITH ME [REPRISE]
Noel - alternative word for Christmas or Christmas season (from the French word for Christmas)
violets - flowers in the Victorian era held great meaning, and therefore the giving of them was very deliberate (one would never give yellow roses to a lover, for instance, as those signify friendship or jealousy. However, one yellow rose amongst 11 red ones in a bouquet mean love and passion). Ebenezer giving Sally violets is significant. Typical violets represent modest, virtue, and affection. Blue violets, however, convey watchfulness, faithfulness, and love. Finally, white violets signify "let's take a chance on happiness". All of these varieties of violet and their respective meanings hold relevant for Ebenezer here as he is more conscious of the present and his role in others' lives and prospective happiness.
"It's snowing!" - according to the Telegraph, "experts believe Dickens' childhood in the 1810s, which coincided with the coldest decade in Britain since the 1690s, may have introduced snowy weather into the image of an ideal Christmas".
CHRISTMAS TOGETHER [REPRISE]
---
GOD BLESS US EVERYONE [Full Version]
---
NOTHING TO DO WITH ME [REPRISE]
Noel - alternative word for Christmas or Christmas season (from the French word for Christmas)
violets - flowers in the Victorian era held great meaning, and therefore the giving of them was very deliberate (one would never give yellow roses to a lover, for instance, as those signify friendship or jealousy. However, one yellow rose amongst 11 red ones in a bouquet mean love and passion). Ebenezer giving Sally violets is significant. Typical violets represent modest, virtue, and affection. Blue violets, however, convey watchfulness, faithfulness, and love. Finally, white violets signify "let's take a chance on happiness". All of these varieties of violet and their respective meanings hold relevant for Ebenezer here as he is more conscious of the present and his role in others' lives and prospective happiness.
"It's snowing!" - according to the Telegraph, "experts believe Dickens' childhood in the 1810s, which coincided with the coldest decade in Britain since the 1690s, may have introduced snowy weather into the image of an ideal Christmas".
CHRISTMAS TOGETHER [REPRISE]
---
GOD BLESS US EVERYONE [Full Version]
---
Works referenced, quoted, and paraphrased:
- Dictionary.reference.com
- JH Clapham's Economic History of Modern Britain: Free Trade and Steel, 1850-1886 (Cambridge University Press 1939)
- Michael Patrick Hearn's The Annotated Christmas Carol (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc 1976)
- Telegraph.co.uk
- Victorianbazaar.com
- Wikipedia.org