A CHRISTMAS CAROL: REVISION BOOKLET

AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to:
maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response, use textual
references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create
meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.
AO3: Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in
which they were written.
Throughout this booklet, you will find a series of activities designed to help you revise
Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. Remember to focus on the assessment objectives and
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what you are actually being marked on. You need to demonstrate you can meet all three in
order to succeed in the exam.

ACTIVITY ONE: The plot

Read and summarise
Read the plot of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and summarise what you have learned into four
bullet points at the end of each section.

READ
A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a
cold Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge
refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his
uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two portly gentlemen also
drop by and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday
visitors with bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to
his nephew's "Merry Christmas!"
Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling
visit from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking haggard and pale,
tells his unfortunate story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life, his spirit has
been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes
to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will
visit him during each of the next three nights. After the ghost disappears, Scrooge
collapses into a deep sleep.

SUMMARISE

˙
˙
˙
˙
READ
He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike
phantom with a brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the
past to previous Christmases from his earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge
revisits his childhood school days, his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named
Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his lust for
money overshadows his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, sheds tears of
regret before the phantom returns him to his bed.
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The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant dressed in a green fur robe, takes
Scrooge through London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches
the large, bustling Cratchit family prepare a miniature feast in its meagre home. He
discovers Bob Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and
humility warms Scrooge's heart. The ghost then zips Scrooge to his nephew's to witness
the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with the
spirit to stay until the very end of the festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages,
becoming noticeably older. Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two starved
children, Ignorance and Want, living under his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge
notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.

SUMMARISE

˙
˙
˙
˙
READ
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious
scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing
the dead man's riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor
couple expressing relief at the death of their unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to
learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After
pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a
grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He
desperately implores the spirit to alter his fate, promising to change his insensitive,
greedy ways and to honour Christmas with all his heart. Whoosh! He suddenly finds
himself safely tucked in his bed.
Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been
returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his
newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and
attends Fred's party, to the surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true
to his promise and honours Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were
his own child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with
kindness, generosity, and warmth.

SUMMARISE
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˙
˙
˙
˙
ACTIVITY TWO: Low Stakes Quiz
Answer the multiple choice questions.
Who is Scrooge’s clerk? Scrooge is shown many things by the Ghost of Christmas
a) Bob Cratchit Yet to Come including…
b) Fred a) vagabonds trying to sell his things.
c) Jacob Marley b) a poor couple expressing relief at his death.
d) Fezziwig c) businessmen discussing his wealth and riches.
d) his own grave.
Who is Jacob Marley?
e) Scrooge’s nephew
f) A charity worker What does Scrooge send round to Bob Cratchit’s house?
g) Scrooge’s clerk a) A goose
h) Scrooge’s old business partner b) A turkey
c) Presents
d) A bill
How many ghosts does Marley say will visit
Scrooge?
a) Two
b) Three
c) Four
d) Five

What is the first thing the Ghost of Christmas Past

shows Scrooge?
a) His old school days
b) His apprenticeship with Fezziwig
c) His relationship with his fiancée, Belle.
d) Belle’s new family

What is Bob Cratchit’s son called?

a) Puny Pete
b) Tiny Tim
c) Small Sam
d) Miniature Michael

What does the Ghost of Christmas Present reveal to

Scrooge at the end of their time together?
a) Scrooge’s death
b) The death of Tiny Tim
c) Two children representing Ignorance and Want
d) Scrooge’s father

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ACTIVITY THREE: Scrooge’s transformation.
Read the information and complete the tasks

‘Shall we ask what Scrooge would

actually be like if we were to follow him
beyond the frame of the story?
Unquestionably, he would relapse, when
the merriment was over — if not while it
was still going on — into moroseness,
vindictiveness, suspicion. He would, that
is to say, reveal himself as the victim of a
manic-depressive cycle, and a very
uncomfortable person.’
- Edmund Wilson (The Two Scrooges)

TASK: What do you think literary critic, Edmund Wilson, is saying here? What does he believe would
really happen to Scrooge beyond the end of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and why? What exactly about Scrooge’s
transformation do you think Wilson is criticising?

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ACTIVITY FOUR: Charles Dickens
Read the information and complete the tasks
Dickens and Poverty
Dickens experienced prison and poverty in his own childhood. In 1824, London, John
Dickens was locked in Marshalsea debtor’s prison for failing to pay his debts. His son,
Charles, aged 11, was sent away to a blacking factory, covering and labelling pots of
shoe polish in appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. He lived
separated from his family, as his younger sister and mother were put in prison with
his father. Later, he wrote in a letter with horror: ‘No words can describe the secret
agony of my soul as I sank into this companionship…. The sense I had of being utterly
neglected and hopeless, fired with grief and humiliation, my lonely vulnerability, my
hungry misery, and the knowledge they had willingly put me in this situation. I could
not bear to think of myself beyond reach of any honourable success.’ After three years
he was returned to school, but the experience was never forgotten. Dickens lived just
nine doors down from the workhouse until 1831, when he was 19 years old.
TASK ONE: SUMMARISE IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Summarise the information in fifty words or fewer. Transform the information into TWO images. Label
your images with quotations.

TASK THREE: CONSIDER IT

How do you think Dickens’ experiences as a child impacted his life as an adult? Answer in full sentences.

What did Dickens think of the law – and the poor – in England?
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When Dickens wrote in 1830s London, English law was based on the idea of justice and a fair trial.
However, Dickens found the law did not always practice what it preached. His father had been
imprisoned in a debtor’s jail and Dickens separated from his family and sent to work in miserable
conditions and lonely isolation when he was 11. Injustice, more often, was what Dickens
experienced from the law for those in poverty.

Dickens became a lifelong supporter of the poor. For example, in January 1837, a trial was held at
London Marylebone workhouse, and Dickens was on the jury. The case was a servant girl accused of
killing her newborn baby, with the threat of the death penalty if she was found guilty. Eliza Burgess,
weak, ill and frightened, was herself an orphan. Her story was that her baby appeared to be dead,
so she hid it under the dresser but confessed to her employer. The jury was ready to find her guilty.
That night, Dickens could not sleep: the dead baby, the thought of the terrified, unhappy, ignorant
young woman in poverty and in prison. Dickens resolved to take on those who were ready to find
her guilty. He argued so firmly and forcefully that he won the argument. The verdict was returned:
not guilty. He then went out of his way to help victims of the law, even though he was under huge
pressure himself to write and earn a living, to avoid debt and the debtor’s prison.

How did Dickens’ sister‐in law Mary die aged 17 in 1837?

Dickens’ beloved sister‐in‐law, Mary Hogarth, lived with the writer and his wife. Aged just
seventeen, she became very ill with fever. Without warning, she died suddenly from it. Her death
was a shock and Dickens carried the memory of Mary with him for the rest of his life. Dickens has
his characters suffer from illness, but in his books, he can ensure they survive. Mary’s death never
allowed Dickens to forget how fragile life is.

TASK ONE: SUMMARISE IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT

Summarise the information in fifty words or fewer. Transform the information into TWO images. Label
your images with quotations.

How and why did Dickens write his books?

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Dickens’ books were originally published in monthly parts, and Dickens created each episode just in
time to be published, so he could not go back and change anything, but had to plot it all out in his
mind. He wrote professionally and raised himself and his family out of poverty through the
popularity of his writing. Dickens wrote his books to challenge injustice and expose the impact of
poverty in 19th century London.

ACTIVITY FIVE: Summarise your learning

Without looking at the information, see if you can summarise what you
have learned about Charles Dickens in a mind map.

ACTIVITY SIX: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

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Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

destitute (adjective) extremely poor and lacking the means to

provide for oneself.
TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘destitute’. Transform the adjective ‘destitute’ into an image to
help you remember it.
Late 14c., "abandoned, forsaken,"
from Latin destitutus "abandoned,"
past participle of destituere
"forsake," from de- "away" +
statuere "put, place,"
Originally literal; sense of "lacking
resources, impoverished" is 1530s.
TASK THREE: DEBATE IT
‘The issue of destitution in society will never be solved’. To what extent do you agree?

TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT

Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
destitute, destitution link to the adjective ‘destitute’.

1.

2.

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ACTIVITY SEVEN: Thomas Malthus and Malthusian Controversy

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Read the information and complete the tasks.
In his book An Essay on the Principle of Population,
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (13 February
1766 – 23 December 1834) observed that an increase in
a nation's food production improved the well-being of
the nation’s people, but the improvement was
temporary because it led to population growth, which
in turn restored the original per capita production level.
In other words, when mankind is doing well and
producing lots of food and goods it does not use them
to improve their own quality of life. Instead, they use
that abundance of goods to have more children and
increase the population. This meant there was no
longer an abundance, but there was often a shortage
instead.
In the past, populations grew until the lower classes suffered hardship and want. At this
point, they became vulnerable to famine and disease – and often died.
Malthus thought we would never have a truly perfect (or utopian) society, because every
time we came close to providing a great standard of life for everyone, the population
grew and the process had to start again.
This idea became known as the Malthusian controversy and it was influential across
economic, political, social and scientific thought. For our purposes, it’s important to see
the big influence it had on Charles Dickens.
TASK ONE: SUMMARISE IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Summarise Thomas Malthus’ argument into fifty Transform Thomas Malthus’ argument into two
words or fewer. pictures. Label your images with quotations.

TASK THREE: Explain how you think Thomas Malthus and Malthusian controversy links
to the ideas expressed in ‘A Christmas Carol’. Who, would you say, is the voice of
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Malthus in the novel? Discuss in full sentences.

TASK FOUR: How does the cartoon below illustrate Malthus’ ideas about population?

ACTIVITY EIGHT: ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’ by Charles Dickens

Complete the tasks below.
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TASK ONE: Note down what you think of when you hear the word ‘workhouse’. These notes may take
whatever form you like.

TASK TWO: Read Dickens’ description of a workhouse from his collection of semi-autobiographical
essays called ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’.
This was the only preparation for our
entering ‘the Foul wards’. They were in
an old building squeezed away in a
corner of a paved yard, detached from
the more modern and spacious main
body of the workhouse. They were in a
building most monstrously behind the
time and only accessible by steep and
narrow staircases, infamously ill-adapted
for the passage up-stairs of the sick or
down-stairs of the dead.

In these miserable rooms, here on

bedsteads, there on the floor, were
women in every stage of distress and disease. One figure a little coiled up and turned away, as though it
had turned its back on this world for ever; the uninterested face at once lead-coloured and yellow,
looking passively upward from the pillow; the haggard mouth a little dropped, the hand outside the
coverlet, so dull and indifferent, so light, and yet so heavy; these were on every pallet; but when I
stopped beside a bed, and said ever so slight a word to the figure lying there, the ghost of the old
character came into the face, and made the Foul ward as various as the fair world. No one appeared to
care to live, but no one complained; all who could speak, said that as much was done for them as could
be done there, that the attendance was kind and patient, that their suffering was very heavy, but they
had nothing to ask for. The wretched rooms were as clean and sweet as it is possible for such rooms to
be; they would become a pest-house in a single week, if they were ill-kept.

Now, I reasoned with myself, as I made my journey home again, concerning those Foul wards. They
ought not to exist; no person of common decency and humanity can see them and doubt it. But what is
this Union to do? The necessary alteration would cost several thousands of pounds; it has already to
support three workhouses; its inhabitants work hard for their bare lives.

How does Charles Dickens use language to present the conditions

of the workhouse and its inhabitants?

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You could include the writer’s choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms

ACTIVITY NINE: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

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parsimonious (adjective) unwilling to spend money or use
resources.
TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘parsimonious’. Transform the adjective ‘parsimonious’ into an image
to help you remember it.

1590s, from Latin parsimonia

"frugality, thrift"

Not originally with the

suggestion of stinginess.

TASK THREE: DEBATE IT

‘Are the advantages and disadvantages of being parsimonious equal?’

TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT

Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
Parsimonious, parsimoniously, parsimoniousness link to the adjective ‘parsimonious’.

1.

2.

3.

ACTIVITY TEN: Stave One quotations

Revise the key quotations in Stave One by completing the activities.
TASK ONE: Analyse the following quotations by answering the questions.
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 What language device has been used by
Dickens here? Why compare Scrooge to an oyster? What
similarities do they share?

‘solitary as an oyster’

What is Dickens’ authorial intent? Why

What are the connotations of the adjective
make Scrooge such a miserly character?
‘solitary’? Explore multiple interpretations.

What word types are these? What

impression do they give you of the What is the significance of the
weather? personification of ‘biting’?

‘cold, bleak, biting weather’

What is Dickens’ authorial intent? Why
How is this an example of pathetic fallacy?
make the weather so horrendous at the
beginning? How does this set the tone for
what is to come?

What are the connotations of ‘glow’? How

Explain how this quotations presents Fred
can this be seen in a positive sense?
as the antithesis of Scrooge.
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 ‘He was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and
handsome; his eyes sparkled.’

What is Dickens’ authorial intent? Why is it What impression does the verb ‘sparkled’
necessary for Fred to enter into the story give us of Fred’s outlook on life?
when he does?

What does the verb ‘forged’ imply?

What is the significance of Marley’s chain?

‘”I wear the chain I forged in life.”’

Marley’s appearance is that of the typical
How/why does Marley’s appearance
Victorian prisoner here. Why does Dickens
plunge fear into Scrooge?
give him this appearance?

What role does memory play at this point

What is the significance of the adjective
in the novel?
‘incessant’?

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 ‘”No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.’”

What is Dickens’ authorial intent? Why What are the connotations of ‘torture’?
present readers with the idea that
‘remorse’ can ‘torture’ them?

What is the significance of this quotation?

What are the connotations of ‘business’?
What is Marley saying?

‘”Mankind was my business.”’

Why say ‘WAS my business’? Why past
Why does Dickens include this line?
tense?

ACTIVITY ELEVEN: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

implore (verb) beg someone earnestly or desperately to do

something
TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘implore’. Transform the verb ‘implore’ into an image to help
you remember it.
c. 1500, from Middle French implorer
and directly from Latin implorare "call
on for help, beseech, beg earnestly,"
with a literal sense probably of "plead
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 tearfully, invoke with weeping," from
assimilated form of in- "on, upon" +
plorare "to weep, cry out"

TASK THREE: DEBATE IT

Is the act of imploring a sign of defeat?

TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT

Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
implore, imploring, imploringly link to the verb ‘implore’.

1.

2.

3.

ACTIVITY TWELVE: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

cordial (adjective) warm and friendly

TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘cordial’. Transform the adjective ‘cordial’ into an image to help
you remember it.

c. 1400, "of or pertaining to

the heart" (a sense now
obsolete or rare, replaced by
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 cardiac), from Medieval Latin
cordialis "of or for the heart,"
from Latin cor "heart"

TASK THREE: DEBATE IT

Can being cordial ever have negative consequences?

TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT

Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
cordial, cordially, cordiality link to the adjective ‘cordial’.

1.

2.

3.

ACTIVITY THIRTEEN: Stave Two quotations

Revise the key quotations in Stave Two by completing the activities.
TASK ONE: Analyse the following quotations by answering the questions.

What are the connotations of the adjective

‘strange’? Why is the language here full of
contradiction and antithesis?

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‘It was a strange figure – like a child: yet not so like a
child as like an old man.’

How does this quotation link to themes of

light and dark? Why does the spirit describe Scrooge’s
hands as ‘worldly’?

‘”Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the

light I give?”’
How does the light Scrooge is surrounded by
What is Dickens’ authorial intent with this
contrast with the events of Stave One?
question?

The adjective ‘feeble’ implies Scrooge is

What are the connotations of the adjective
not surrounded by much warmth or light.
‘lonely’?
What could this symbolise?

‘A lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire.’

Why is it important that Scrooge sees this What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?
image?
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 What are the connotations of each of the
Why does the spirit take Scrooge to see
adjectives?
Fezziwig?

‘He called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial

voice.’
How do these adjectives contrast to the
What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?
way Scrooge’s voice was described in Stave
One?

What are the connotations of the noun

‘idol’? What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?

‘”Another idol has displaced me.”’

What does the word ‘another’ suggest Why is it important that Scrooge sees this
about the relationship between Belle and image?
Scrooge?

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 What are the connotations of the verb
The fact that he cannot hide the light
‘streamed’?
anymore suggests what about Scrooge?

‘He could not hide the light: which streamed from under it, in an
unbroken flood upon the ground.’

How does this quotation link to the themes

What does the ‘unbroken flood’ imply of light and dark?
about the light?

ACTIVITY FOURTEEN: Low Stakes Quiz

Answer the multiple choice questions.
A Reminder of Stave One! A Reminder of Stave Two!

Who is Jacob Marley? Who or what is Fezziwig?

a) Scrooge’s office clerk a) The local wig shop
b) Scrooge’s current business partner b) The name of Scrooge’s favourite drink
c) Scrooge’s former business partner c) Scrooge’s crazy uncle
d) Scrooge’s nephew d) Scrooge’s boss when he was younger

Who is Bob Cratchit? What bad news does Belle give Scrooge?
a) Scrooge’s office clerk a) His mother has died
b) Scrooge’s current business partner b) She is calling off their engagement
c) Scrooge’s former business partner c) She is moving away
d) Scrooge’s nephew d) He has lost his job

Scrooge is a solitary as an… What does Scrooge come to understand after

a) A shrew viewing the Fezziwig scene?
b) An oyster a) How lonely he was as a young man
c) A crab b) That everyone knew how to have fun except
d) A hermit him
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 c) The benefits of kindness
Who are the charitable gentlemen collecting for? d) The time it takes to develop strong
a) Ignorance and Want relationships
b) Orphans and Children
c) Poor and Destitute What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to
d) Workhouses and Prisons visit?
a) His grandmother’s kitchen
What does Scrooge want to decrease? b) His first office
a) The surplus population c) His boyhood schoolhouse
b) Joy in Christmas d) His college dorm room
c) The amount given to charity e) His first pace of work
d) Bob Cratchit’s wages
How is Scrooge able to fly out the window with
What is Marley weighed down by? the ghost?
a) Heavy sandbags a) By holding his ankle
b) Chains made of padlocks and cashboxes b) By climbing on his back
c) His guilty conscience c) By grasping his robe
d) Iron weights d) By touching his hand

What does Marley say was his ‘business’? How does Belle seem to Scrooge when the ghost
a) Making profit takes him to observe her several years later?
b) Charitable acts a) Poor
c) Mankind b) Angry
d) Helping Scrooge c) Happy
d) Sad

ACTIVITY FIFTEEN: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

jocund (adjective) cheerful and light-hearted

TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘jocund’. Transform the adjective ‘jocund’ into an image to help
you remember it.
Late 14c., "pleasing, gracious;
joyful," from Old French jocond or
directly from Late Latin iocundus
(source of Spanish jocunde,
Italian giocondo), variant
(influenced by iocus "joke") of
Latin iucundus "pleasant,
agreeable."
TASK THREE: DEBATE IT
Can people be too jocund? Is this a bad thing?
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 TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT
Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
jocund link to the adjective ‘jocund’.

1.

2.

3.

ACTIVITY SIXTEEN: Stave Three quotations

Revise the key quotations in Stave Three by completing the activities.
TASK ONE: Analyse the following quotations by answering the questions.

What are the connotations of the adjective

‘jolly’? How does the torch link to the theme of
light?

‘There sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who bore a glowing

torch… and held it up, high up, to shed its light on
Scrooge.’

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 What does the adjective ‘sufficient’ tell you
about the Cratchits? Discuss the theme of family. Why does
Dickens include it?

‘It was a sufficient dinner for the whole family.’

Why does Scrooge need to see this?
What is the purpose of the Cratchits? Why
are they there?

How are the Cratchits the antithesis of

How does Dickens use the Cratchits to Scrooge?
emphasise the importance of Christmas?

‘There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a

handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far
from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty.’

Why is it important for Scrooge to see this? Why does Dickens go to such great lengths
to emphasise the poverty the Cratchits live
in?

Why does Dickens make the Ignorance and

What is the effect of these adjectives?
Want children?
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 ‘They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged,
scowling, wolfish: but prostrate, too, in their
humility.’
Why is the significance of the fact they are
What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?
‘prostrate in their humility’?

ACTIVITY SEVENTEEN: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check

Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

malevolent (adjective) having or showing a wish to do evil to

others
TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘malevolent’. Transform the adjective ‘malevolent’ into an image to
help you remember it.
c. 1500, from Middle French
malivolent and directly from Latin
malevolentem
"ill-disposed, spiteful, envious,"
from male "badly" + volentem,
present participle of velle "to
wish"
TASK THREE: DEBATE IT
Does being malevolent have its advantages?

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 TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT
Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
malevolent, malevolence, malevolently link to the adjective ‘malevolent’.

1.

2.

3.

ACTIVITY EIGHTEEN: Stave Four quotations

Revise the key quotations in Stave Four by completing the activities.
TASK ONE: Analyse the following quotations by answering the questions.

What are the connotations of these Why is this ghost silent? Why, unlike the
adverbs? others, does the ghost not tell Scrooge
what he has done wrong?

‘The

Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached.’

Why is this ghost referred to as a How does this description instil a sense of
‘phantom’ and not a ‘spirit’? fear in Scrooge and the reader?

How does this ghost differ from the

others? Why does this ghost have to create What is Dickens saying about the ghost?
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a sense of fear? Why is it ‘immovable’?
 ‘The Spirit was immovable as ever.’
Why add ‘as ever’ on the end? What is the
What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?
significance of this?

Scrooge says he will ‘try’ to keep it all the

‘I will live in the Past, Present and Future’. year. Why ‘try’? Why not ‘will’?
What does this mean?

“’I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the
year. I will live in the Past, Present, and the Future. The Spirits of
all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that
they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this
stone.”’

What is the significance of the word What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?
‘strive?

TASK TWO: ‘Scrooge does not change because he has truly seen the errors of his ways.
He changes because he is still selfish and scared of what will happen if he does not.’ To
what extent do you agree?

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ACTIVITY NINETEEN: Low Stakes Quiz
Answer the multiple choice questions.
Stave One Stave Three

Scrooge is a solitary as an… How is the Ghost of Christmas Present

e) A shrew represented?
f) An oyster a) A jolly giant
g) A crab b) A silent phantom
h) A hermit c) A small glowing man
d) An invisible spirit
What does Scrooge want to decrease?
e) The surplus population Who are the children under the Ghost of
f) Joy in Christmas Christmas Present’s coat?
g) The amount given to charity a) Poor and Destitute
h) Bob Cratchit’s wages b) Hope and Charity
c) Ignorance and Want
What does Marley say was his ‘business’? d) Goodness and Light
e) Making profit
f) Charitable acts Which line does the Ghost of Christmas Present
g) Mankind repeat to Scrooge?
Helping Scrooge a) “Are there no prisons? Are there no
workhouses?”
Stave Two b) “Christmas? Bah humbug!”
c) “Decrease the surplus population.”
How does the Ghost of Christmas Past describe d) “You may be a bit of undigested beef.”
the young Scrooge?
a) A solitary child, neglected by his friends Context
b) An evil child, neglected by his friends
c) A solitary child with no friends Who might the Ghost of Christmas Present
d) A popular child with lots of friends represent?
a) Father Christmas
What bad news does Belle give Scrooge? b) Scrooge’s father
e) His mother has died c) God
f) She is calling off their engagement d) Jacob Marley
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g) She is moving away
h) He has lost his job Which words best describe 19th century Victorian
London?
What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to a) Happy, wealthy and wise
visit? b) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
f) His grandmother’s kitchen c) Violent, murderous, insane
g) His first office d) Clean, healthy and safe
h) His boyhood schoolhouse
i) His college dorm room Malthus believed…
j) His first pace of work a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases
b) We can’t improve our lives until the population increases
c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money
d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for charity

ACTIVITY TWENTY Stave Five quotations

Revise the key quotations in Stave Five by completing the activities.
TASK ONE: Analyse the following quotations by answering the questions.

How do these similes contrast the similes What is Dickens’ authorial intent? Why
used in Stave One? does he show us this?

‘”I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am

as merry as a school-boy.”’

What are the connotations of an ‘angel’? Why is it significant that Scrooge mentions
a ‘merry school-boy’?

Now there is no fog unlike the descriptions

in Stave One. What do you think the fog Why do you think Dickens has given the
and mist could have symbolised? novella a cyclical structure?

‘No fog, not mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold.’

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 What are the connotations of these
Why does Dickens list the qualities of the adjectives?
cold?

What are the connotations of ‘heart’? What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?

‘His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.’

What is the significance of ‘that was quite

enough for him’?

Why do you think Tiny Tim is the one to

Why make this the last line of the novella?
say this?

‘And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every

One!’
Why is the significance of ‘every one’?
What is Dickens’ authorial intent here?

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ACTIVITY TWENTY ONE: Tier 2 Vocabulary Check
Revise the key vocabulary by completing the tasks.

beneficent (adjective) generous, selfless

TASK ONE: READ IT TASK TWO: TRANSFORM IT
Read about the etymology of ‘beneficent’. Transform the adjective ‘beneficent’ into an image to
help you remember it.

1610s, "doing good,

charitable through good
will," probably from
beneficence on model of
magnificent, etc. The Latin
adjective is beneficus.
TASK THREE: DEBATE IT
Does beneficence exist in modern society?

TASK FOUR: USE IT TASK FIVE: LINK IT

Can you use the following words in a sentence? Make a list of quotations from ‘A Christmas Carol’ that
beneficent, beneficence link to the adjective ‘beneficent’.

1.

2.

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3.

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