"Marley was dead, to begin with. "Marley was dead to begin with" See answer Advertisement nellygee The quote is stating that Scrooge's name was good in making a change, what it means is that Scrooge had good financial credit At the royal exchange in London, at the part of England's important financial institutions. Scrooge, Marley's business partner, signed the register of his burial. And Scrooge's name was good for anything he chose to put his hand to. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. Give your view on Marley was dead: to begin with with a rating and help us compile the very best Charles Dickens quotations. 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. His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. A Christmas Carol (Grades 91) Why is this section important? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectres voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones. and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! When they were within two paces of each other, Marleys Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. In that sense, they were dead, as even if you disposed of the door you would not be able to pull the nails out easily, and so they couldnt be used, and might as well be dead. Discount, Discount Code Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa, a small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan of gruel, Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. Dickens reinforces the fact that Marley was indeed dead and that all the officials have signed off on papers stating that he was dead. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices, I dont make merry myself at Christmas and I cant afford to make idle people merry. But they and their spirit voices faded together; and the night became as it had been when he walked home. Yet such was I! A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He was as dead as a doornail. Two adjectives How now! said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. The enduring charm of A Christmas Carol Oh! such was I!. Repeat Topic - using a synonym or similar word for the noun The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayors household should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty in the streets, stirred up to-morrows pudding in his garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef. 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. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one lifes opportunity misused! and youll keep your Christmas by losing your situation! Pick a familiar subject and type a pen picture of your own. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. the other rooms being all let out as offices. Write a cinquain and a shaped poem of your own We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! http://www.AllisonTuffs.com These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. You dont believe in me, observed the Ghost. Together, as the firm of Scrooge and Marley, they became successful yet hard-hearted bankers, with seats on the London Stock Exchange. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Marley was dead: to begin with. The enduring charm of A Christmas Carol The Hub Marley was dead: to begin with. The enduring charm of A Christmas Carol I personally love the book A Christmas Carol and I read it every December. There is no doubt whatever about that. Dickens wants Marley's return to be difficult for US to accept, as readers, too. Mind! Type the text of your Cinquain in the space below. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. Once upon a timeof all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eveold Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. 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? He had just enough recollection of the face to desire to do that. Subscribe now. William Shakespeare Because the sentence is doing two different things. Mind! The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. This is an example of a colon being used to break up two elements of a sentence. Whats Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and 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? If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marleys head on every one. Marley was dead, to begin with. What right have you to be merry? But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Countrys done for. `What right have you to be dismal? Ill retire to Bedlam.. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didnt thaw it one degree at Christmas. Marley was dead: to begin with. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!. There is no doubt whatever about that. Phrase of four words he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again. A merry Christmas, uncle! I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.. 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. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. 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. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marleys head on every one. There is no doubt whatever about that. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 1590 and 1612. It comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. What Is The Population Of Johannesburg In 2020. Wed love to have you back! (one code per order). Its not convenient, said Scrooge, and its not fair. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. If I could work my will, said Scrooge indignantly, every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Scrooge signed it. Continue to start your free trial. It was not angry or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look: with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead. He is undeniably dead; in fact, Marley is dead as a door-nail. Ebenezer Scrooge, who has served as Marleys business partner, executor of his will, sole friend, and sole mourner, is well aware of how very dead Marley is. The cold became intense. Marleys face. In his ghost form, he looks the same but is transparent and must wear and drag heavy chains which symbolize his. `Because, said Scrooge, `a little thing affects them. Half-a-dozen gas-lamps out of the street wouldnt have lighted the entry too well, so you may suppose that it was pretty dark with Scrooges dip. Scrooge knew he was dead? `A merry Christmas, uncle! This lunatic, in letting Scrooges nephew out, had let two other people in. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. 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. Every one of them wore chains like Marleys Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. His body was transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. What a fine thing capital punishment is! Scrooges counting house is still named Scrooge and Marley. He even answers to both names. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. Christmas among the rest. 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!. 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. Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?, Man of the worldly mind! replied the Ghost, do you believe in me or not?, I do, said Scrooge. Much good may it do you! It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. He adds that Scrooge very much knew that Marley was dead, having been his partner and only friend. 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. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. How could it be otherwise? You have laboured on it, since. May nothing you dismay!. Use description and metaphors to create a pen picture of your own But you dont keep it., Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. Shows that Scrooge dislikes change. Come! 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. When the story begins, Scrooge is asked about his partner Marley by the men collecting money for charity. There is no doubt whatever, about that. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course, said Scrooge. The Royal Albert Bridge, carrying trains over the River Tamar between Plymouth, Devon and Saltash, Cornwall, is officially opened by. The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. 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. Your email address will not be published. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa; a small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. I dont make merry myself at Christmas and I cant afford to make idle people merry. If you were to renovate or improve something you could pull the nails from the old and hammer them into the new. humbug!. Required fields are marked *. Write your poem and decorate it as imaginatively as possible. 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! Three verbs that tell what the noun in the first line does As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten with a chamber in the highest story of the building. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. 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. Marley was dead: to begin with. What could it mean? `He died seven years ago, this very night.. The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. Scrooge knew he was dead? Still, returned the gentleman, I wish I could say they were not.. But it was customary to hammer nails into doors, in particular, in a way that would make them unusable for anything else. He is bitter that no one did for him what he is doing for Scrooge. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Summary of Stave 1 Using your own initial, either first or last, write a short shaped poem. who cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returned them cordially. Charles Dickens (2015). To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale. never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good. very low fire indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. Proudly powered by WordPress | Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber-room. 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. That, and its livid colour, made it horrible; but its horror seemed to be in spite of the face and beyond its control, rather than a part of its own expression. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooges name was good upon Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Marleys ghost visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve at the beginning of the story. `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. Marley has been dead these seven years,' Scrooge replied. 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. Poulterers and grocers trades became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossible to believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had anything to do. His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding. The cold became intense. But then Marley died and now their firm belonged to Scrooge, who was a stingy and heartless old man. You must have been very slow about it, Jacob, Scrooge observed, in a business-like manner, though with humility and deference. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Its humbug still! said Scrooge. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. If I could work my will, said Scrooge indignantly, every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. You can specify conditions of storing and accessing cookies in your browser, The quote is stating that Scrooges name was good in making a change, what it means is that Scrooge had good financial credit, A bibliography should be the first page of your report. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. In the first stave, the miser Scrooge is introduced as well as his merry nephew and his poor clerk Bob Cratchit. Foul weather didnt know where to have him. What reason have you to be morose? Scrooge signed it. Mind! A pen picture is a very short, three-lined poem. Piercing, searching, biting cold. How could it be otherwise? 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. The British Government introduced the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834, known as the New Poor Law, which led to the establishment of workhouses. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. But you were always a good man of business, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. And beard thee too. Still, returned the gentleman, `I wish I could say they were not.. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. SparkNotes PLUS God save you! cried a cheerful voice. 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. thats a very good point about coffin nails. Is its pattern strange toyou?, Or would you know, pursued the Ghost, the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? They often `came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did. He ventured to raise his eyes again, and found his supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect attitude, with its chain wound over and about its arm. Scrooge appears old, stiff, and shriveled, but authorities on Dickenss work estimate his age at no more than 57, implying that his inner chill has aged him prematurely. There is no doubt whatever about that. The sound resounded through the house like thunder. However, given that Marleys ghost will soon appear, this overemphasis on Marleys death also serves as foreshadowing. Dont have an account? And then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of changenot a knocker, but Marleys face. In the 1995 made-for-TV film Ebbie, Jeffrey DeMunn plays Marleys modern version, Jake Marley, Elizabeth Ebbie Scrooges mentor and later partner who dies of a heart attack right in front of her. Renews May 8, 2023 The first part of the sentence informs the reader that the character (Jacob) Marley is dead, whilst a second part that follows introduces an immediate element of doubt into this supernatural tale. He should!, Nephew! returned the uncle sternly, keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine., Keep it! repeated Scrooges nephew. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. His ghost visits Scrooge but this quote, and other sentences within the opening paragraph, are used by Dickens to confirm to the reader at the outset of the story that Marley is definitely dead. `Are they still in operation?, `They are. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! 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. Lumber-room as usual. It held up its chain at arms length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaohs daughters; Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophets rod, and swallowed up the whole. facebook; twitter . [1] Scrooge signed it. Mind! Marley's Ghost M ARLEY WAS DEAD: to begin with. 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!. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and Ill keep my Christmas humour to the last. The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayors household should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty. 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. Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. `Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. We are currently converting the 3,000+ pages within our WordPress site to make them more mobile friendly. Scrooge signed it. Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his bankers-book, went home to bed. The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. Perhaps that is why we talk about someone being as dead as a doornail. `Tell me why?. When they were within two paces of each other, Marleys Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. Share your pen picture with a friend. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!. FALSE So A Merry Christmas, uncle!. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. But he put his hand upon the key he had relinquished, turned it sturdily, walked in, and lighted his candle. Hot and Cold Extensive imagery describes Scrooge as cold because of his cold heart; in contrast, his nephew is described as warm because he is merry and loving. `Christmas a humbug, uncle! said Scrooges nephew. Foul weather didnt know where to have him. `How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. This quotation forms the first sentence of the novella A Christmas Carol. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. The passage makes a joke in its implication that the reader might doubt that Marley is deceased (which the reader has no reason for doubt). Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now. 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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! Tell me why?, I wear the chain I forged in life, replied the Ghost. but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Countrys done for. Hedidpause, with a moments irresolution, before he shut the door; and hedidlook cautiously behind it first, as if he half expected to be terrified with the sight of Marleys pigtail sticking out into the hall. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in; double-locked himself in, which was not his custom. I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. There is no doubt whatever about that. 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! `I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air; and, though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless. Dickens uses the opening line to hint at the supernatural story to come: Marley was dead to begin with (p. 1). 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. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. 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 spot -- say Saint Pauls Churchyard for instance -- literally to astonish his sons weak mind. Dead as a doornail? Business! cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. `I wonder you dont go into Parliament., `Dont be angry, uncle. Design changes: Please bear with us if you come across anything that may look a little disjointed.
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