Ebenezer Scrooge
Fictional miser redeemed by ghostly visitations in A Christmas Carol.
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Making and release
The theory holds that Dickens misread Scroggie's occupation "meal man" as "mean man"[2][3] Another model for Scrooge was the British miser John Elwes (1714–1789).[2][4] Elwes was known for extreme personal frugality but could be generous with loans.[4] Dickens's biographer Peter Ackroyd sees similarities between Scrooge and the title character of "Martin Chuzzlewit"[5]
Dickens may have chosen the name "Ebenezer" for its biblical meaning "stone of help"[6][3] The surname "Scrooge" may derive from the word "scrouge," meaning to squeeze or crowd.[6][3] Some commentators suggest Scrooge's views on the poor reflect those of political economist Thomas Malthus.[7][3] Scrooge's question about treadmills and the Poor Law echoes a sarcastic remark by philosopher Thomas Carlyle.[8]
What the cited sources add
Cereno's article reports that the film "The Man Who Invented Christmas" posits Dickens based Scrooge on his own father.[3]
References
- "Why did Charles Dickens choose the name Ebenezer Scrooge?", www.londonguidedwalks.co.uk. facts only, no text reused. londonguidedwalks.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Revealed: the Scot who inspired Dickens' Scrooge", The Scotsman, 24 December 2004; "BBC Arts – That Ebenezer geezer... who was the real Scrooge?", BBC; Pelling, "Mr Punch is still knocking them dead after 350 years", The Telegraph, February 7, 2014; Melvin, "A Walk Through Edinburgh's New Town", [Not credited], 2014, p. 63; Silence, "Gloucester History Tour", Amberley Publishing Limited, 2015, p. 40; Dickens, "The Letters of Charles Dickens", Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 7 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Cereno, "The real man who inspired Ebenezer Scrooge", Grunge.com, December 14, 2018. facts only, no text reused. grunge.com
- "BBC Arts – That Ebenezer geezer... who was the real Scrooge?", BBC. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ackroyd 1990, p. 409 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kincaid, "Hearing the Gospel through Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol"", Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, p. 7–8; Pearson, "Why did Charles Dickens invent Scrooge?", The Independent, December 9, 2014; Pearson, "Why did Charles Dickens invent Scrooge?", The Independent, December 9, 2014; Cereno, "The real man who inspired Ebenezer Scrooge", Grunge.com, December 14, 2018; "Definition of SCROUGE", www.merriam-webster.com; "Why did Charles Dickens choose the name Ebenezer Scrooge?", www.londonguidedwalks.co.uk (we also read that so en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Elwell, "Reclaiming Malthus", Rogers State University, 2 November 2001; Nasar, "Grand pursuit : the story of economic genius", Simon & Schuster, 2011, p. 3–10 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Douglas-Fairhurst 2006, p. xix (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ebenezer Scrooge (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Ebenezer Scrooge (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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