A Christmas Carol: 175 years old today, more relevant than ever

As Christmas is around the corner, everyone’s favourite story celebrates its 175th anniversary. On December 17th, 1843 Charles Dickens first published his famous “Christmas Carol” and changed Christmas forever. Today, “A Christmas Carol” is an essential part of Christmas season which reminds us of kindness, forgiveness and unity. Theatres across London adapt the play while libraries hold talks and readings.

On a small, quiet street in the borough of Camden, it is difficult to spot a famous author’s former house, now a historical museum. A three-storey building, which has become a Charles Dickens museum, is connected with other houses in a Victorian style where ordinary people continue to live. The only thing that makes the museum stand out is a blue plaque with a sign. Inside, a gift shop and a cozy coffee house, with a narrow staircase leading to Dickens’ bedroom and a drawing room. Everything in this place, from furniture to clothing, seems untouched, creating a presence of a famous writer. Only the car noises outside the window and an electric hands dryer in the toilet remind us that it is not a 19th century. In this house, Charles Dickens wrote his bestsellers, and in this same house celebrations are taking place throughout the whole December. Readings of “A Christmas Carol” by the museum patron, MBE, Michael Slater and performances by actors James Swanton and Dominic Gerrard, as well as Dickens-style Christmas dinners with his direct descendant, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. 

James Swanton, an actor and a fan of Dickens’ work, brings “A Christmas Carol” to live in his one-man’s play at the museum. In the small drawing room filled with the audience of 20 people, the talking noise disappears as the lights dim and the actor appears in his black smoking jacket and a cylinder hat. His voice, powerful and loud, pronounces the first lines of the play. One hour passes by quickly when James uses his voice and face expressions instead of a stage property to switch from one character to another. He believes that his unusual appearance is what makes him so well-suited to play Dickens’ characters. “I think when you have an unusual face and an unusual voice and you do unusual things with them, Dickens is quite a good thing to investigate.” James performs Dickens’ other Christmas stories, but explains that they are harder to sell because ‘people haven’t grown up with them’.

Charles Dickens was not only a brilliant author, but also a social activist. Many of his works reflect the anger at social injustices in the Victorian era. “A Christmas carol” was initially a journalistic piece, inspired by the state of the children working in factories and mines in Britain. In his letter to his friend, Dr. Southwood Smith, Dickens said that he wanted to write a pamphlet that would strike a hammer blow for the poor. Instead, he produced a literary piece that touched the hearts of both poor and rich. “It’s a work that makes us in Scrooge’s shoes feel guilty,” says John Drew, an English literature professor and a Charles Dickens expert, “Perhaps middle class secure comfortable readers with warmth of a fireplace and plenty to eat, they are reminded by the story, that they are living cheek by jowl with terrible want and poverty, people who are really scraping to get by.”

“A Christmas Carol” reflects social issues that are still relevant to this day. In fact, it could not be any more relevant than today. According to the research by the housing charity Shelter, 170,000 people in London are homeless. In Camden borough alone, there are at least 217 rough sleepers. “Seems like we’re going back to Victorian times, so that the carol is even more relevant now than ever.” says professor Michael Slater, MBE and a patron of a Dickens museum.  With the benefits being cut by £37bn by 2021 as stated by the House of Commons library, the situation might become even worse. Professor Michael Slater explains how Scrooge resembles today’s wealthy class attitude: “Scrooge says to people who are collecting money for charity that he pays his taxes and why should he give any more money, and now people say ‘well they got state benefits’ but people don’t get all the benefits. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be people sleeping on the streets in London” It is true that the public attitude towards poverty is hardening, as 54% of people believe that unemployment benefits are too high and discourage unemployed people from working. 

With this outlook for the future, as long as there is poverty living side by side with the wealth, Dickens is ‘daunt to stay relevant for hundred, possibly five hundred years.’