The Capital ‘R’ Romance of Old Holiday Stories
Most everyone is familiar with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; the fantastical spiritual elements and the feel of the season wrapped up in a ghost story of one angry, old and bitter man coming to terms with his impending death and emaciated legacy. It is a Romantic work, if not a romance. What’s the difference between romance and Romance? In the simplest form, it has to do with description and focus. Romance or Romanticism is an artistic movement dating back to the late 1700s with a deep focus on emotions, nature, and sensation. It was a response to previous forms of art that were dedicated to realism and intellectualism. For a type of visual or literary art that focuses so much on emotion and the scope of nature, it isn’t that surprising so many romance stories are also Romantic stories.
But just like there are many romance stories during the holiday season, there are also many ghost stories. It used to be an old, old tradition during the winter solstice to tell scary stories while everyone was gathered around in the small warmth available. These idyllic scenes in the northern hemisphere were often connected to the ideas of good triumphing over evil and the returning or rebirth of the sun/light. The human habit to shape our cultures and behaviors off of our environment is a very Romantic idea; it even can affect how we relate to each other. A Christmas Carol is an example of relational effects within a Romantic story. With each of the ghosts, Scrooge is forced into a state of heightened emotion along a smooth gradient — nostalgia to existential dread — while in the presence of phantasmal incarnation of time. Time itself plays a large role in the story of Scrooge and it forms not just the context for the narrative but also the relationships of the characters.
Focusing on the ghosts for a moment, the phantom of Christmas past is somewhat amorphous, shifting its appearance from child-like to a candle to an older woman, it evokes angelic imagery while also depicting what nostalgia feels like. In the moment or the past, the person experiencing nostalgia is young. This awareness of being younger and thinking or feeling differently can cause the person remembering the events to feel much older than they are or even to become truly aware of how much time has passed. The candle can be related to imagery from both Christmas time or the light of youth or the happy feelings of times gone by. The many possible layers of emotional interpretation only adds to the Romantic elements of the story.
The Ghost of Christmas Present with Ebenezer Scrooge. Original 1843 illustration by John Leech.
Next, the phantom of Christmas present is the walking, talking incarnation of the party. Every element of his characterization, from his immense size and clothes to the banquet he first appears with, is meant to evoke the feelings of merriment associated with the holiday season. His appearance begins the most light-hearted of all the ghosts and forms a kind of emotional safety net for Scrooge and the reader. We are led into this scenario thinking he’s only going to be witness to things he’s missing out on in the moment, but that is not the case. The ghost ages as the night goes on — a terrifying thing to experience all things considered — and the children of Misery and Ignorance at his feet create the sharp turn the audience needs for the final and most terrifying ghost: the Future.
From the silence and unknown face of this phantom to the Grim Reaper-like garb, and the immediate arrival upon the death of Christmas Day, everything about this ghost is meant to instill existential dread. This character is, for all intents and purposes, Death waiting for his turn at Scrooge — and through Scrooge, the audience. The pleading for another answer, another way to meet an end, becomes all the more poignant in light of who Scrooge used to be as a character. He saw the ghost of his old business partner and was fearful for only a few moments, trying to dismiss the horror before him as indigestion or other minor ailments playing with his mind, but by this point, he’s been exposed to enough Christmas “magic” that the very real possibility that people will only be glad to see him dead and gone is sinking in. The subject matter of Dickens’ work and the emotionally evocative characters and settings sell the old-school Romanticism in A Christmas Carol. How many other horror stories set during the season have Romantic elements? Time, an uncontrollable aspect of nature, and Death, an inescapable reality, were both used to great effect within A Christmas Carol all for the sake of imparting a moral lesson. One of the oldest lessons in human history: treat other people well or you will die alone.
Happy Holidays, everyone!