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Adam VanArsdalen

1st Hour
Mrs. Mainero
December 16, 2015
A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is an original fantasy story by Charles Dickens that takes place in
London during Christmas, but is not about Christmas in the way of St. Nicholas or people
playing in the snow. This story is about an old, selfish, greedy man named Ebenezer Scrooge,
who has no happiness to spread or a kind attitude, with no remorse or pity on the poor and weak
and would rather spite them. But once he is visited by a long dead friend, Jacob Marley, in the
form of a ghost he knows he must change his ways. Throughout reading the book and watching
the play I have observed more similarities from the book to the play, than differences.
Throughout the book and the play one thing that impacts the key similarities and
differences are the special effects. One thing that I found similar about how the special effects
were is how sounds, vibrations (from the sounds), and props were used to enhance details and
dramatize the story. For example when Scrooges old business partner, Jacob Marley, shows up
covered in chains he walks in through an opened up trap door in the floor of the stage that is
pouring smoke, then once Marley gets upstairs to Scrooge he has a loud, boomy voice and is a
large man. This is similar from how we are introduced to him in the book and also how I
imagined him. In the bookhe is introduced with the same strength, for example the novel states,
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(18). One
difference I noticed pertaining to the special effects of the story is how there was not any actual

elements such as water, ice, snow or wind, however, in the novel there was. For example in the
book it states that, The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting
with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground
which last deposit had been plowed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and
wagons(59). This quote shows how there was snow described in the book but none was in the
play.
Another key impacting feature to A Christmas Carol is the use of dialogue. One similarity
I noticed after watching the play is how the actors sounded. While reading the book the reader
was told the setting took place in London during the 1800s, during this time frame the language
used there involved a slightly different vocabulary not often used today, so when I hear the
words, London and 1800s I immediately think of people saying, Come hither, and we shall stir
thy stew (keywords are hither, shall, and thy). The play and the book had this sort of
vocabulary, which is how I imagined the characters speaking. One difference in dialogue I
noticed after reviewing the book and the play is how the characters are characterized by what
they say through their dialogue. In the play some of the the characters were introduced
differently through their dialogue which gave them a separate appearance than the one I had been
introduced to in the book. For example, in the play when Scrooge is with Marley, Scrooge
sounds happy and thankful that Marley is informing that there will be three ghost coming to him
to haunt him, however in the book, Scrooge says after Marley informs him of the ghosts, I- I
think Id rather not, also after that Scrooge says, Couldnt I take em all at once, and have it
over, Jacob? This shows how the dialogue between the book and the play changes how the
reader or viewer will interpret who the character is and their intentions.

A last important aspect between the book and the play are the deleted scenes that a reader
thought that they would see in the play, but it was not there in the final cut of the play. The book,
The Christmas Carol, had many scenes that I wondered how would end up making it to the play
while looking realistic. One thing from the book that I thought would be difficult to put in the
play but I thought would definately be added because it was a very important scene was when
Scrooge was transitioning from his bedroom to wherever one of the three ghost was taking him,
an example of one of the scenes is the first place the second spirit (Ghost of Christmas Present)
takes him, Scrooge and the spirit travel to the streets which are covered with ice and snow, but
since there was no snow or ice in the play, they replaced that scene with having Scrooge and the
spirit look into the crowd and pretend to see all of the people and the streets. One scene from the
book that I knew would not make it to the play was when the Ghost of Christmas Future is
showing Scrooge his gravestone (110-111) and the Spirit starts transforming into a bedpost and
suddenly Scrooge is back in his bed. This scene got completely cut from the play and in
replacement to the scene, the stage went dark and Scrooge was back in his bed.
After reading the book and watching the play I have found more similarities than
differences. Reading a book then watching a play is similar to reading a book then watching a
movie. After you have done both you start to realize things that are similar between the two and
things that are completely wrong, you also get to read scenes from the book that were not
explored in the movie, see how the creators used special effects to bring the movie (or play), and
see how the character sounded in your head against what they were meant to sound like by the
creators.

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