But he put his hand upon the key he had relinquished, turned it sturdily, walked in, and lighted his candle. 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. “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. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. 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 Mayor’s 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-morrow’s pudding in his garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?”, “It is required of every man,” the Ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. What reason have you to be merry? In 1843 Charles Dickens sat down to his desk, pen in hand and began to write: ‘Marley was dead: to begin with.....’ and so began one of the greatest, most enduring, most retold works of literature the world has ever seen. There is no doubt whatever about that. Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but without lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!”. With these words, he brings death to the fore, an ironic beginning, considering … Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre is excited to present “Marley Was Dead, To Begin With”, a holiday premiere inspired by Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooges name was good upon It was a very low fire indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. dawg day Dec 24 #1 Here ya go BlueSpot Dec 24 #3 Cool Find! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a … I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. Piercing, searching, biting cold. The Christmas Gospel, the Christmas message, begins with this announcement: “We were dead, to begin with.” Perhaps that seems to you a preposterous and unbelievable claim. 0000000796 00000 n The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him. It was the very thing he liked. This amazing one-man show has become an annual tradition for a number of schools, civic organizations, and even private Christmas parties. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. 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-merchant’s cellar. Obviously, when Marley shows up, the fact is going to be a difficult one for Scrooge to accept — that this is really his old partner Marley, a “good man of business” before him. It was not an agreeable idea. “Hear me!” cried the Ghost. The One Love singer shocked the world when he tragically passed away at just 36 years old. From Stave 1. Mind! We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. He stopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on the clerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returned them cordially. 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 blindman’s-buff. Mind! An agent allegedly gave the singer a pair of boots that were contaminated with radioactive material. 0000009429 00000 n Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!”. Much good it has ever done you!”, “There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. There is no doubt whatever about that. With an ill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat. Marley’s face. There is no doubt whatever about that. Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory. %PDF-1.3 %���� Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. “Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?”, “Mr. “You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. I, Jacob Marley (1781 - 1836), was your partner in life for many years and now I am dead. He had been diagnosed in 1977, and it had spread from under a nail of his toe. “Christmas among the rest. The opening establishes not just the friendship between Marley and Scrooge but also Scrooge's fundamental aloneness—it's not just that they are friends; they are each other's only friends. Marley died from an acral lentiginous melanoma, which is a form of skin cancer. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. “You don’t mean that, I am sure?”, “I do,” said Scrooge. Marley was dead: to begin with. Yet such was I! “Couldn’t I take ’em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?” hinted Scrooge. The spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak, dark night. The third upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant. “It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’s not fair. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Dickens uses the opening line to hint at the supernatural story to come: 'Marley was dead to begin with' (p. 1). Marley was dead — to begin with Indian newspapers have a particular way of using the colon: they put it at the end of the headline to tell the name of the person who spoke thus, for example: The Hindu: AAP victory In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. Stave One: Summary * Chapter One opens with the reader being informed that Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge's old business partner, is dead. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! He did pause, with a moment’s irresolution, before he shut the door; and he did look cautiously behind it first, as if he half expected to be terrified with the sight of Marley’s pigtail sticking out into the hall. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber-room. There was something very awful, too, in the spectre’s being provided with an infernal atmosphere of its own. Scrooge shivered, and wiped the perspiration from his brow. Dead dead doornail. Humbug, I tell you! When they were within two paces of each other, Marley’s Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.”. “A merry Christmas, uncle! Scrooge knew this, by the smart sound its teeth made, when the jaws were brought together by the bandage. “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. Of course he did. “Merry Christmas! Is its pattern strange to you?”, “Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It begins with death. Besides—excuse me—I don’t know that.”. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now. startxref MARLEY WAS DEAD; to begin with. Oh! . <<9B6E2A9E30E0994AA01858E968F75B79>]/Prev 226523>> “Why?”, “Because you fell in love!” growled Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. 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. �e��yi��UA�gk{;���S��l�䞗�S�;L2��͸��nS���,��@'Y\\. “What right have you to be dismal? Who attended Marley's funeral? You can view our. There is no doubt whatever about that. Charles Dickens begins A Christmas Carol with Stave 1 “Marley’s Ghost” where the first sentence is “MARLEY WAS DEAD: to begin with” (Dickens, 1). "Marley was dead, to begin with..." This idea of the whole story coming out of a book is actually not my original idea. “You’re particular, for a shade.” He was going to say “to a shade,” but substituted this, as more appropriate. Marley was dead: to begin with. For the chained Marley, Dickens drew on his memory of a visit to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1842, where he saw—and was affected by seeing—fettered prisoners. “It’s humbug still!” said Scrooge. “My time is nearly gone.”, “I will,” said Scrooge. Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. “But I see it,” said the Ghost, “notwithstanding.”, “Well!” returned Scrooge, “I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. When will you come to see me?” No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. “We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,” said the gentleman, presenting his credentials. I don't mean to say that I know" Direct address to reader "dead" "deadest" "as dead as a door-nail" Repetition. “You are not looking at it,” said Scrooge. “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!”. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. 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. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s 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 Paul’s Churchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weak mind. You’re poor enough.”, “Come, then,” returned the nephew gaily. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. Scrooge signed it. Bah, Humbug: Inside a Dickens Classic Why did Dickens write A Christmas Carol? 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. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. Dickens wants Marley… “Marley was dead: to begin with.” So goes the first sentence of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. If you’ve been looking for the answer to Novella with first line "Marley was dead: to begin with”, we’re happy to share that you can find it here with us. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him. … The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. The water-plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! In the first paragraphs, we learn who Marley was, his association with Scrooge, and he is also the one person (ghost) who can communicate what's to come and make a profound effect on Scrooge's character. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. There is no doubt whatever about that. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good. Overview. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. I’ll retire to Bedlam.”. “Marley was dead… as dead as a door nail.” With those famous words we enter into one of the best-ever stories, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Why give it as a reason for not coming now?”, “I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?”, “I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—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. “What else can I be,” returned the uncle, “when I live in such a world of fools as this? Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before; he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses. Marley was filled with anguish and regret, and yet he was not beyond redemption. The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air; and, though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas. It beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. “And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. 0000005559 00000 n Mind! “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. Marley was dead: to begin with. %%EOF 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. Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Good afternoon, gentlemen!”. Well, Marley might be dead, but Krita ain’t!So, here’s what’ll be the last beta build of Krita before the festive season really breaks lose. It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. 0000001150 00000 n Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” 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. Marley was dead: to begin with. “The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach. The same face: the very same. 0000037009 00000 n “At this time of the rolling year,” the spectre said, “I suffer most. 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! He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. Marley and Jamie's relationship fell apart due to her inability to become pregnant. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. “Marley Was Dead” is a noir radio play based on the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”. Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. 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. Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. 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 banker’s-book, went home to bed. BOB Marley touched the lives of millions of fans through his reggae music. "Marley was dead, to begin with"." To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue. Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for that. His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. “Scrooge and Marley’s, I believe,” said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. When it had said these words, the spectre took its wrapper from the table, and bound it round its head, as before. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!”. Marley was dead: to begin with. 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. “Humbug!” said Scrooge; and walked across the room. Chapter 1 - Marley's Ghost MARLEY AND SCROOGE Marley was dead: to begin with. 0000013115 00000 n The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Marley was dead: to begin with. December 13 Eagle Way News: December 14, 2020 News Showcase Marley was dead, to begin with. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. God save you!” cried a cheerful voice. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”, “And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. A very little more is all permitted to me. “It’s not my business,” Scrooge returned. To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!”. “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. Half-a-dozen gas-lamps out of the street wouldn’t have lighted the entry too well, so you may suppose that it was pretty dark with Scrooge’s dip. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already—it had not been light all day—and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. “What do you want with me?”. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. “I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. After several turns, he sat down again. We need to know that Marley is dead so we believe in his ghost when it appears. Whether these creatures faded into mist, or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell. “You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. MARLEY was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. There is no doubt whatever about that. It is a ponderous chain!”. “And travelling all the time!”, “The whole time,” said the Ghost. “Mercy!” he said. “But you might know it,” observed the gentleman. “No rest, no peace. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. 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. In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens wrote about the questionable phrase, “dead as a doornail,” saying:. Some would blame the C.I.A. Crossword Clue The crossword clue It begins, "Marley was dead: to begin with." The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. 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. There is no doubt whatever about that. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. “Who were you then?” said Scrooge, raising his voice. Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. 47 25 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. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”. There is no doubt whatever about that. He was obliged to sit close to it, and brood over it, before he could extract the least sensation of warmth from such a handful of fuel. There is no doubt whatever about that. 0 Chapter 1 – Marley’s Ghost Questions on the text Marley was dead, to begin with – there’s no doubt about that. The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. How did Bob Marley … Stave One: Marley’s Ghost. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. “Jacob,” he said, imploringly. Stave 1: Marley's Ghost Marley was dead: to begin with. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! “Without their visits,” said the Ghost, “you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Now its your turn, "The more we share The more we have". Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. 71 0 obj <>stream The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. h�b```�hV�� ce`a���:�)�C��4P�2�W� ,��w'K�ϖ8 U�4ㅐ�"���}�*Y*/��ܬ?ی��S /����� The sound resounded through the house like thunder. The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanked its chain so hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the Ward would have been justified in indicting it for a nuisance. “You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” said Scrooge. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. “You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years,” said Scrooge. Marley was dead, to begin with. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. Dickens reinforces the fact that Marley was indeed dead and that all the officials have signed off on papers stating that he was dead. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years’ dead partner that afternoon. “Don’t be cross, uncle!” said the nephew. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh’s 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 Prophet’s rod, and swallowed up the whole.
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