“Bah! Humbug!” I have a fondness for Scrooge. Not only has he got a fantastic name (typically Dickensian), he’s a classic Christmas character. Endlessly portrayed in various film, TV and stage adaptations, Scrooge is popular with many readers and viewers, despite being frosty, uncharitable and selfish. As the Muppets’ version goes – ‘Oh, there goes Mr Humbug / There goes Mr Grim / If they gave a prize for being mean / The winner would be him’.
Scrooge is not wholly bad. He has the potential to change his ways, which he does after being visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. A Christmas Carol is heartwarming because in the end he is happy and is spreading happiness to others. However, I can’t be the only one who enjoys his pre-Ghosts nastiness. This would explain why I love Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, which reverses the original story and sees the jolly Ebenezer Blackadder become deliciously nasty, getting his revenge on all the spongers who took advantage of his niceness.
My favourite Scrooge quote:
“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.”
And in case you missed it, here’s my popular blog post from last year: Fictional presents I’ll never get for Christmas.
Totally agree Scrooge is a fantastic character and I love that quote too!
I am a Scrooge fan, that’s for sure 😀
Thanks, hope you had a lovely Christmas.
Love me some Scrooge! Haven’t read Blackadder’s version! Merry Christmas to you and yours, NS!!
Scrooge is great 😀
The Blackadder version is a short film (not a book, that I’m aware of) called Blackadder’s Christmas Carol.
Hope you had a lovely Christmas, Jee 🙂
Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen that Blackadder version although I’d love to, it sounds brilliant! I do like a miserable character like Scrooge, it does make for a good story although it’s good that he changes. I read A Christmas Carol back when I was at school and once or twice since, but it’s been a while and you’ve made me want to read it again 🙂 Happy Christmas! 🙂 🙂 <3
The Blackadder version is great 🙂
I do like miserable characters, they’re more fun than jolly characters, at least I think so 😉
I read A Christmas Carol at school too. I have read it maybe once since then – I have seen a lot more adaptations of it though. Hope you had a lovely Christmas.
Thank you, Christmas has been lovely, I hope it was lovely for you too 🙂 My school arranged a visit to a London theatre after we’d read the book and we saw A Christmas Carol on stage which was magical, the only time I’ve seen it on stage. Apart from that though there have been sooo many adaptations including ones like the Muppets Christmas Carol. I haven’t checked out the recent one that’s been on this week, I was too busy to watch it but I’m going to check it out as it’s apparently very dark and different, not sure if it’s good though as some recent dramas I’ve watched have been disappointing. Have you seen it?
I didn’t watch the new BBC adaptation – partly because I have seen so many already, partly because I don’t trust them now after what they did to War of the Worlds!
I wish they would adapt something new…
A good point, whenever they do a drama of a classic it’s always one of the most famous ones. Even with Shakespeare plays, there’s so many that I didn’t know about because they always pick the most well known to redo in various ways on tv. I didnt watch War of the Worlds, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it but did get the book for Christmas instead 🙂 I’m not sure I trust the BBC with any dramas these days ,they seem obsessed with rewriting them to reflect their own ideas rather than just showing what was intended by book authors.
Totally agree with you! 🙂
The older I get, the more I relate to Scrooge 🤣 another great post.
Have a great Christmas!
Same here! 😀
Hope you had a lovely Christmas with plenty of film watching 😉
Last night we watched the Muppet version of “A Christmas Carol”, and I found MIchael Caine’s performance unexpectedly moving. As for Scrooge himself, he is a fascinating character, like you said: ruthless, mean, petty, but yet there is something in him worth redeeming.
He’s a classic character and so enduring, as evidenced by the frequency of new adaptations! I like the Muppet version too.
hehe love that muppets version! Ooh I need to watch the blackadder Christmas carol! I didn’t know that was a thing! Awesome post!
Thanks! 😀
Blackadder’s Christmas Carol is excellent, I haven’t seen it for a few years however. Like with all the Blackadders, I’ve seen them so many times I don’t actually need to watch them.