Jacob Marley Character Analysis (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Jacob Marley visits Scrooge as a ghost and serves as a warning for him to change his ways or else suffer the same fate: to die isolated and full of regret.

Jacob Marley character summary

Why is Jacob Marley important?

Marley’s role as a character is to warn Scrooge that, if he does not change his ways, he too will be doomed to endless wandering torment in purgatory, an in-between state between heaven and hell in the Christian belief system. He therefore serves to highlight the importance of remorse, repentance and redemption.

Marley only appears in Stave 1:

• He is unsympathetic: he is presented as the sole cause of his own suffering, which he acknowledges in the line “I wear the chain I forged in life”. This makes him undeserving of the reader’s sympathy.

• He is restless and tormented: Marley reveals that, because of his obsession with material gains above all else in life, he is now doomed to wander the earth for eternity, weighed down by padlocks and chains.

• He is remorseful: in life, Marley was materialistic and self-centred, but in death he acknowledges that “charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence” should have been his focus.

Dickens uses Marley’s ghost as an allegorical warning against greed and avarice, and his character emphasises that everyone is responsible for their own actions and will be held accountable for them. He is used only to warn Scrooge, but he cannot force Scrooge to alter his ways; Scrooge must do this for himself.

Jacob Marley language analysis

Dickens presents aspects of Marley’s character through his use of language. Marley’s speech includes:

• Imperatives: Marley’s ghost commands Scrooge to “mark” him and “hear” him to emphasise the importance of his message.

• Asyndetons: Marley uses asyndetons in his dialogue with Scrooge to increase the sense of pace and urgency. For example: “No rest, no peace” and “I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere”.

• Biblical allusions: Marley tells Scrooge that, when he walked through crowds of his fellow human beings, he never raised his eyes “to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode”. This allusion is to the birth of Jesus in the Christian Bible, where the Wise Men use the North Star to find Jesus’ birthplace. Marley wishes he had taken guidance from Biblical teachings of goodness, kindness and charity, rather than focusing solely on his own gain.

Jacob Marley key quotes

Jacob Marley character interpretations

The symbolism of Jacob Marley’s chains

Marley’s ghost can be seen as a reflection of the darker aspects of human nature, also represented at the start of the novella by Scrooge. The chains he drags in his afterlife are not only symbolic of his greed, but also the weight of the choices he made, reinforcing Dickens’ message of individual and social responsibility.

Marley and Christian beliefs

His character can also be seen as symbolic of the Christian belief systems prevalent at the time, and the fear Victorian readers would have had of ending up in purgatory, a place of suffering and limbo. Despite Marley expressing regret towards his behaviour in life, there is no suggestion that his magnanimous warning to Scrooge will lead to freedom from his chains. It could be interpreted that Marley wears his chains willingly, as he will never truly be free of his own sin and regret.