Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Dickens depicts the life of a miserable miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, and his journey from a life of bitterness and greed to a much more fulfilling, giving one.   The majority of the story’s focus is the role Scrooge plays in 19th century English society.   Scrooge’s lack of care for others and overwhelming obsession with money is comparable to classical economist Adam Smith’s ideal of self-interest.   Scrooge operated primarily in accordance to his own self-interest, in which the ultimate result would be more money for Mr. Scrooge.   According to Adam Smith, as well as later introduced classical economist Thomas Malthus, whose primary focus was knowledge of individual interest, which, in the case of A Christmas Carol, would be Scrooge’s interest in money and acquiring wealth.
Adam Smith’s approach towards A Christmas Carol would however differ from Malthus.   Adam Smith’s concepts of self-interest, a theory introduced in his “Invisible Hand Doctrine”, where self-interest is explained relative to the interests of others.   According to Smith, people have two natural instincts: one being concern for ourselves, and the second being concern for others, with the latter being what Scrooge initially and mostly throughout the story lacks.   Smith believes that certain actions towards others can also be motivated in two ways: one, and once again, what Scrooge lacks initially, is that of benevolence, where motivation comes from concern for others.   The second, which Scrooge exhibits throughout the story, is motivated by self-interest, where care for one’s self is the primary concern, yet still involves a sense of concern for others, in that concern for others is in regards to what they will do for you if you do enough for them, which comes right back to one’s own interests.   In the excerpt provided, Scrooge provides his employee, Bob Cratchit, with the day off on Christmas, only so no to anger Cratchit and have him...