Biography for
Ebenezer Scrooge (Character)
from Scrooge (1951)

Ebenezer Scrooge is the main character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. He is a cold-hearted, tight fisted, selfish man, who despises Christmas and all things which engender happiness. A quote from the book reads "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and he spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice ..." His last name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness and misanthropy, traits displayed by Scrooge in the exaggerated manner for which Dickens is well-known. The story of his transformation by the three Ghosts of Christmas (Past, Present, and Yet to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday. Scrooge's catchphrase, "Bah, humbug!" is often used to express disgust with many of the modern Christmas traditions.

Some people have noted that Scrooge has various characteristics in common with anti-Semitic caricatures of Jews. He is rich, miserly, lives by lending money, does not celebrate Christmas or attend church, and he has pinched features and a given name of Hebrew origin. However, in the original story, it is made quite clear that Scrooge was raised Christian and has merely fallen away from charitable behavior due to his own failings, not as a result of any cultural or ethnic trait.