English resources/A Christmas Carol/The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
A silent figure in black. It points. It shows Scrooge his own death and nobody caring.
3 key quotes by and about The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in A Christmas Carol. Learn this one first: “Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?” (Scrooge, Stave Four).
Who the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is
The third spirit arrives in Stave Four. It is a tall figure wrapped in a black hooded robe, and it never speaks. It only points, so Scrooge has to work out the meaning of everything it shows him.
It shows him businessmen joking about a man's funeral that nobody wants to go to, and a back-street shop where a charwoman, a laundress and the undertaker's man sell the dead man's belongings, even his bed curtains and the shirt he was to be buried in. It shows the body lying alone, a poor couple relieved that the man they owed money to has died, and the Cratchit family grieving for Tiny Tim.
Finally it points to a neglected grave with Scrooge's own name on it. Scrooge falls to his knees, promises to keep Christmas in the past, present and future, and grabs the spirit's hand, which shrinks into one of his own bedposts.
Why it matters: the first two spirits made Scrooge feel. This one frightens him, and fear is what finally changes him.
The quotes
3 quotes by or about The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, in the order they happen.
The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached.
Narrator · Stave Four · the supernatural · time
The last spirit does not speak. It just points. That is scarier.
I fear you more than any spectre I have seen.
Scrooge · Stave Four · time · the supernatural
Scrooge is most afraid of the future. That is where he still has a chance.
Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?
Scrooge · Stave Four · time · redemption
Scrooge asks if the future is fixed. He is asking for a second chance.
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