(1843), painted during the period when he was writing
A Christmas Carol. By early 1843, Dickens had been affected by the treatment of the poor, and in particular the treatment of the children of the poor after witnessing
children working in appalling conditions in a tin mine and following a visit to a
ragged school. Originally intending to write a political pamphlet titled, ''An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child
, he changed his mind and instead wrote A Christmas Carol'' which voiced his social concerns about poverty and injustice. The ghost of Jacob Marley in Stave One becomes a mouthpiece for part of Dickens's message regarding these. In the novella, Marley and Scrooge 'were partners for I don't know how many years' unbeknown to Scrooge after death Marley is forced to roam the earth in
Purgatory, fettered in chains, cash boxes and ledger books, desperately wanting to help the poor and needy but unable to do so. On the seventh anniversary of his death on Christmas Eve, the ghost of Jacob Marley, in his torment, appears to Scrooge in his rooms: Marley in his pig-tail, usual waistcoat, tights, and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling like his pig-tail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.' for Scrooge to be visited by three Spirits who will offer him the chance of escaping the same fate. Marley warns Scrooge to expect the first Spirit when the clock tolls one, the second upon the next night at the same hour, and the third upon the third night when the clock has reached the last stroke of twelve, regardless of Scrooge's suggestion for them to come all at once. Marley tells Scrooge that he will not see him again and leaves the room through the open window where he joins other souls in
limbo outside who are tormented by their inability to help the poor and needy in death, as they should have done in life. and to act as a herald for the three Ghosts of Christmas who are to come. Marley's intercession with some higher Power, so that Scrooge will not share Marley's fate, is provided as the explanation for the supernatural visitors who are to follow. The book makes it clear from the start that Old Marley was as "dead as a door-nail," The reader's understanding of this fact makes Marley's later appearance before Scrooge all the more shocking. Dickens writes, 'Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course, he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner.' The two men were business partners and probably little else. Despite Scrooge's fearful comment that "You were always a good friend to me, Jacob," it is unlikely that the two were actually close, as even on the day of Marley's funeral, Scrooge takes time out to make a good business deal. Marley has neither family nor friends. (In contrast, Scrooge was raised by a father who resented him for his wife's death in childbirth, and was loved by his sister Fran (who also died in childbirth bearing his nephew Fred) and his lost love Belle, whom he drove away because of his obsession with wealth.) == Marley's punishment ==