Mastering the Supernatural Theme in GCSE 'A Christmas Carol' Essays

hello and welcome back to another GCC revision video now when it comes to Christmas Carol word on the streets is

the theme that may well come up in this year's GCC exams is the theme of the supernatural the notion of how the

Supernatural is used within the noela is a key theme that a number of you guys believe is going to be the question that

comes up in the upcoming Christmas Carol gcsc exam so guys we want to within this lesson is to show you guys how to craft

a perfect gtsc essay on the theme of the Supernatural and Christmas Carol should that question come up in your final gcsc

exams now guys before I get into how to craft a perfect response to this central theme within this noela I want to remind

you guys that next week on Tuesday I'm going to be running A one-off Christmas Carol GCS literature class I'm going to

be going over model answers to gcsc exam questions to make sure you sign up this is going to take place just two weeks

before the final gcss so let's get to it Supernatural what could you write about if this really important theme comes up

and if it does come up uh there's only been one other instances asking how uh Dickens uses the ghost to change Scrooge

now one thing I want to point out if you're writing about this them and if this is the theme that appears in this

year's gcsc exams is make sure you tie the notion of how Dickens uses the theme of the supernatural to also portray the

theme of time okay they actually work hand in hand and this is how you do so okay so in your essay in your winning

essay in your GCSE essay on the theme of the supernatural this is how to begin it and this is how to tie in the notion of

time and how it's used together with the supernatural remember that firstly when considering this central theme within

this noela you need to mention and show awareness of the fact that the Supernatural is used to illustrate how

the ghosts trigger scrooges change okay indeed the ghosts Inspire Scrooge to be generous okay so of course the

supernatural plays an important part within this noela in triggering and transforming Scrooge to change from

being greedy and wisely to being generous charit charitable and giving now what you need to remember is

Supernatural and time are closely connected and closely linked words remember to also make it clear in your

thesis statement within your introduction that the supernatural ghosts okay so all of the ghosts M's

ghost the Ghost of Christmas present past and future they are all used to distort our sense of time because even

if the story takes place in just a 24-hour window of time the supernatural takes us and the ghosts take us back to

the past present and the future in other words the Supernatural is uh is used to pull Scrooge out out of his predictable

routine in the Known World okay in the known world where time just follows his chronological order the ghost pull him

out of that routine and that predictability and take him into the unknown Supernatural World okay make

that really clear and it is this journey that Scrooge is taken on by the supernatural into the unknown world that

encourages him and triggers his Redemption make sure you make that really really clear in your winning

opening paragraph and in your thesis statement the Supernatural is used to trigger Scrooge to change however

Dickens uses the supernatural figures okay the ghost to distort our sense of time now your first paragraph should be

to do with how the Ghost of Christmas Past is used to symbolize and to illustrate this central theme of the

supernatural what do you talk about when you're writing about the Ghost of Christmas Past remember the Ghost of

Christmas Past is used to symbolize the past right so of course scro's childhood as well as memory and of course the

Ghost of Christmas P the supernatural character is also used be to illustrate how important time is okay remember that

Dickens in the story within Stave 2 now takes us back to the past okay and he disorders this time using the Ghost of

Christmas Past to show how Scrooge his painful childhood shaped the greedy Miser that he became and equally Scrooge

is presented by the Ghost of Christmas Past with fezziwig he is reminded of of his very generous boss who was very kind

and very charitable to him when he was an apprentice okay and of course this journey into the past inspires

generosity within Scrooge because Scrooge is forced to reflect on his own actions towards Bob cratchet and this

makes him realize that he equally needs to be generous towards W CR much like fewi was generous towards him now the

quotations that you want to talk about when you're writing about the theme of the Supernatural and connecting it also

to time okay is firstly of course the description of the ghost itself okay its description

already symbolizes Scrooge's current state as an old man but equally Scrooge's State when he was a child he

was abandoned he was left in boarding school and of course also when he was a very hopeful and energetic Young Young

Apprentice okay this is Illustrated in the quotation that the ghost is like a child but also like an old man okay so

make sure you point out that interesting use of oxymoron which of course symbolizes memory equally the

description of fezziwig is really key in this case Okay because we learned that a light appeared as fezziwig was dancing

by his cves okay so the quotation is light appeared ellipses fezziwig's cares what does this show The Ghost of

Christmas pass and this Supernatural figure within the noela in Stave 2 is used to demonstrate the theme of Charity

the notion so of course make sure you tie this into the theme of Charity this ghost wants to illustrate to Scrooge how

being generous to your workers especially as a Victorian businessman for instance

will make you happier more joyful and lighter okay so that's your first winning paragraph when it comes to the

theme of the supernatural now after you do this paragraph literally work chronologically to the next ghost which

ghost comes in afterwards okay of course this is the Ghost of Christmas present remember that again this ghost is used

and it um is used by Dickens to distort our sense of time once more okay so we're then pulled much like Scrooge from

the past to the present okay with taken to Christmas present and uh Dickens represents or uses the Ghost of

Christmas present to represent joy as well as the Christmas spirit okay and although this ghost is used to um

present really Jolly scenes of people celebrating remember that of course the ghost takes Scrooge to you know Bob

crater's family who is celebrating this Mega Christmas dinner but they're really happy together he takes them to see Fred

and so on right so you've got this one Jolly side of Christmas that this ghost presents to Scrooge he equally presents

a very frightening and haunting image of ignorance and want okay so whilst he shows Johnny scenes of people

celebrating Christmas he also presents us as readers and of course Scrooge with the haunting image of ignorance and want

okay remember that ignorance is used as a symbol to um illustrate the children the poor children who never went to

school as a result they're going to get decent jobs and as a result they became menaces to society because they turned

to Crime okay that's what ignorance symbolizes and of course want symbolizes children whose parents couldn't give

them very basic necessities because they were underpaid as a result of greedy businessmen like Scrooge not paying them

very well okay so these two children who were very haunting use Supernatural language as well within your analysis

they are used to illustrate to Scrooge how his greed and his mistreatment of Bob cratchet is creating instability and

also creating future menaces that will also be a menace to Scrooge himself now the quotations to use for this second

paragraph on the theme of the Supernatural is first of course had the ghost is presented as a jolly giant but

equally of course this boy is ignorance Ellipsis girl want okay of course this illustrates this quotation ties into

this haunting image of these two children and equally make sure you highlight the ghost mocking and

reminding Scrooge of his own words when Scrooge asks these rhetorical questions are there no prisons ellipses workhouses

okay so of course this rhetorical question is really powerful because it illustrates the contextual aspect that

Dickens wanted to criticize using this Nolla the context point you want to make for this paragraph is to do with how

Dickens was using this ghost and this supernatural character to criticize the 1834 new poor law which basically

punished the poor for being poor by telling them look if you can't get a job you need to go to work in for free in a

workhouse and you know this workhouse is going to give you accommodation often the accommodation was just a cold

Factory floor okay that's one side of the contextual um information that you need to include but equally of course

this ref reference to this children okay these children who are suffering is also a reference to Thomas Malthus okay so of

course remember that Dickens not only rather Scrooge not only does he ask there no um prisoners or there no

workhouses he also says that the poor better die to decrease a surplus population so of course the ghost is

also reminding him of this because this is a direct reference to a theorist called Thomas malus who believed that

you know pandemics natural disasters poor people dying off was actually good for society because it decreased the

Surplus population of course Dickens was criticizing that now end off your final paragraph within your winning essay

quite strong by finishing off your third and final point with relating it to the Ghost of Christmas future yet another

supernatural character now this ghost what it does once more remember guys you want to intertwine your discussion of

the supernatural with the theme of time okay now this ghost actually accelerates time forward he transports Scrooge to a

scary ominous Future Okay and um this ghost is used to represent death and hell this ghost was really scary it was

menacing because it um it reminded dickens's Victorian readers of the afterlife okay remember that dickens's

readers were very religious they were quite Christian and they believed in the afterlife so they believed that you know

if God punished them he would send them to hell of course if God rewarded them they would go to heaven Dickens is

basically using this ghost to show lots of his Rich Victorian readers that if they don't change they don't become more

um charitable towards the poor they will end up like Jacob marle and they will end up like Scrooge if they don't change

okay so of course this Transportation right we as readers and Scrooge are taken into this horrible future right

where we see Tiny Tim has died but equally Scrooge dies and everything is stolen from him right this takes us to

the unknown and being in this unknown frightening future triggers R to change and become U more charitable and because

he genuinely changes he's given a chance at Redemption now the quotations you want to use for this paragraph is of

course a description of the ghost as a silent shape really powerful sibilance also when the Ghost says or rather when

spu says I fear you more than any other Spector I I have seen and equally how Scrooge demonstrates this theme of

redemption make sure you tie this into the theme of redemption he says and he promises relating to the supernatural

that the spirits of all three shall live within me and of course when you're tying it to the theme of redemption talk

about how Dickens wrote this noela as a message to his readers that especially his Rich readers if they genuinely

changed and became more charitable then they will be redeemed in God's eyes Okay the face the possibility of going to

heaven if they actually genuinely change and treat the workers charitably and give to the poor okay so that's really

it when it comes to how to write a perfect essay and a grade n essay on the theme of the supernatural okay start off

with this thesis statement this first paragraph on the Ghost of Christmas Past and of course the second paragraph on

present and your third paragraph on the Ghost of Christmas future I hope this helped and thank you so much for

listening