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Jacob Marley
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Jacob Marley (d. 24 December 1836) is a fictional character whose ghost appears in the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
ife, Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. As teenagers, both men had apprenticed in business and met as clerks (presumably in accounting) in another business. The firm of Scrooge and Marley was a nineteenth century financial institution, probably a counting house, as Marley refers to their offices as 'our money-changing hole'.
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Encyclopedia
Jacob Marley (d. 24 December 1836) is a fictional character whose ghost appears in the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
Connection with Ebenezer Scrooge
In life, Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. As teenagers, both men had apprenticed in business and met as clerks (presumably in accounting) in another business. The firm of Scrooge and Marley was a nineteenth century financial institution, probably a counting house, as Marley refers to their offices as 'our money-changing hole'. They have become successful bankers, with seats on the London Stock Exchange; they are also stockholders and directors of at least one major association, but a vast amount of their wealth has been accumulated through usurious moneylending. Scrooge is described as Marley's "sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner". He has been dead seven years by the time the story begins.
Haunting Scrooge
Jacob Marley preys upon Scrooge's mind in a variety of different ways. First, his face appears in place of Scrooge's doorknocker as Scrooge approaches his lodgings; secondly, Scrooge gets the impression of a "locomotive hearse" ascending the stairs before him as he climbs; thirdly by making his face appear to engulph the whole design of the fireplace in Scrooge's bedroom; next by making every bell in the house ring of its own accord and then, most famously, by appearing before Scrooge in the form of a ghost himself.
The ghost maintains the same voice, hairstyle and sense of dress that he had in life, but is completely transparent, and "captive, bound and double-ironed" with chains which are described as "long, and wound about him like a tail; it was made... of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel." He often, in moments of great despair or impatience at Scrooge's scepticism, flings these upon the ground before him and almost induces his former partner "into a swoon". He explains that it is the chain he subconsciously built himself in life, as a result of his extortionate behaviour. The ghost is also described as being provided with "an infernal atmosphere of its own... its hair and skirts, and tassels, were still agitated as by the hot vapour from an oven". He despairs at his inability to ever find happiness in the mortal world or the next.
At first Scrooge does not believe that Marley's ghost is real, and a mere figment of his imagination. When the spectre asks, "Why do you doubt your senses?" Scrooge scoffs that "...a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Later, more pointedly he says, "Humbug, I tell you! Humbug!" Marley's only reply is a spine-chilling howl that brings Scrooge to his knees, begging for mercy. Satisfied, after explaining his situation and the reasons for it, Marley delivers his message of the three hauntings that will help redeem Scrooge of the same punishment, he then flies out of the window in the company of other restless souls, all of them chained in a similar manner to himself.
Analysis
The life and afterlife of Jacob Marley is not detailed in A Christmas Carol. The reader has no idea exactly how Marley escaped, presumably from Hell or a purgatory-like state, with an arrangement for Scrooge's redemption. Even he himself appears uncertain as to how he is visible to Scrooge "on this night", when he has followed him, invisible, on "many and many a day". One interpretation has been offered in the prequel novel, Marley's Ghost, (2000) by Mark Hazard Osmun, an imagining of Marley's tragic life and subsequent sacrifice on behalf of his former partner.
However, various adaptations of A Christmas Carol have made various differences to Marley. In A Christmas Carol, for example, his birth-date is given as 1785, and in Mickey's Christmas Carol, it is said that Marley left very little in the way of a fortune, so he was instead buried at sea.
Appearances in other media
- In the 1970 film Scrooge, Marley (Alec Guinness) is given an extra scene where he escorts Scrooge to hell before Scrooge wakes up.
- In the 1983 special Mickey's Christmas Carol, the character is played by Goofy.
- In the 1992 movie The Muppet Christmas Carol, the character is bifurcated into two brothers named Jacob and Robert so that they can be played by Statler and Waldorf. They sing the number 'Marley and Marley' where they lament their suffering and warn Scrooge of what he will face.
- In 1993, Aimee Mann released a song called "Jacob Marley's Chain" on her album Whatever.
- In the 1994 special A Flintstones Christmas Carol, the character is called 'Jacob Marbley' and is played by Mr. Slate.
- Marley's grave - covered in chains - can be briefly seen in one scene from the 1994 film The Pagemaster
- In the 2000 TV made-for-television film, A Diva's Christmas Carol, Rozonda Thomas plays a female version of Jacob Marley, Marli Jacob.
- In the 2001 film Christmas Carol: The Movie, Marley is voiced by star Nicholas Cage.
- In the 2006 movie A Christmas Carol, the character is portrayed as an anthropomorphic cricket. In this adaptation, he is given an extra scene where Scrooge's redemption frees him from his punishment.
- In 2008, Nightwish's single, "Bye Bye Beautiful", a reference to Jacob's ghost is made due to the problems that lead the band to fire their former singer, Tarja Turunen.
- Jacob Marley's Ghost is an esoteric music group from the late 1990s which originated in Eugene, Oregon. Once led by Ezra Holbrook, the band now seems to be .
- The song "The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem includes the lyric: "I hope we don't hear Marley's chains we forged in life."
- In the 2008 comedy film An American Carol, the role of Marley is taken by the spirit of John F. Kennedy, portrayed by Chriss Anglin.
- In the Jonathan Coulton song "Christmas is interesting", Jacob Marley is mentioned
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