A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, tells a story about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge who throughout his life, was selfish and unkind to those around him. One night, the ghost of his former friend and coworker warns him that he will be visited by three ghosts in one night, showing his lack of goodwill in his past and present, while previewing what might become of his future. In Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, Dante travels throughout Hell with Virgil as his guide. He learns about each level of damnation and how the souls are punished. Inferno and A Christmas Carol relate and differ in many ways like the main characters, the use of threes, and the setting.
Ebenezer Scrooge and Dante Alighieri, the main characters in both stories, have similarities and differences in their life and personality. Scrooge and Dante walk down the wrong path in life, personally for Scrooge and literally for Dante. Throughout his life, Scrooge has been rude, stingy, bitter, sad, and angry. He must turn himself
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These three ghosts, or spirits, represent Christmas past, present, and future. They relate to Dante’s three part series in the Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Both sets represent each other in backwards order. In relation to A Christmas Carol, the past represents Heaven because it was a time when Scrooge lived a happy life. The present represents Purgatory because just like Scrooge, humans around the world live in the present until the day they die; it remains up to the person whether or not they live a good and caring life. Finally, the future represents Hell because if Scrooge does not get his life together and change his ways, Hell will become his future. This specific use of threes could differ in the fact that past, present, and future are spirits and time periods, while Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell are places. The setting in Inferno and A Christmas Carol have similarities and differences