A Christmas Carol Jacob Marley Scene Transcript

Indigestion. No, I won’t believe it. What business do you want with me?

Much.

Who are you, sir?

Ask me who I was.

Well, who were you then?

In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.

Can you sit down?

I can.

Well, do it then.

You don’t believe in me?

I don’t.

Why do you doubt your senses?

Because little things upset them. An upset stomach can put them quite out of order. You could be a crumb of moldy cheese, and underdone turnip.

Moldy cheese? An underdone turnip?

There are some British beef that could be mightier upsetting to the stomach. There’s more gravy than grave about you, Jacob. What is it? Speak up, man. Why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?

It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide. And if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world. Oh, woe is me and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth and turn to happiness.

You’re fettered. Tell me why.

I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it, link by link, and yard by yard. It’s a ponderous chain. Do you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear? It was as heavy and as long as this seven Christmas Eves ago. You have labored on it since.

Jacob? Jacob Marley? Speak comfort to me, Jacob.

I have none to give. I cannot rest. I cannot stay. I cannot linger anywhere. Oh, never to be able to make amends for missed opportunities. Oh, the torture of remorse.

Jacob, I don’t understand why you’re suffering. All your life, you were a good businessman.

That’s why I’m suffering. The suffering I caused others is being repaid.

Jacob, it was business.

Business? Mankind was my business. The common good was my business. At this time of the rolling year, I suffer most. Why I can appear to you tonight in the shapes that you can see, I do not know. But I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day, trying to reach you. Listen to me, Ebenezer, my time on earth is nearly gone. I am here to warn you that you have a chance of escaping my terrible fate, a chance I got for you.

You were always a good friend to me, Jacob.

You will be haunted by three spirits.

Is this the chance you spoke of?

It is.

In that case, I’d rather not.

Without their visits, you’ve no hope of escaping your fate. Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls one.

Couldn’t I take them all at once and have it over and done with?

Expect the second spirit on the next night at the same time, and the third, the night following, at 12.

Ugh.

Look to see me no more. And for your own sake, remember what has passed between us. These spirits try to interfere for good in human affairs, but they’ve lost the power forever. That is the curse we bear.