Jacob Marley
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Jacob Marley (who died on December 24, 1836) is a fictional character whose ghost appears in the Charles Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol.
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[edit] 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 nineteeth 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.
[edit] Backstory
Marley devolved--as did Scrooge--from an idealistic, ambitious clerk into an astute and driven businessman for whom money and profit was an end in and of itself. Except for being Scrooge's business partner, little to nothing is known of Marley's personal life-except that he left his business share and house to Scrooge. Presumably he had no family, unlike Scrooge who is shown to have had a loving sister and to have been engaged, before he became an embittered misanthrope.
Seven years prior to the main events of the novel, Marley contracted an unspecified illness and died on Christmas Eve. After his death, Marley's spirit was condemned to walk the Earth for all eternity. As punishment for his shutting out of his fellow man, Marley's ghost could observe, but not interact with, living beings. As an added burden, his spirit was forced to drag around a heavy chain. This chain, made up partly of money boxes, was constructed by Marley's own greed and selfishness.
Presumably, over the next seven years, Marley came to realize how wrong he had been in life. He also saw that Scrooge, his only friend in the world, was following the same path. What was worse was the fact that since Scrooge was alive seven years longer than Marley, Scrooge's chain would be much longer and heavier than his own when he died. Wanting to save Ebenezer Scrooge's soul from such a fate, Marley was able to procure a chance to help Scrooge avoid it by arranging the visitations of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come (to whom, or what, Marley appealed was never specified in the novel). Marley appeared to Scrooge and told him of the forthcoming visits by the three spirits of Christmas. These spirits, Marley told Scrooge, were the only chance Scrooge had for redemption.
[edit] Haunting Scrooge
At first Scrooge did not believe that Marley's ghost was real, to which Marley asked, "Why do you doubt your senses?" Scrooge explained to him that he was nothing more than a figment of his imagination- "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!" Marley's only reply was a spine-chilling howl that brought Scrooge to his knees, begging for mercy. Satisfied, Marley delivered his message of the three hauntings and then vanished from sight.
Marley's gambit was successful. After the three visits by ghosts, Scrooge did mend his ways. The reader is left to imagine that even though Marley is condemned to walk the Earth bound in his chains of greed for eternity, his spirit can take some comfort in the knowledge that his friend will not share his fate.
The life and afterlife of Jacob Marley is not detailed in A Christmas Carol. We have no idea exactly how Marley escaped, presumably from hell, with an arrangement for Scrooge's redemption. Even he himself mentions that he isn't sure how he is visible to Scrooge "on this night". 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 (1999 film), 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.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- In the 1970 film Scrooge, Jacob Marley 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, 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.
- 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 the popular Disney ride Haunted Mansion there was a ghost called "The Hatbox ghost" that was depicted as a skeleton faced phantom in coachman's clothes and wrapped in chains and hatboxes, this ghost was inspired by Jacob Marley.[citation needed]
- 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 90's which originated in Eugene, Oregon. Once led by Ezra Holbrook, the band now seems to be defunct..
