Good morning.

Welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Halliday and I'll be your teacher for today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

I'm really looking forward to hearing all of your incredible ideas and suggestions.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called "A Christmas Carol" as a Gothic text.

And by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to recognise Gothic conventions in "A Christmas Carol" and also explain how Dickens uses them.

Here are some keywords that you'll need for today's lesson.

We've got egotistical, liminality, metamorphosis, convention, and transgressive.

So let's look at what these keywords mean.

First of all, egotistical means being really self-centered and believing that the world revolves around you.

Now, the state of liminality means being at a boundary or a transitional point between two contrasting elements.

Metamorphosis is the process of transformation from an immature form to a more responsible form in distinct stages.

So for example, the process of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly is that of metamorphosis.

A convention is the way in which something is usually done.

So the common features of something.

And finally, transgressive means involving the violation of moral or social boundaries.

I'd like you to keep a lookout for these keywords as we progress through the learning.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to begin by looking at the Gothic in "A Christmas Carol" and where we see conventions of Gothic literature within the text.

We're then going to move on to thinking about how we can write about the Gothic in "A Christmas Carol." But let's start first with looking at the Gothic in the text.

So the following are common Gothic conventions: multiple narrators and rational protagonist, a dark, mysterious and remote setting, an atmosphere of mystery, secrecy or suspense, duality and/or some kind of alter ego.

So some form of alternative self.

Violence and excessive emotional states.

An isolated and egotistical protagonist.

And remember that word egotistical means when you're really arrogant, and you think the world revolves around you.

A battle between good and evil.

The power of the unconscious mind, liminal or altered states.

And finally, this idea of transgression.

So breaking moral or social boundaries or laws.

So Aisha had this to say.

"I think many of these conventions are identifiable in "A Christmas Carol." And what I'd like you to do is think well, is there some truth to what Aisha said? And can you think of any examples from the text that would support Aisha's argument? So I'm going to invite you to pause the video now while you try to think of some examples of these Gothic conventions in "A Christmas Carol." So off you go.

Some really great work there and I could see many of you drawing some really clear links between these Gothic conventions and what we see in "A Christmas Carol." We're going to focus in on some of these Gothic conventions and where we see them in a text in more detail.

Let's start with this idea of the typical Gothic protagonist who was usually that really isolated and egotistical figure.

And in many ways, Scrooge could be described as isolated and egotistical.

And I'd like you to think about, well, how, okay? So I'd like you to discuss now in what ways is Scrooge isolated and in what ways is Scrooge egotistical? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you now.

Some fantastic discussions there and let's see what you could have said.

So you might have said that Scrooge in stave one isolates himself from society because "he edged his way along the crowded paths of life." And you'll notice here that for each idea that we've come up with, we've also provided some supporting evidence from the text because remember, it's really important to evidence your ideas.

There's also this idea that Scrooge rejects human company.

So again, we see Scrooge as that isolated character because he warned "all human sympathy to keep its distance." We also know that Scrooge willfully ignores other people's suffering and discomfort.

He states to Fred in stave one, "You're poor enough." And he asks the charity gentleman, "Are there no prisons?" in response to their kind of statements about the poor suffering.

So again here, we start to see Scrooge as a more egotistical and self-absorbed character because he doesn't care about other people.

Similarly, Scrooge's pursuit of wealth is relentless and it's really selfish.

And actually, Scrooge profits from others' financial ruin.

So again, that shows Scrooge to be that egotistical Gothic protagonist because he lives a life that is as "solitary as an oyster." We also see Scrooge's egotism because he lacks compassion.

Again, illustrated through that really famous quote, "Are there no prisons?" And we also know that his worldview, so the way that he perceives the world, the way that he perceives his surroundings is really selfish and very egotistical.

He does believe that the world revolves around him and that things should bend to his every will.

And he actually states to the charity gentleman, well, "It's not my business" that there's poor people in the world.

It's not my problem.

Okay? So again, here we see Scrooge is isolating himself from society, but also being that really selfish and egotistical character.

So well done if done if you've got any of those ideas.

Let's check for understanding.

Gothic protagonists are usually what? Is it A, isolated and egotistical? B, lonely and eccentric.

C, fearful and violent.

Or is it D, strange and unsettling? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your selection.

And well done to pretty much everybody 'cause I think the vast, vast majority of you all got this right.

Gothic protagonists are usually isolated and egotistical.

And we see that clearly through the character of Scrooge, particularly in stave one, so well done.

Let's have a look at this idea of liminality now.

And liminality refers to something that is on the boundary between two things.

So it's in a state of transformation, but it's kind of at that middle point, okay? It's not fully transformed, but equally it's not in the same form that it was in before.

And Lucas had this to say about liminality in "A Christmas Carol." "There are definite moments within the novella where Scrooge can be said to be in a liminal state." I'd like you now to explain, using discussions with the people around you, why Lucas's opinion is valid.

So why is that true in relation to the novella? So again, I'm going to invite you now to pause video while you consider why that statement is true.

So where do we see Scrooge as a liminal character? So off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

So you might have said, "In "A Christmas Carol," there are several moments where Scrooge can be described as being in a liminal state.

For example, particularly in stave three and four, where Scrooge has realised the error of his ways but hasn't yet had the chance to demonstrate his learning and put his new perspectives into practise.

He can be described as being in the liminal state between moral and immoral.

He can also be considered to be in the liminal state of his metamorphosis.

He has not quite transformed yet, but he's begun to evolve." Okay, so again, we really see Scrooge as that liminal character because he's at that midpoint in his own transformation.

He recognises the error of his ways and he wants to do better, but he's not yet been given that opportunity.

So he's not really been tested yet.

So he is very clearly in that liminal state between kind of immoral stave one Scrooge and moral stave five Scrooge.

So well done if you picked up on that.

What I'd like you to do now though is think of any evidence 'cause remember, we've always got to support our opinions with evidence from the text.

So can you think of anything that Scrooge says that shows that he's in that liminal state of metamorphosis? So I'm looking for really specific examples from the text here.

So pause the video and see if you can come up with any.

Fantastic, and it was delightful to see so many of you quickly flicking through the text, looking for that evidence to support your opinion.

So well done.

Here's what you might have picked out.

So here Scrooge says, "There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night.

I should have liked to have given him something: that's all." And that's in stave two after Scrooge has seen himself as a young boy, isolated and neglected.

Again, you might have pulled out a moment in stave three where Scrooge sees the character's ignorance and want from under the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

And he says, "Have they no refuge or resource?" cried Scrooge.

And equally, another moment from stave three where Scrooge states, "Spirit tell me if Tiny Tim will live." And actually, a lot of these moments where we see Scrooge is kind of occupying that liminal state between moral and immoral are from stave three, which structurally is the middle of the novella.

If we think about the fact it's got five staves, stave three is bang in the middle there.

So again, even Dickens' structure is suggesting this idea of liminality in Scrooge.

So well done if you got those ideas.

So again, let's check for understanding.

Liminality refers to the what between two things? Is it A, the boundary? B, the similarity.

C, the conflict.

Or D, the duality? And again, I'll invite you to pause the video while you make your answer selection now.

And a huge well done if you correctly selected answer A.

Liminality refers to the boundary between two things.

Well done.

Another common Gothic convention is the battle between good and evil.

So what I'd like you to do is look at Jacob's comment.

So Jacob states "'A Christmas Carol' is a story about the battle between good and evil or moral and immoral." And I'd like you to think, well, what or who is the good in the text and what or who is the evil in the text? Now, you don't need to take those words literally, okay? 'Cause there isn't really any real evil, okay? Nobody kills anybody in the text.

So think more about it as a case of kind of moral versus immoral.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video now while you consider that question.

Again, some really interesting ideas, and these are some of the things you might have mentioned.

So you might have talked about this example of the battle between good and evil as being the battle between a society that is immoral versus Dickens himself who is moral.

So this idea that Dickens is kind of in conflict with society in the way that it's treating the poor.

You also might have taken Scrooge to represent kind of that evil or immorality, but Scrooge is not actually evil.

And I think that's a misconception a lot of students tend to have, and they say that Scrooge is evil.

Well, he's not really because he doesn't do anything illegal.

He just does things that are immoral.

And there's a real distinction that needs to be drawn between those two terms there.

So just to clarify that again, Scrooge is not evil because he doesn't do things that are illegal.

He doesn't kill people, okay? He doesn't hurt people physically, but what he does is deeply immoral because he hurts people emotionally.

And Scrooge is in battle with the ghosts who represent morality.

There's also this battle between Malthusian ideologies, which were obviously immoral, or again, we'll take that term evil loosely.

They're not really evil, but they're deeply, deeply immoral versus human empathy, which is obviously good.

There's also this battle between greed, which again is immoral and evil versus charity, which we can take to mean good.

And the last example you might have come up with, and I'll be really impressed if anyone did come up with this, is this idea of the individual.

So the selfishness of the individual mindset.

So the immorality of just thinking about yourself versus that of thinking about your community and taking social responsibility, which is obviously a really good thing that Dickens promotes in "A Christmas Carol.

So well done if you've got any of those ideas.

So ultimately, Dickens uses Gothic conventions as a way to explore transgressive behaviour and immoral perspectives in society.

And when we talk about that word transgressive, remember that that means when something violates moral or social boundaries.

And we've already established, especially in the last section, that Scrooge is a transgressive character because he behaves so immorally, especially in stave one.

And he crosses social and moral boundaries continuously in stave one by being rude, by being selfish, by being miserly.

And Dickens is using those Gothic conventions to explore the issues with Scrooge's transgressive behaviour and his immoral perspectives.

The story dramatises Scrooge's struggles with his own fears and the societal struggle between morality and immorality that was responsible for the injustice that pervaded Victorian society.

So again there, really getting that sense of the battle between good and evil.

The Gothic genre with its focus on good versus evil, the dual nature of mankind, the conflict between the conscious and the unconscious minds and themes of secrecy and mystery gives Dickens a really great backdrop within which he can frame his message of social responsibility.

So this genre is perfect for Dickens because it really allows him to explore kind of the darker side of humanity that he is criticising, that selfishness, that greed, that avarice.

So it's the perfect genre for Dickens to use for his text about greed and avarice.

So here's our first task of the lesson, and I'd like you to complete the table below, outlining some more examples of where we see these common Gothic conventions in "A Christmas Carol." So on the left hand side of your table, you'll notice that you have got a list of Gothic conventions, some of which we've already discussed, and some of which we haven't.

For the ones we've already discussed, you can use the same examples or you can try and challenge yourself to find different examples.

And on the right, you're going to to give me an example of where we see that Gothic convention in the text and what the effect of it is.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at that activity now.

Fantastic work, some really full tables there and lots of people flicking through the novella to find those key moments that evidence the Gothic conventions.

So here's how you might have approached the task.

So for dark/isolated settings, you might have talked about the fact that many of the settings in the novella are actually dark and/or isolated.

To name a few, we've got Scrooge's counting house and lodgings, Mrs. Dilber's beetling shop, which is really kind of described in a very Gothic way.

It's a horrible place.

And also that graveyard at the end of stave four.

Now, in terms of transgression, again, so Scrooge's behaviour that's violating those moral and social boundaries, in fact, most of Scrooge's behaviour in stave one is violating moral and social boundaries: his rudeness, his selfishness, his miserliness.

In terms of those liminal or altered states, we can see Scrooge in a liminal state for most of the novella from about stave two to stave four-ish before he really has that opportunity in stave five to demonstrate his learning and newfound perspective because we watch him transform into that more moral and more empathetic character.

In terms of the excessive emotional states, well, by the end of the novella, Scrooge becomes very overwhelmed with positive emotion in the same way that in stave one, he was overwhelmed with negative emotions.

So again, we constantly see Scrooge as a character who is displaying those quite excessive emotional states, but they range from angry to kind of giant happiness.

And in terms of good versus evil, we've talked a lot about this already, but the whole novella is about the societal struggle between good and evilness, or to put it in other words, selfishness versus kindness.

So well done if you've got any of those ideas.

And onto the second part of our lesson now where we're going to really look at how you can use the information you just learned to write about the use of the Gothic in the Christmas Carol.

So we're going to look at how we can apply our contextual knowledge of the Gothic into a written response.

So I'm going to show you an extract.

And in this extract from stave five, Scrooge has been shown his own gravestone and he realises that the identity of the anonymous dead man with no mourners is in fact his own.

So I'm going to read this extract to you, and as I'm reading, you need to be following along, looking specifically for those Gothic conventions.

"A churchyard.

Here, then, the wretched man, whose name he had now to learn, lay underneath the ground.

It was a worthy place.

Walled in by houses; overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, not life; choked up with too much burying; fat with repleted appetite.

A worthy place! The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One.

He advanced towards it trembling.

The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape.

"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said Scrooge, "answer me one question.

Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only?" Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.

"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge.

"But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.

Say it is thus with what you show me!" The Spirit was immovable as ever.

Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and, following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge." So now that we've read that extract, what I'd like you to discuss was, well, which Gothic conventions can you identify in that extract and what's their effect? So I'm gonna invite you to pause the video now while you answer the question on screen.

Some fantastic work there.

And let's have a look at some of the ideas you might have got.

So you might have pulled out the Gothic convention of the dark, mysterious, and remote setting.

And here we see that in "Walled in by houses; overrun with grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, not life." So here we see that dark and Gothic setting that is full of death and abandonment, and that isolation that we see so often in Gothic texts.

You also might have identified that we have this atmosphere of mystery or suspense, and Dickens is a master at building tension.

And this is just a masterclass in how to foreshadow a real kind of plot twist in a novella because Scrooge realises something that we've known all along, which is that the gravestone is actually his own.

And we see that when it says, "He dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape" because this is the moment where Scrooge starts to realise what it is that he's being shown.

We also see that state of liminality because Scrooge asks, "Are these the shadows of the things that Will be or the things that May be, only?" So here we see Scrooge as really wanting to make positive changes, but not quite having that opportunity to do so just yet.

We also see Scrooge as an isolated protagonist because we see him isolated in death, okay? And the fact that his grave is neglected.

So nobody caress for him.

And that again reflects his societal isolation.

We also see his excessive emotional state because he's hysteric and he's so frightened.

He's trembling as he creeps towards this gravestone.

So well done if you identified any of those Gothic conventions and managed to support them with examples from the text.

So let's check for understanding.

What does Dickens show us by creating a neglected and overrun setting here? Is it A, how frightening graveyards are? B, the consequences of selfishness, which is loneliness.

C, the lack of care for Scrooge after he has died.

Or is it D, how little the dead were respected in the Victorian era? So I'll invite you to pause the video now while you make your answer selection.

And well done if you selected B and C.

You're absolutely right.

In creating this really neglected setting, Dickens shows us the consequences of selfishness, which in this case is actually loneliness after death.

And he also shows us the lack of care for Scrooge after he has died.

So again, he shows us this isolated protagonist.

So well done.

So onto our final task of the lesson where you're going to write an answer to the following question.

So in this extract, and when we say extract, I'm referring to the extract that we've just read from stave five where Scrooge sees his own gravestone, how does Dickens use elements of the Gothic to his advantage? And here I've given you a little bit of help.

So here's your vocabulary bank that I refer to in the question.

So we've got words like protagonist, isolated and egotistical, liminality, convention, transgressive, Gothic conventions and atmosphere.

And using these keywords in the vocab bank will really enable you to write a quality response and give a really in-depth exploration of exactly how Dickens is using those Gothic conventions.

In terms of on the left, you'll notice I've given you some sentence starters.

You don't have to use these, but please feel free to use them if you're struggling with getting started.

That's what they're there for.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you write up your response to that question using the extract from earlier in the lesson.

Off you go.

Some really quality writing there.

I'm absolutely blown away by how many of you were able to incorporate all of those keywords into your response.

So a massive well done.

Here's a suggestion of how you could have approached this task.

So you might have said, "In this extract, and throughout the novella, the reader observes Dickens using Gothic conventions as a way to greater explore transgressive behaviour and immoral perspectives in society, specifically those of his isolated and egotistical protagonist Scrooge.

In this extract, Dickens leans into Gothic conventions through the creation of a mysterious atmosphere to reflect Scrooge's terror in this moment and to create tension in the lead up to Scrooge's discovery that the grave is his own.

Dickens deliberately describes the overrun gravestone in an eerie and ominous fashion to warn the reader that this, a lonely and insignificant death, is the consequence of extreme greed and avarice, two societal sins that Dickens, and his supernatural messengers, are battling against, both in and through the novella.

So as you can see there, this answer incorporates many of those keywords and really touches on why Dickens chose the Gothic genre to kind of frame his message of social responsibility within.

So well done if you got anything similar.

So to summarise the learning from today.

First of all, Dickens uses Gothic conventions as a way to greater explore transgressive behaviour and immoral perspectives in society.

In many ways, Scrooge is a typical Gothic protagonist because he's isolated and egotistical.

There are also several moments where Scrooge can be described as being in that liminal state, particularly in stave three and four when he's in the middle of his metamorphosis.

There are many examples of battles between good and evil or rather specifically, moral and immoral in the text.

And indeed, Dickens himself was battling against the evil or the immorality in society at the time.

And finally, the Gothic genre gives Dickens a great backdrop and I would argue the perfect backdrop within which to frame his message of social responsibility.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

I have loved teaching you and I can't wait to see you next time.

So thank you for all your engagement and contributions.

Have a lovely rest of your day.

See you.