Past, present and future: A semiotic analysis of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

Abstract

This article examines the concepts of past, present and future in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The primary focus is a semiotic evaluation of the three spirits that visit Ebenezer Scrooge, the main protagonist of the story. Dickens’s narrative is juxtaposed with the illustrations by John Leech that accompanied the story in the original publication from 1843; the purpose of this is to demonstrate how the concepts within Dickens’s narrative are translated visually. While A Christmas Carol is nearly two centuries old, this article highlights the influence of Dickens’s narrative and Leech’s illustrations on the contemporary understandings of past, present and future.