Who is the Ghost of Christmas Past?
The Ghost of Christmas Past is one of the spectral visitors that helps Ebenezer Scrooge on the path to redemption in Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol. Also called a spirit and specter, this ghostly visitor is not particularly frightening, except that it has the power to evoke emotional pain and scrutiny by detailing the way in which Scrooge has celebrated Christmas in past years. In this role, the Ghost of Christmas Past is quite effective and succeeds in getting Scrooge in touch with his former feelings about Christmas, which were not all negative. Dickens gives the Ghost of Christmas Past an unusual description. The figure is genderless and appears to oscillate between young and old faces, but is the approximate size of a child. Its constant shift in appearance is evocative of the way that the past is filled with numerous memories that may blend together at times. Some scholars of Dickens’ work believe that the Ghost of Christmas Past in description is similar to the C
