Who are the four ghosts in the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens?

When you hear the name Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol immediately comes to mind. The author wrote the novella in 1843, and since then the story has stayed alive through those who appreciate the original work as well as with the many adaptations that have been made.

Some of those adaptations include 1988 film Scrooged, A Christmas Carol starring Patrick Stewart that was released in 1999, and most recently Apple TV+‘s movie Spirited starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.

It’s always interesting to know where these stories come from, and what’s the same and different between the original work and the adaptation. Who are all the spirits who appear to Ebenezer Scrooge in the novella? Well, we’ve got the answer for you below!

Who are the four ghosts in the Christmas Carol?

• Jacob Marley
• Spirit of Christmas Past
• Spirit of Christmas Present
• Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come (Future)

The four ghosts who appear in the Charles Dickens novella are Jacob Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The four all visit Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve.

Marley was Scrooge’s business partner and friend who died seven years ago. He appears to his friend as a ghost and tells him there are three spirits who will pay him a visit. Due to Marley’s life of greed and selfishness, he’s found himself in a bad fate even in death. He tells Scrooge he has one chance to avoid the same fate by listening to the visiting ghosts.

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his childhood, the Ghost of Christmas Present shows him all the happy people at the market buying food for Christmas dinner and other holiday celebrations while he is alone, and finally The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows the grumpy man his own grave and how no one mourns his loss. But by the end, Scrooge learns to become a kinder person.