'A Christmas Carol': a Victorian ghost story

Dickens was influential in establishing the ghost story as a popular genre in the Victorian period. Dickens capitalised on the popularity of this genre to spread his social message: he wanted this to be a best seller. Unlike the ghosts of early Gothic fiction, Dickens made the supernatural a natural extension of the real world. Dickens uses the ghosts as a literary device that enables him to explore moral and social issues. The apparitions structure the narrative and move it towards Stave 5, where we see Scrooge’s impressive transformation.