He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed, and now he almost touched a bed: a bare, uncurtained bed; on which, beneath a ragged sheet, there lay a something covered up, which, though it was dumb, announced itself in awful language.
The room was very dark, too dark to be observed with any accuracy, though Scrooge glanced round it in obedience to a secret impulse, anxious to know what kind of room it was. A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell straight upon the bed; and on it, plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of this man.
Scrooge glanced toward the Phantom. Its steady hand was pointed to the head. The cover was so carelessly adjusted that the slightest raising of it, the motion of a finger on Scrooge’s part, would have disclosed the face. He thought of it, felt how easy it would be to do, and longed to do it; but had no more power to withdraw the veil than to dismiss the spectre ay his side.
Oh, cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion! But of the loved, revered, and honored dead, thou canst not turn one hair to thy dread purposes, or make one feature odious. It is not that the hand is heavy and will fall down when released; it is not that the heart and pulse are still; but that the hand WAS open, generous, and true; the heart brave, warm, and tender; and the pulse a man’s. Strike, Shadow, strike! And see his good deeds springing from the wound, to sow the world with life immortal!
No voice pronounced these words in Scrooge’s ears, and yet he heard them when he looked upon the bed. Ge thought if this man could be raised up now, what would be his foremost thoughts? Avarice, hard dealing, griping cares? They have brought him to a rich end, truly!
He lay, in the dark empty house, with not a man, a woman, or a child, to say he was kind to me in this or that, and for the memory of one kind word I will be kind to him. A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath the hearth-stone. What THEY wanted in this room of death, and why they were so restless and disturbed, Scrooge did not dare to think.
“Spirit!” he said, “this is a fearful place. In leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson, trust me. Let us go!:
Still the Ghost pointed with an unmoved finger to the head.
“I understand you,” Scrooge returned, “and I would do it, if I could. But I have not the power, Spirit. I have not the power.”
This corpse scene is frequently left out: not, I suspect, because it is nasty (though even those filmmakers who use it leave out the rats and the cat) but because it is one of the most difficult scenes for screenwriters dealing with a delicate problem. It is getting harder and harder to have scrooge see all these scenes and still not suspect that they are (spoiler alert) dealing directly with his own future. He is still convinced this all deals with a dead stranger, or at most a business acquaintance, and to show him now standing, without realizing it, in his own bedroom runs the risk of making him seem a complete chucklehead.
It’s all very well for Dickens to say it is dark, or for me to point out that when confronted with a corpse few of us are going to observe much about the furniture. A screenwriter cannot distract us with that marvelous paragraph on Death and the unloved, and only a few even make the attempt at all.
Hicks just looks at the body and demands, tragically, “Is this the man they spoke of? Neglected? Robbed? Hated? Can you not show me some tenderness connected with death?”
Owen stands by the bed. He tries to reach out, but gives up, stepping back. He seems more discouraged than frightened, and looks a plea to the Ghost. “Is death always like this? Is it never followed by sorrow and weeping?”
Haddrick reaches toward the sheet, but pulls away. “I can’t look, Spirit. I can’t.”
Sim II finds himself in a very dark room, looking at a body feetfirst. The Ghost points. We get both of Scrooge’s speeches, and then, “Let me see some tenderness connected with a death.”
Curry, as the Spirit raises an arm, finds himself in a large, empty room, where WE, at least, immediately recognize the tiled fireplace. He puts out one shaking hand, but before things can go further, the thieves arrive and we move into the scavenger section described in the last section.
Scott passes a quick shot of his doorknocker and then sees the body on the bed. He asks to leave here; thunder cracks. When the Ghost points, Scrooge reaches for the bed and then pulls back. “No, I will not. This you cannot make me do. I say I understand you: that is sufficient to the moment. Furthermore, there must be someone in this city that feels emotion at this man’s death. I demand to see that person.” A streak of lightning passes, and he also is taken to the ragpicker scene of the last section.
Stewart is in a very dark room. He delivers only the second speech, splitting it in two. He tries to reach out to the body, and finds he can’t.
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