So, Scrooge sees the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and knows he's in for it!
This ghost is a silent phantom, dressed in a deep black, hooded cloak, with one outstretched hand the only part of it that's visible.
No wonder Scrooge says, "Ghost of the Future! I fear you more than any spectre I have seen."
This ghost has such a simple description that the depictions of it don't vary an awful lot from one adaptation to another. Depending on the budget of the particular production, however, some eerie special effects might be thrown in!
So, what does this ghost show Scrooge? First we see some of Scrooge's business associates talking rather unsympathetically about some who had recently passed away. They know they're talking about Scrooge, we know they're talking about Scrooge. Everybody knows except for Scrooge!
Next we're brought inside the shop of Old Joe, the kind of joint where you can sell ill-gotten gains, no questions asked! Unloading their plunder are the undertaker's man, the laundress and the charwoman. Scrooge sees the parallel to himself, but doesn't recognize his own stuff!
Of these three, only one is called by name. I think it's the charwoman that calls the laundress "Mrs. Dilber." It's sort of hard to follow, but I do think that's the case. What's the big deal? Well, quite a few adaptations have Scrooge interacting with the charwoman, whom he invariably calls Mrs. Dilber!
Whatever her name is, the charwoman produces the pièce de résistance: Scrooge's bed curtains - rings and all!
As bad as that seems, the ghost next transports Scrooge to an extremely creepy room with a corpse covered only by a sheet. The ghost wants Scrooge to see who it is, but Scrooge is catching on now and is afraid he'll see himself under that sheet!
Scrooge's plea to see someone feel any emotion over that person's death is answered by a little vignette in which a married couple are relieved at the death of that individual, as he was hounding them to pay back a loan. The extra time afforded them by the death will be all they need to pay it off.
In a fashion that we're used to by now, we know the wife's name is Caroline, as the husband addresses her by name. We don't know the husband's name, however, as the wife does not say it.
Well, this did not satisfy Scrooge, so he wants to see some tenderness connected with a death. Be careful what you wish for, though, as the death he sees is that of Tiny Tim!
Bob, naturally a wreck over the whole thing, mentions that he ran into Scrooge's nephew, who was very kind to him, even though they had only met once before.
Of note is that Tiny Tim's body is still in the house, in an upstairs room which Bob visits. We don't see this in many adaptations.
One last thing is for Scrooge to find out who was that deceased fellow that nobody cared about. The answer is on a gravestone. Naturally it reads: Ebenezer Scrooge!
Scrooge is fully repentant now and vows to change his ways. He grabs the spirit, whose robes dwindle into a bedpost.
Could that bedpost be...?
Good recap!
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