Wednesday, April 8, 2020

"Old Scratch..."



Of the illustrations provided by Arthur Rackham for the 1925 edition of "A Christmas Carol," my favorite is the one with the caption "Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey?"

It's visually striking, but it's also the only one that's not exactly literal.

It also reminds me that I did not understand that line for a long time. I had originally thought that the one man was referring to Scrooge as "Old Scratch," as that sort of sounds like a nickname for a miser.

Then when I learned that "Old Scratch" meant the Devil, I figured the man was referring to Scrooge as the Devil, although that didn't sound right.

Then it eventually dawned on me that Old Scratch, the Devil, was "welcoming" his own, Scrooge, now that he was dead.

At least I think that's what it means and that illustration seems to agree!

And just for fun, here's a self-portrait of Arthur Rackham:





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