Jacob Marley

Jacob Marley's ghost visits Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Jacob Marley (8 March 1783 - 24 December, 1836) is a fictional character who appears in Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol.

Role in the story

In life, Jacob Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. As teenagers, both men had been apprenticed in business and met as clerks (presumably in accounting) in another business. The firm of Scrooge and Marley was a nineteenth century financial institution, probably a counting house, as Marley refers to their offices as 'our money-changing hole'. They have become successful bankers, with seats on the London Stock Exchange; they are also stockholders and directors of at least one major association, but a vast amount of their wealth has been accumulated through usurious moneylending. Scrooge is described as Marley's "sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner". He has been dead seven years by the time the story begins.

Marley preys upon Scrooge's mind in a variety of different ways. First, his face appears in place of Scrooge's door-knocker as Scrooge approaches his lodgings; secondly, Scrooge gets the impression of a "locomotive hearse" ascending the stairs before him as he climbs; thirdly by making his face appear to engulf the whole design of the fireplace in Scrooge's bedroom; next by making every bell in the house ring of its own accord and then, most famously, by appearing before Scrooge in the form of a ghost himself.

The ghost maintains the same voice, hairstyle and sense of dress that he had in life, but is completely transparent, wearing a handkerchief tied about his jaws, and "captive, bound and double-ironed" with chains which are described as "long, and wound about him like a tail; it was made... of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel." He often, in moments of great despair or impatience at Scrooge's skepticism, flings these upon the ground before him and almost induces his former partner "into a swoon". He explains that it is the chain he subconsciously built himself in life, as a result of his extortionate behaviour. The ghost is also described as being provided with "an infernal atmosphere of its own... its hair and skirts, and tassels, were still agitated as by the hot vapour from an oven". He despairs at his inability to ever find happiness in the mortal world or the next. As he spent his life on this earth obsessing over money and mistreating the poor and wretched to fill his pocket, Marley is damned to walk the earth for all eternity, never to find rest or peace.

At first Scrooge does not believe that Marley's ghost is real, and a mere figment of his imagination. When the spectre asks, "Why do you doubt your senses?" Scrooge scoffs that "...a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Later, more pointedly he says, "Humbug, I tell you! Humbug!" Marley's only reply is a spine-chilling howl that brings Scrooge to his knees, begging for mercy. Satisfied, after explaining his situation and the reasons for it, Marley delivers his message of the three hauntings that will help redeem Scrooge of the same punishment, he then flies out of the window in the company of other restless souls, all of them chained in a similar manner to himself and all of them suffering the same incessant torture.

Analysis

The life and afterlife of Jacob Marley is not detailed in A Christmas Carol. The reader has no idea exactly how Marley escaped with an arrangement for Scrooge's redemption. Even he himself appears uncertain as to how he is visible to Scrooge "on this night", when he has followed him, invisible, on "many and many a day". One interpretation has been offered in the prequel novel, Marley's Ghost (2000) by Mark Hazard Osmun, an imagining of Marley's life and subsequent sacrifice on behalf of his former partner.

However, various adaptations of A Christmas Carol have made various differences to Marley. In A Christmas Carol, for example, his birth-date is given as 1785, and in Mickey's Christmas Carol, it is said that Marley left very little in the way of a fortune, so he was instead buried at sea. In that same film, he was implied to be a ruthless criminal as well, "robbing the widows and swindling the poor", all in the same day and his punishment of being "forced to carry his heavy chains for eternity" was a result of it.

Portrayals

Picture	Feature	Year	Performer	Notes
	Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost	1902	unknown
	A Christmas Carol	1908	unknown
	Scrooge	1951	Michael Hordern
	Kraft Television Theatre: "A Christmas Carol	1952	Richard Purdy
	Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol	1962	Royal Dano
	Famous Classic Tales: A Christmas Carol	1969	Bruce Montague
	Scrooge	1970	Alec Guinness	Marley is given an extra scene near the end where he escorts Scrooge down into his grave before Scrooge wakes up.
	A Christmas Carol	1971	Michael Hordern
	The Stingiest Man in Town	1978	Theodore Bikel
	An American Christmas Carol	1979	Jack Latham (played by Ken Pogue)
	A Christmas Carol	1982	unknown
	Mickey's Christmas Carol	1983	Goofy (voiced by Hal Smith)
	A Christmas Carol	1984	Frank Finlay	Scrooge hears Marley's ghost from a spectral hearse that is pulled by two spectral horses while returning home from working at his office.
	The Jetsons: "A Jetson Christmas Carol"	1985	Mel Blanc	This version of the character is called Marsley.
	The Real Ghostbusters: "Xmas Marks the Spot"	1986	Maurice LaMarche
	Scrooged	1988	Jamie Farr	The character of Lew Hayward (played by John Forsythe) acts as a Jacob Marley analogue to Frank Cross within the main plot.
	The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992	Statler and Waldorf (puppeteered by Jerry Nelson & Dave Goelz)	The character is portrayed as two brothers named Jacob and Robert Marley (a nod to Bob Marley) so that they can be played by Statler and Waldorf. They sing the number "Marley and Marley" where they lament their suffering and warn Scrooge of what he will face.
	Animaniacs: "A Christmas Plotz"	1993	Slappy Squirrel (voiced by Sherri Stoner)	Slappy shows up as a ghost, telling Thaddeus Plotz that she is here because "the studio keeps giving me these stupid cameos."
	A Flintstones' Christmas Carol	1994	Mr. Slate (voiced by John Stephenson)	This version of the character is called Jacob Marbley.
	Ebbie	1995	Jeffrey DeMunn	DeMunn plays Marley's modern version, Jake Marley, Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge's mentor and later partner who dies of a heart attack right in front of her.
	A Beavis and Butt-head Christmas	1995	Butt-head (voiced by Mike Judge)	Butt-head plays the role of Jacob Marley and appears while Beavis is trying to watch a Christmas Carol style porno.
	A Christmas Carol	1997	Ed Asner
	Ms. Scrooge	1997	Katherine Helmond	Helmond portrays a female version named Maude Marley.
	101 Dalmatians: "A Christmas Cruella"	1997	Horace and Jasper Badun (voiced by David Lander and Michael McKean)	Cruella De Vil's henchmen appear as a two-headed ghost.
	An All Dogs Christmas Carol	1998	Charlie Barkin (voiced by Steven Weber)	Charlie as the role of Jacob Marley as known as Jacob Charlie.
	Sabrina: The Animated Series: "Witchmas Carole"	1999	Salem Saberhagen (voiced by Nick Bakay)
	Adventures from the Book of Virtues: "A Christmas Carol"	2000	Plato the Buffalo (voiced by Christopher Judge)
	A Diva's Christmas Carol	2000	Rozonda Thomas	Rozonda Thomas portrays a female version named Marli Jacob.
	Christmas Carol: The Movie	2001	Nicolas Cage
	A Carol Christmas	2003	Dinah Manoff	The Jacob Marley character is a stage mother-type aunt of Carol's, named Aunt Marla.
	A Christmas Carol: The Musical	2004	Jason Alexander
	Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: "A Lost Claus"	2005	Bloo (voiced by Keith Ferguson)	When Bloo tries using A Christmas Carol to scare Mr. Herriman into buying more gifts for those at Foster's, he mixes up Jacob Marley with Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley.
	Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas	2006	Sylvester (voiced by Joe Alaskey)	Sylvester was a superstore CEO idolized by Daffy and serving as an inspiration to him. He was killed by being squashed with a forklift nine times.
	A Christmas Carol	2006	Keith Wickham	The character is portrayed as an anthropomorphic cricket (ala Jiminy Cricket). In this adaptation, he is given an extra scene where Scrooge's redemption frees him from his punishment.
	Barbie in a Christmas Carol	2008	Pam Hyatt	Pam Hyatt portrays a female version named Marie.
	A Christmas Carol	2009	Gary Oldman
	La CQ: "Christmas in the CQ"	2012	Clara
	Thomas & Friends: "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas"	2015	Emily (voiced by Teresa Gallagher (UK)/Jules de Jongh (US))	Emily is held and surrounded by chains, uses Thomas' steam to make herself look ghostly, and goes by the name of "E-Marley's Ghost".
	Camp Lakebottom: "Smells Like the Holidays"	2016	Gretchen	McGee's guilt for framing Squirt takes a spiritual form similar to Gretchen. At first, McGee thinks she playing a joke on him, until she reveals that the real Gretchen is still sleeping.
	My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: "A Hearth's Warming Tail"		Discord (voiced by John de Lancie)	Applejack's role is also the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past, the counterpart of the The Ghost of Christmas Past. Originally Discord had a role as a traditional Jacob Marley, but it was cut for time.
	Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!: "Scroogey Doo"	2017	Mr. Bugly	In an awkward turn of events, when Marley arrives, Scrooge just scolds him about how rude he's being by coming without knocking. During this, Bugly first hypnotizes Scrooge with the coin's reflection in a nearby mirror, making Scrooge hallucinate the "scarier" Marley.
	The Man Who Invented Christmas		Donald Sumpter	Jacob Marley appears as Charles Dickens creates the story of A Christmas Carol, scaring Scrooge and telling Dickens he's more like Scrooge than he thinks, and is girded with his own chains.
	A Christmas Carol	2019	Stephen Graham
	Scrooge: A Christmas Carol	2022	Jonathan Pryce	Marley's ghost creates a freezing trail wherever he goes, covering Scrooge's chambers with ice upon his arrival. A softer side of him is shown through his old dog Prudence, who was passed to Scrooge's care after his death, with Marley stopping to warmly greet the dog during his visit.

Notes

• In 1963, President John F. Kennedy quoted Marley in his speech about businesses in America, saying "Humanity was my business."
• In 1993, Aimee Mann released a song called "Jacob Marley's Chain" on her album Whatever.
• Marley's grave - covered in chains - can be briefly seen in the 1994 film The Pagemaster.
• In the 1998 episode of Sports Night entitled "Thespis", Jacob Marley is referenced and compared to Thespis of ancient Greece, when the show's production appears to be haunted by the ghost.
• In 2008, Nightwish's single, "Bye Bye Beautiful", a reference to Jacob's ghost is made due to the problems that lead the band to fire their former singer, Tarja Turunen.
• Marley's Ghost is the name of a Northern California band extant since the early 1990s whose diverse musical styles are principally focused on bluegrass, country, and folk.
• Jacob Marley's Ghost was the name of an esoteric music group from the late 1990s which originated in Eugene, Oregon. Once led by Ezra Holbrook, the band now seems to be "defunct".
• In the Babylon 5 episode "Exogenesis", Marcus makes reference to Marley while quoting Dickens.
• In the short story "Adaptation", by Connie Willis, Marley's ghost appears as a stand-in for the Ghost of Christmas Past (who has become corrupted by the increasing commercialization of Christmas and retired to Florida).
• The 1999 TV movie adaptation opens with a prologue of Scrooge attending Marley's funeral at a rural churchyard.