A Christmas Carol ~ Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet as Scrooge

Whether Darcy or Elizabeth Bennet took Ebenezer Scrooge’s place in A Christmas Carol, the outcome would be fairly similar. It’s why I wanted to analyze them together.

Darcy becoming Scrooge is rather easy to imagine. He’s aloof, cold, arrogant, prideful, and painfully introverted. All words that could describe Scrooge as well—except for painfully, as it seems he’s rather comfortable in his introversion.

Elizabeth, on the other, has a warmth and sense of humor Darcy and Scrooge don’t. She’s such a fun character—my second favorite after Anne Eliot—it’s easy to overlook her flaws. But she struggles with prejudice and disdain for people she finds insufferable: Mr. Collins, Bingley’s sisters, occasionally her mother and her younger sisters, Lady Catherine, and, of course, Darcy. She shares this disdain for fellow humans with Darcy and Scrooge.

In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth were mirrors for each other that allowed them to clearly see their flaws. (Charlotte Lucas also acted as a mirror for Elizabeth, softening her to be more receptive to Darcy’s mirror.) Neither liked what they saw, and both changed after that experience. Scrooge lived his entire life without a mirror for his flaws until the Christmas ghosts brought it. He did love Belle, but she never provided a mirror he needed to change.

So if Darcy or Elizabeth took Scrooge’s place in his story, both of them would hold to their pride, prejudice, and disdain. While Darcy or Elizabeth might not be as driven by money as Scrooge, they would have something related to their flaws that Belle found troublesome. Eventually, Belle would end the engagement; thus, hardening the flaw. Those flaws would grow stronger and stronger until they were as curmudgeonly and cruel as Scrooge.

I hope you enjoyed this analysis of Darcy and Elizabeth in A Christmas Carol. I’d love to hear your thoughts.