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| “ | Look at these chains, Ebenezer. This isn't a fu--ing game, look! Each link is a man, or woman, or child who died in our workshops in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bombay, Batavia... it was never enough, not for you and not for me! And for what? What was the purpose of our gross accumulation? For this, [gestures around the dark, shabby room] we vandalized the world! | „ |
| ~ Marley condemning Scrooge and himself. |
Jacob Marley is the deuteragonist of the 2019 British television miniseries A Christmas Carol, based on the 1843 novella of the same name by the late Charles Dickens. He is a cruel investor whose greedy nature causes many deaths and misery for his employees. After his death, he is held in purgatory and will only be released if he can aid in the redemption of his business partner, Ebenezer Scrooge.
He was portrayed by Stephen Graham, who also portrayed Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire, Fulvio in the 2008 film adaptation of Inkheart, Gruagach in the 2019 Hellboy film, and Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in This is England.
Biography[]
Past[]
While little is known about Marley's upbringing, is is known that he had been greedy and power-hungry for much of his life before meeting Scrooge.
After meeting and befriending Ebenezer Scrooge, the two started an investing firm, and began buying factories and coal mines to increase their profits. They used blackmail to convince a man to sell his late father's textile factory, and then proceeded to flip it and sell it for hundreds more pounds than they purchased it for. In another extension of their greed, they removed safety measures from many of their factories and mines, leading to at least four major accidents, including a fire in a factory and a collapse in a coal mine, that took the lives of dozens of men, women, and children. Despite this, Scrooge and Marley bribed the judges and had them rule the accidents as the fault of the employees.
Death and Purgatory[]
One Christmas, Marley passed away suddenly. Scrooge had him buried, unaware that, due to his crimes, Marley was in purgatory; Marley was not permitted to pass on, simply lying in his casket for years. Every year on Christmas, one of the few survivors of one of his coal mines would come and urinate on his grave. After years of this, Marley began to grow restless and begged for forgiveness and announced a willingness to pay any penance for his crimes.
His cry is heard, and he is transported to a spectral factory. There, he meets the ghost of a man who died in one of his factory fires, who has forged a series of chains for Marley, with each link representing a life lost on his account. Marley is forced to wear these chains, and is dragged behind a carriage to another part of purgatory where the Ghost of Christmas Past awaits. He tells Marley that his soul will only be redeemed if somehow, Scrooge's soul is too. Marley at first thinks the task impossible, but agrees to try anyway.
Visiting Scrooge[]
Upon returning to his home, Scrooge sees a carriage drawn by two horses left out in the snow in front of his home. With the horses reminding him of his childhood pet and feeling a sense of pity for the two creatures, Scrooge drapes a blanket over them. In actuality, this carriage was a test by the spirits to see if he was even worth the attempt at redemption, and he passed.
Scrooge approaches his doorstep, and sees Marley's face replacing his door knocker. He pulls the knocker and the bottom jaw falls off, but then shifts back to its original lion face. Scrooge enters his house, but finds a human jaw on the ground. Marley's ghost appears to Scrooge, reclaiming the jaw and reattaching it. Marley tries to convince Scrooge of what is happening, but Scrooge instead demands that he leave. Instead, Marley shows Scrooge the bloody aftermath of the factory fire, and explains the symbolism of the chains. He warns Scrooge of the coming spirits, and Scrooge welcomes their visits, not out of a desire to reform, but to prove to them that he is irredeemable. Marley leaves to wait back in purgatory, and the first spirit goes to meet with Scrooge.
After the first spirit is done, Marley is surprised that he made any progress with Scrooge at all, and is surprised more when the Ghost of Christmas Present resembles Scrooge's late sister Lottie.
Redemption[]
After Scrooge is visited by all three ghosts and is shown his future and the death of Timothy "Tiny Tim" Cratchit, Marley asks the spirits to see Scrooge one last time, and they permit him. Marley asks Scrooge if he is ready for redemption. To Marley's surprise, Scrooge claims that he rejects redemption, because he deserves all that awaits him in the future. He then says that all he wants is the spirits to ensure that Tim lives. The spirits see that Scrooge values another life far more than his own, and accept his soul as redeemed. Marley is allowed to rest, and Scrooge is brought back to present Christmas Day.
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