Dickens uses the supernatural as a method of holding a mirror up to Scrooge who is forced to confront the error of his ways. Dickens shows that if Scrooge fails to do this it will result in him having a similar fate to Marley.
Dickens uses the ghost to emphasize that there is a chance of redemption for Scrooge “that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate”. Dickens’ use of the supernatural continues throughout the story as a means of arousing nostalgia, thought, fear and action by Scrooge. All of these emotions, which Dickens shows us Scrooge is feeling, demonstrate the gradual change in Scrooge throughout the book, and as these changes take place, our thoughts and feelings towards the relationship we have with Scrooge also changes; we begin to understand him and see under his hard outer shell.
