The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain facts for kids
Frontispiece of first edition, 1848
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| Author | Charles Dickens |
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| Original title | The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time |
| Illustrator | Sir John Tenniel Frank Stone William Clarkson Stanfield John Leech |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novella |
| Publisher | Bradbury & Evans |
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Publication date
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19 December 1848 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 188 pp |
| Preceded by | Dombey and Son |
| Followed by | David Copperfield |
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain is a short novel, also called a novella, written by Charles Dickens. It was first published in 1848. This story is the last of five special Christmas novellas Dickens wrote. It's not just about the Christmas holiday, but more about the true spirit of Christmas, much like his famous story A Christmas Carol. The main character is a chemistry teacher named Professor Redlaw.
Story Summary
This story is divided into three main parts, showing how a special gift affects people.
The Gift is Given
Professor Redlaw is a teacher of chemistry. He often thinks about sad things that happened to him and wrongs he has faced in the past. His servants, Mr. Swidger and his 87-year-old father, help the cook, Milly William, decorate Redlaw's rooms for Christmas.
Redlaw is visited by a strange spirit. This spirit is not a typical ghost, but more like a phantom version of Redlaw himself. It looks exactly like him, with the same features, bright eyes, and gray hair, dressed in dark shadows.
The Ghost offers Redlaw a special deal. It says it can make him "forget the sorrow, wrong, and trouble you have known." This means Redlaw would no longer remember any of his past pain. The Ghost also promises that Redlaw will be able to give this same gift to anyone he meets. Redlaw is unsure at first, but he finally agrees to the Ghost's offer.
After the Ghost gives Redlaw this gift, a child appears in Redlaw's house. The child is dressed in rags and has no shoes. He seems very scared of Redlaw but becomes his unwilling companion.
The Gift Spreads
The Tetterby family lives in their shop. They are quite poor and have many children. Mrs. Tetterby comes home from shopping. She feels ashamed because she wished she had never married Mr. Tetterby. She felt this way when she saw all the nice things she could not afford to buy.
Redlaw follows her into the house and surprises the family. He asks about their boarder, Mr. Denham, who is one of Redlaw's students. Denham has been very sick. Redlaw visits him and gives him the gift of forgetting all the pain he has suffered. When Milly arrives to care for Denham, Redlaw starts to realize that his gift might actually be a curse. He begs Denham to help him hide so he doesn't accidentally make Milly forget her troubles too.
After receiving the gift, Denham becomes rude and uncaring towards Milly. She had been a very loyal nurse to him during his illness. Redlaw is now horrified by how much people change when they forget the painful parts of their lives.
Redlaw pays the mysterious child to take him to the Swidgers' home. The child has no pockets, so he puts the coins in his mouth. At the Swidgers' house, Redlaw gives his gift to them. The 87-year-old father, who was very loving towards his eldest son who is dying, suddenly doesn't recognize him at all.
The Gift is Undone
Redlaw is disgusted by all the sadness he has caused by making people forget. He begs the Ghost to take the gift away from everyone he has affected, even if it means Redlaw himself will remain forgetful. The Ghost explains that the barefoot child is actually a symbol of Redlaw's curse of forgetfulness. When people cannot remember their sorrows, they become uncaring and wild. The child shows what happens when people become indifferent.
Redlaw feels sorry for the child and covers him as he sleeps. Because of this act of kindness, the curse is lifted. All the characters get their memories back. Denham quickly apologizes to Milly for being so terribly ungrateful.
Redlaw finally understands that "Christmas is a time in which, of all times in the year, the memory of every remediable sorrow, wrong, and trouble in the world around us, should be active with us." He makes peace with his own painful memories.
Performances
The story was made into a play. In 1862, John Henry Pepper put on a Christmas Eve show of the play. This was the first time a special trick called Pepper's ghost was used in public. The show was at the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now the University of Westminster) in London. People really liked the play, especially because the new trick made the ghost look like it was really interacting with the actors on stage.
See also
In Spanish: El hechizado para niños
