A Christmas Carol (TV Mini Series)

The Human Beast (2019)

Guy Pearce: Ebenezer Scrooge

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ebenezer Scrooge : [looking out the window]  Behold. One day of the year. They all grin and greet each other when every other day they walk by with their faces in their collars. You know, it makes me very sad to see all the lies that come as surely as the snow at this time of year. How many "Merry Christmases" are meant and how many are lies? To pretend on one day of the year that the human beast is not the human beast. That it is possible we can all be transformed. But if it were so... if it were possible for so many mortals to look at the calendar and transform from wolf to lamb, then why not every day? Instead of one day good, the rest bad, why not have everyone grinning at each other all year and have one day in the year when we're all beasts and we pass each other by? Why not turn it around?

  Bob Cratchit : Yes, sir. Yes, you could call that day of beastliness Scrooge Day. In honor of its inventor.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Yes. Why not? It would be the one day where everyone is free to tell all those around them exactly what they really think of them.

  Bob Cratchit : Well, I think every clerk in England would report for work on that day, sir.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : In order that they could tell their employer the awful truth of what is in their hearts.

  Bob Cratchit : Yes.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Ah. The truth without ribbons and bows. What do you say?

  Bob Cratchit : I say, sir, in all my ten years of working here, you've never bothered to explain your philosophy before. I'm quite flattered, sir, that today of all days, you should share the machinery of your great logic with a mere clerk.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : It isn't logic, Cratchit.

  Bob Cratchit : Well, then, sir, what is it?

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Mind out for the word "litigation." You have a habit of spelling it wrongly.

  Bob Cratchit : [more to himself]  I spelled it wrongly once. Five years ago.

• Bob Cratchit : It's frozen, sir.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : What is?

  Bob Cratchit : My ink. I'll have to thaw it on the fire.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : No, that will waste time. You can use mine.

  Bob Cratchit : [Scrooge brings him an ink bottle]  Ah, lovely. A sort of Christmas present, is it, sir?

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Oh, please. If it were a Christmas present, I would have wrapped it in ribbons and bows to artificially increase your anticipation. And you would tear it open and gasp and say "Oh, my lord, a bottle of ink. This is exactly what I've always wanted." And I would shrug and smile and tell you that of all the ink bottles in the world, this is the one ink bottle I wanted you to have on this most holy and sacred of days.

• Bob Cratchit : Mr. Scrooge, it's now eight minutes past 3:00. My work is complete. If we're back to logic, then logic suggests that my sitting in there idle for no reason... that's the anomaly.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : A letter of complaint to the Lord Mayor regarding persistent noise caused by costermongers, gypsies, street musicians, rag and bone men, various other gutter runners. I want this letter written out in duplicate and put in with the last post today. It contains very precise mathematics pertaining to the quantity and frequency of the intrusions. Please be sure to get the numbers correct. I took great pains over them.

  Bob Cratchit : Oh. Great pain. Yes, I can see that.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : It is not I in curious mood today, Cratchit, it is you. As if you're suddenly careless of your situation.

  Bob Cratchit : No, sir. No, I'm not careless of my situation, sir. I know my situation. I have two children and a wife to take care of at a time of high unemployment. One of my children is very sick, sir, and his treatment costs money. I know, sir, I know the narrowness of my situation. And so do you. So do you.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Two copies of that letter should take you nicely up to 4:00.

  Bob Cratchit : We'll see.

• Bob Cratchit : Done, Mr. Scrooge. Finished.

  [Scrooge gives the document a once-over] 

  Bob Cratchit : You already proofed the first two, sir.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Just checking again, Cratchit. The light grows dim. I sense you are angry with me.

  Bob Cratchit : Why do you say that?

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Because everything on this page is perfect, precise; immaculate, you might say. You got it all right to spite me, to... to show me.

  Bob Cratchit : No, sir. No. To, uh, to afford you the possibility that... that since all the work is done correctly and early, I might leave early and spend the rest of the day with my family.

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Your anger made you work quickly, but perfectly. You didn't stop to think that working quickly and perfectly also suits me, the object of your hatred, down to the ground.

  Bob Cratchit : I don't hate you, sir.

  [sighing] 

  Bob Cratchit : I'm not accustomed to talking about these matters with you. I ask you again: is everything all right with you?

  Ebenezer Scrooge : Christmas, it seems, inspires such emotion. Good and, evidently, bad. I feel your eyes burning into me. Imagine you were a violent man. Imagine your pen were a dagger. Imagine I were found dead on Christmas morning. The murder could be laid, too, at the door of the spirit of Christmas, yes?