Distinguish Choose a passage of dialogue from Act I that you think is especially effective in developing Scrooge’s character. Analyze Explain your choice, noting specific character traits the passage reveals.

Scrooge answers the charity worker by saying that the poor should die if they don't want to go to the cruel workhouses:

“Many can't go there; and many would rather die.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

This reveals Scrooge's lack of empathy even for children who are borne into poverty.