Fezziwig

Fezziwig
Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig dance in a vision the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge.
First appearance	A Christmas Carol 1843
Created by	Charles Dickens

Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig are characters featured in the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. Mr. Fezziwig is the owner of a warehouse business; Ebenezer Scrooge and Dick Wilkins worked as apprentices for him. Mr. Fezziwig is a happy, foppish man with a large Welsh wig. In Stave 2 of A Christmas Carol, Mr. Fezziwig hosts his annual Christmas ball in the main room of the warehouse. Old Fezziwig liked to dance to "Sir Roger de Coverley", a lively tune popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Scrooge revisits Fezziwig with the Ghost of Christmas Past, during the Fezziwigs' lively Christmas party. Fezziwig is one of the few people to whom Scrooge is thankful, for he says, “He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil…The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” Scrooge is reminded how much he once appreciated Fezziwig. Since Fezziwig is the elder Scrooge's opposite in many ways — in kindness, generosity, affection for his employees, relationship with family, and apparent happiness — Scrooge is thus confronted with the fact that his own choices have diverged greatly from those of someone he admires.

While the name is less well known,^{[clarification needed]} the scene in which the Fezziwigs appear is one of the most popular in film and stage productions,^{[citation needed]} and is commonly used as the scene where Scrooge first meets Belle, his future fiancée, only for her to leave him after several years of neglect. The only other Fezziwigs mentioned by Dickens are the couple's three unnamed daughters, who are "beaming and lovable". In some interpretations of A Christmas Carol, Belle is Fezziwig's daughter, made poor by her father's lack of business acumen. In the original novella, "three Fezziwig daughters" are courted by young gentlemen.

In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Fezziwig's character is played by Fozzie Bear and called "Fozziwig". He is also shown to be alive at the end of the movie when Scrooge repents (although much older).

In A Christmas Carol starring Kelsey Grammer, Fezziwig, following a downturn in his business, comes to Scrooge for a business loan. Scrooge, starting to turn into his greedy self, refuses the request, stating that he (Scrooge) would be throwing good money after bad.

References

• Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol, 1843.