Jacob Marley


Jacob Marley is a fictional character who appears in Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. He is Ebenezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner, having died on Christmas Eve seven years prior to the book's events. He is now a chained and tormented ghost, doomed to wander the earth forever as punishment for his greed and selfishness when he was alive. Marley roams restlessly, witnessing the hardships that others suffer, and laments that he has forever lost his chance to help them.
Marley arranges for the three spirits to visit Scrooge, giving his friend an opportunity for redemption, which Marley tells him was "...a chance and hope of my procuring."

Appearance in notable film and TV adaptations