The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain

The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time (better known as The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain or simply as The Haunted Man) is a novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and last of Dickens’s Christmas novellas. The story is more about the spirit of Christmas than about the holiday itself, harking back to the first in the series, A Christmas Carol.The novel portrays the holiday spirit that is prevalent in all the individuals. Professor Redlaw is the character around which the story revolves who is always immersed in his past and no matter how much he tries, he can never forget it. Now enters the ghost in the plot and in the Professor’s life.The ghost is not the usual scary one as one usually thinks of. He actually becomes the professor’s friend. The ghost is like professor Redlaw’s phantom twin and the professor actually sees his own reflection in the ghost. He feels that the ghost looks and thinks like him. Soon the ghost comes to know about the professor’s problem, the problem that he cannot live a peaceful life without forgetting his past and forgetting one’s past is practically impossible.