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Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig are characters featured in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Mr. Fezziwig is the proprieter of a warehouse business for whom Ebenezer Scrooge worked as an apprentice; and in Stave 2 of The Christmas Carol, has a Christmas ball, where Scrooge meets his love of his life, Belle. The character is a happy man with a large Welsh Wig. Old Fezziwig liked to dance to "Sir de Coverly", a lively tune of the 1800's.
Scrooge revisits Fezziwig with the Ghost of Christmas Past, during the Fezziwigs' lively Christmas Party.Fezziwig is one of the only people Scrooge is thankful to, for he says that Old Fezziwig could make life a great, ladened pain for them, yet he makes it joyous. Scrooge is reminded how much he once appreciated Fezziwig ("Was there ever such an employer?" asks his younger self). 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, the scene in which the Fezziwigs appear is one of the most popular in film and stage productions. One needs only "remember the party which Scrooge's old employer gives, the one in his shop? That's Mr. Fezziwig, the old employer." The only other Fezziwigs mentioned by Dickens are their three daughters, who are "beaming and lovable".
Mr. Fezziwig is also the inspiration for a seasonal beer from the Boston Beer Company; "Old Fezziwig Ale".
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, and Belle is a party guest.
References
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843.
