<Tr> <Th> Relatives </Th> <Td> The Ghost of Christmas Past The Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Nationality </Th> <Td> English </Td> </Tr> <P> 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, 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 others suffer and lamenting that he has forever lost his chance to help them . Marley arranges for the three spirits to visit Scrooge and gives his friend an opportunity for redemption, which Marley tells him was "...a chance and hope of my procuring ." </P> <P> In A Christmas Carol, Marley is the first character mentioned in the first line of the story . Jacob Marley is said to have died seven years earlier on Christmas Eve (as the setting is Christmas Eve 1843, this would have made the date of his passing December 24, 1836). </P>

Who is marley what is marley's relationship to scrooge