Interesting thread. The evidence presented does not point to his death on that night, but rather a more distant future.
Scrooge, of course, doesn't die that night. He is given a reprieve.
Scrooge was supposed to die that night and here is just some of the evidence foreshadowing that end ...
- Jacob Marley, his partner, died the same night seven years earlier.
- Marley tells Scrooge that as a spirit he has been with Scrooge often, but for some reason (Scrooge's imminent death?), he was able to be seen by Scrooge that night.
- Marley's ghost tells Scrooge that he has a chance to escape that same fate that befell him.
While this foreshadowing alone leads to the fairly obvious conclusion that Scrooge was supposed to die that night, the visions of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come provide more clues.
If you believe that Scrooge's death was not intended for that night and that he was going to live on anyway, then you have to account for the contrary evidence of the visions. When shown the visions of the future, Scrooge keeps trying to see himself, but does not, as he could during the past and present visions. The reason he can't see himself? He doesn't exist in the future. He is dead.
More compelling evidence against his living beyond that night is the utter lack of any evidence that people saw his changed nature. His laundress described him as, "a wicked old screw," another person called him "Old Scratch," and no one was interested in attending his funeral. All of that is consistent with a reaction to his death that night, before he had any chance to show people his new self. None of that future makes sense if he had even one day to interact with these people in his transformed personality.
It can be a little tricky keeping track of the scenarios, and there has to be a little literary leeway given to make the story compelling and propel the narrative. For instance, if the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is capable of seeing the future, then why didn't it show Scrooge's impact as a new person? Why did Tiny Tim die in that vision if he didn't actually die so young as prophesized? If the GoCYtC is a conduit to the future, then it is a faulty conduit, because it failed to show Scrooge what was indeed going to transpire.
But the GoCYtC is
not a conduit to the future, it's a
determinant of the future, and since it had every intention of taking Scrooge to his death, that's why the visions it showed him unfolded as they did. It did not anticipate Scrooge's conversion would be so complete that it would touch it enough to spare his life. But in the story, that's exactly what happened.
What would have caused his death, anyway?
Old age. Illness. One character said, "I thought he'd never die," and another, "he was not only very ill, but dying, then."
Also, Bill Murray is by far my favorite Scrooge.
In an effort to further my look into this subject, I watched this version as well—I remember seeing it years ago.
There are some very clever moments, and much of it's take on the media still rings true today. However, the ending is a complete mess. It appeared they threw away the script and just told Murray to improvise, which leads to a very unsatisfying conclusion to an otherwise decent movie.
