March 10, 2020

Assignment : Paper no. 6

                                   Assignment 

        The Victorian Literature 

" Oliver Twist " as a novel full of thievery 

Name :- Nirali Makvana 
Sem :- 2 ( 2019 - 20 )
Roll no. :- 14
Subject  :- The Victorian literature 
Topic :- " Oliver Twist " as a novel full of thievery 
Submitted to  :- Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar university
Enrollment no. :- 2069108420200023

Key Points :-
  • Introduction 
  • Brief information about author 
  • The reason behind spreading thievery during the time of Victorian era 
  • Fagin and his gang as the main thieves throughout the novel. 
  • Mrs. Mann as a greedy character of the novel 
  • Oliver Twist: A thief or a Victim?
  • Conclusion 
  • Work citation 

Introduction :-

 
" Oliver Twist : Parish Boy's Progress " was first published in 1837 to 1839 as a serial. It is Charles Dickens's second novel about the story of Orphan child Oliver, who was born in Workhouse and sold into externship with an undertakers. The novel "Oliver Twist " opens the reality of the black business of the undertakers in  the time of Victorian society. The novel gives glimpses of the Victorian Society and its people in many ways like Child Labours, Workhouses, lust for money and wealth, thievery etc. all these were centred at the time of Victorian Society after the reign of queen Victoria. Charles Dickens started writing this novel after the adoption of " Poor Law " in 1834, which halted government payments to the able - bodied poor unless they entered Workhouses. Thus, Oliver Twist  became vehicles for social Criticism aimed directly at the problem of poverty in 19th Century, 
London.  Generally they were hungry for wealth. So, we can see thievery was the main problem at that time. Charles Dickens very beautifully portrays the picture of the lustful society  in his novel, " Oliver Twist. "  Now let us discuss thievery as the main theme of the novel.

Brief information about author :-

         " It was the best of times, it was the worst of time,
 It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
                             It was the epoch of belief. "

The lines has been taken from the novel " A Tale of Two Cities " by Charles Dickens. It tells a story of contrast and comparison between London and Paris during the French Revolution. Through this passage Charles Dickens wants to say that it was the time when, rich had become more richest and poor had become more poor. The intention of putting this passage here is that we can simply imagine the writing style of Charles Dickens. He was an English Writer and Social Critic. He is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era because of he created some of the world's best fictional characters. His novels and short stories are widely read today. The genre of his novels included picaresque novel tradition, melodrama and the novel of sensibility. Satire and Irony are the main themes of his novels. His writing style is marked by a profuse linguistic creativity. 

The reason of spreading thievery during the time of the Victorian era :-

In the middle of the 19th century crime and poverty were the mixed main problems during the time of the Victorian era. Lots of people were the prey of poverty and suffered in the prison. It was the great time for Industrial Revolution, when people moved toward Cities especially in London without any tension of homes. It was the time when mostly children were widely roaming in the streets and they had no education and never heard the word of kindness. The language they learn from elders or whoever they met in the streets they were only speaking  vulgar language, shouted and cursed. They never taught which was right and which was wrong. So, the result was that they were taking food without paying money and they were caught and punished for it. These are the main reasons for  spreading thievery during the time of the Victorian era. The same conditions Charles Dickens portrayed in his novel " Oliver Twist " through the characters of Fagin, Charley Bates, Artful Dodger, Bill Sikes, Monks and many others. 

Jeannie Duckworth, in her book " Fagin's Children: Criminal Children in Victorian England " quotes Charles Dickens, who in the preface of the 1841 edition of Oliver Twist drew an outline to which many homeless children were conducted :

" The Cold, wet, shelterless midnight street of London; the foul and frowsy dens, where vice is closely packed and lacks the room to turn the haunts of hunger and disease, the shabby rags that scarcely hold together: where are the attractions of these things ? ( Duckworth 2 )

Fagin and his gang as a main thieves throughout the novel :-

Fagin is an Old man in London, who teaches pickpocketing to the young homeless boys and then fences their stolen goods. Although sometimes he shows a certain loyalty and solitude toward the boy. The group of Fagin is the villainy in the novel. One member of the Fagin's gang is Artful Dodger, who is playfully taking Oliver in their gang and teaches him robbery and steal. In this gang Oliver seems very differently than others. During the action of robbery at the Mrs. Maylie's house he cries out loud,

" Oh ! For God's sake let me go ! Let me run away in the fields. I will never come near London - never, never ! Do not make me steal ; have mercy upon me ! " ( 2007 : 205 )

Charles Dickens clearly shows that Oliver is born in a society which does not welcome him in a pleasant or loving way. Many young juveniles were caught in the action, brought in front of the magistrates sentenced to go to  prison or to be hung. Just like Artful Dodger. They will make Artful nothing less than a lifer. Even Bill Sikes is a rough and barbaric man, career criminal associated with Fagin and an eventual murderer. He is aggressive and violent. He is Charles Dickens's most vicious character and a very strong force in the novel when it comes to having control over somebody or harming others. Dickens does give him some shading : at the robbery in the countryside, Sikes rather than leave Oliver at the scene of his botched burglary of Rose Maylie's house, picks him up and runs with him as far as he can. After he brutally beats Nancy to death, he apparently is capable of feeling guilt although this is essentially suspicious that Fagin lied to him about her betrayal and fear of the possibility of being caught. His prostitute girlfriend Nancy tolerates his violent and lawless behaviour, perhaps because she, being a thief since the age of six. However when he thinks Nancy has betrayed him, Sikes viciously murders her.

Mrs. Mann as a greedy character of the novel :-

The amendment of the poor law was introduced in 1834, this law was made to disapprove of poor people living in workhouses. Workhouses were horrible places to be, only people who had no other choices would live and work there. The character Mrs. Mann took care of the children but did a terrible job of it. She mistreats the children, Mr. Bumble
 who is her superior  is supposed to check on her but he puts up with her and her wrong doing. Mrs. Mann is shown as this masculine woman who is the contrast of a motherly role. The name Mrs. Mann is ironic because she acts masculine and has the word ' Mann ' in her name. She is greedy and she is taking money that should be spent on the children's food. She uses the method of flattery towards Mr. Bumble by saying,

" Why, you are quite a literary character, sir ! "

She uses hypocrisy in her actions. Thus, Mrs. Mann also plays a vital role in the novel as a greedy character. 

Oliver Twist: A thief or a Victim?

Throughout the novel the reader can clearly notice how Charles Dickens underlines the features of Oliver's face. The end of the novel is happy but the question is if Mr. Brownlow didn't enter into his life and saved him than Oliver as a criminal like Fagin and Artful Dodger. We can say that Oliver would have simply become a thief, against his own will, one of Fagin's top quality thieves, as Monks wanted to him. Oliver's wish is to turned away all wickedness. The features on his face reflect the inner quality of his soul. He is not like the other boys who lived with him in the Workhouses because his thoughts are filled with, " angels, heaven, kind faces." And we can find out this in his dialogue, 

" I will be good indeed; indeed. Indeed, I will sir !" ( 2007 : 34 )

Even in his speech he is very polite. We can see his humbleness when he asked for food in Workhouse,

" Please, Sir, I want some more. "

When Fagin teaches him pickpocketing, Fagin realises him it will make him " the greatest man of all time." On the other side in contrast Oliver wonders to himself " What picking the Old gentleman's pocket in play had to do with his chance of being a great man." At the end of the novel after the all behaviour and politeness of Oliver we came to know that he wants to remain with people who love and care about him. Oliver does not belong to the criminal world. 

Conclusion :-

Thus, above all description about Oliver Twist and thievery as the main theme of the novel I conclude that the story of Parish boy Oliver is the main child hero of the novel. But the main point is that Charles Dickens put him on  a different level. In the age of Victorian Workhouses established. The result was that there were increased a lot of problems in society. Child labour and thievery were the main problems in the society. The Amendment of Poor Law was established in 1834 but it wasn't becoming successful. So, through the character of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens portrayed the pictures of Victorian society. There were many people like Mr. Bumble, who ran the Workhouses and did business of child Labouring. And also the people like Fagin, Artful Dodger and Bill Sikes who did business of pickpocketing and ran schools for that. Many Orphans were going there only because they had nothing left in their life. So, the novel Oliver Twist enriched a different level in the age of Victorian and in today also.

Work citation  :-


Horne, Philip. “Crime in Oliver Twist .” 15 May 2017, https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/crime-in-oliver-twist.

Didelyte, Dovile. “Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist A Thief or a Victim?” 2008.

Terci, Mahmut. “The Gentleman of Birth: Oliver Twist .” European Journal of Language and Literature , Apr. 2016, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.26417/ejls.v4i1.p104-116.


No comments:

Post a Comment