OLIVER TWIST
List of Characters
Oliver Twist: The novel’s protagonist; an orphan born in a workhouse. The gradual discovery of Oliver’s family background and true identity is the main mystery of the novel.
Fagin: A conniving career criminal, Fagin takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him. He also «fences» stolen goods.
Nancy: A young prostitute and one of Fagin’s former child pickpockets. Nancy is also Bill Sikes’s lover. Despite her background, she is among the noblest characters in the novel.
Rose Maylie: Agnes Fleming’s sister, raised by Mrs. Maylie after the death of Rose’s father. A beautiful, compassionate, and forgiving young woman, Rose is the novel’s model of female virtue.
Mr. Brownlow: A well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver’s first benefactor. Mr. Brownlow owns a portrait of Agnes Fleming and was engaged to Mr. Leeford’s sister when she died.
Monks: A sickly, vicious man, prone to violent fits and filled with hatred for Oliver.
Bill Sikes: A brutal professional burglar. Sikes and Nancy are lovers, and he treats both her and his dog Bull’s-eye with an odd combination of cruelty and grudging kindness.
Mr. Bumble: The pompous, self-important beadle – a minor parish official – for the workhouse where Oliver is born. Though Mr. Bumble preaches Christian morality, he behaves without compassion toward the paupers under his care.
Agnes Fleming: Oliver’s mother. After falling in love with and becoming pregnant by Mr. Leeford, she chooses to die anonymously in a workhouse rather than stain her family’s reputation. A retired naval officer’s daughter, she was a beautiful, loving woman.
Mr. Leeford: Oliver’s father, who dies long before the events of the novel. He was an intelligent, high-minded man whose family forced him into an unhappy marriage with a wealthy woman. He eventually separated from his wife and had an illicit love affair with Agnes Fleming. He intended to flee the country with Agnes but died before he could do so.
Mr. Losberne: Mrs. Maylie’s family doctor. A hot-tempered but good-hearted old bacheler.
Mrs. Maylie: A kind, wealthy old lady; the mother of Harry Maylie and adoptive “aunt” of Rose.
Harry Maylie: Mrs. Maylie’s son. Harry is a dashing young man with grand political ambitions and career prospects.
The Artful Dodger (Jack Dawkins): The cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets. Though no older than Oliver, the Dodger talks and dresses like a grown man. He introduces Oliver to Fagin.
Charley Bates: One of Fagin’s pickpockets. Charley is ready to laugh at anything.
Old Sally: An elderly pauper who serves as the nurse at Oliver’s birth. Old Sally steals Agnes’s gold locket, the only clue to Oliver’s identity.
Mrs. Corney: The matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born. Mrs. Corney is hypocritical, callous, and materialistic.
Noah Claypole: A charity boy and Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice. Noah is an overgrown, cowardly bully who mistreats Oliver and eventually joins Fagin’s gang.
Charlotte: The Sowerberrys’ maid. Charlotte becomes romantically involved with Noah Claypole and follows him about slavishly.
Toby Crackit: One of Fagin and Sikes’s associates, crass and not too bright. Toby participates in the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home.
Mrs. Bedwin: Mr. Brownlow’s kind-hearted housekeeper.
Bull’s-eye: Bill Sikes’ dog. As vicious as his master, Bull’s-eye functions as Sikes’s alter ego.
Monks’s mother: An heiress who lived a decadent life and alienated her husband, Mr. Leeford. Monks’s mother destroyed Mr. Leeford’s will, which left part of his property to Oliver.
Mr. Sowerberry: The undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed. Though Mr. Sowerberry makes a grotesque living arranging cut-rate burials for paupers, he is a decent man who is kind to Oliver.
Mrs. Sowerberry: Sowerberry’s wife. Mrs. Sowerberry is a mean, judgmental woman who hen-pecks her husband.
Mr. Grimwig: Brownlow’s pessimistic, curmudgeonly friend. Mr. Grimwig is essentially good-hearted, and his pessimism is mostly just a provocative character quirk.
Mr. Giles: Mrs. Maylie’s loyal, though somewhat pompous, butler.
Mr. Brittles: A dim-witted handyman for Mrs. Maylie’s estate.
Mrs. Mann: The superintendent of the juvenile workhouse where Oliver is raised. Mrs. Mann physically abuses and half-starves the children in her care.
Mr. Gamfield: A brutal chimney sweep. Oliver almost becomes Mr. Gamfield’s apprentice.
Bet: One of Fagin’s former child pickpockets, now a prostitute.
Mr. Fang: A harsh, irrational, power-hungry magistrate.
Barney: One of Fagin’s criminal associates. Like Fagin, Barney is Jewish.
Duff and Blathers: Two bumbling police officers who investigate the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home.
Tom Chitling: A rather dim member of Fagin’s gang. Tom has served time in jail for doing Fagin’s bidding.
Preface
Once upon a time it was held to be a coarse and shocking circumstance, that some of the characters in these pages are chosen from the most criminal and degraded of London’s population.
As I saw no reason, when I wrote this book, why the dregs of life (so long as their speech did not offend the ear) should not serve the purpose of a moral, as well as its froth and cream, I made bold to believe that this same Once upon a time would not prove to be All-time or even a long time. I saw many strong reasons for pursuing my course. I had read of thieves by scores; seductive fellows (amiable for the most part), faultless in dress, plump in pocket, choice in horseflesh, bold in bearing, fortunate in gallantry, great at a song, a bottle, pack of cards or dice-box, and fit companions for the bravest. But I had never met (except in HOGARTH) with the miserable reality. It appeared to me that to draw a knot of such associates in crime as really did exist; to paint them in all their deformity, in all their wretchedness, in all the squalid misery of their lives; to show them as they really were, for ever skulking uneasily through the dirtiest paths of life, with the great black ghastly gallows closing up their prospect, turn them where they might; it appeared to me that to do this, would be to attempt a something which was needed, and which would be a service to society. And I did it as I best could.
In every book I know, where such characters are treated of, allurements and fascinations are thrown around them. Even in the Beggar’s Opera, the thieves are represented as leading a life which is rather to be envied than otherwise: while MACHEATH, with all the captivations of command, and the devotion of the most beautiful girl and only pure character in the piece, is as much to be admired and emulated by weak beholders, as any fine gentleman in a red coat who has purchased, as VOLTAIRE says, the right to command a couple of thousand men, or so, and to affront death at their head. Johnson’s question, whether any man will turn thief because Macheath is reprieved, seems to me beside the matter. I ask myself, whether any man will be deterred from turning thief, because of Macheath’s being sentenced to death, and because of the existence of Peachum and Lockit; and remembering the captain’s roaring life, great appearance, vast success, and strong advantages, I feel assured that nobody having a bent that way will take any warning from him, or will see anything in the play but a flowery and pleasant road, conducting an honourable ambition – in course of time – to Tyburn Tree.
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