Oliver Twist?

Question

Does Dickens portray criminals in a too positive light in this book?

Answer 1

There are a number of different ways of looking at this question.

For one thing, Dickens could not portray criminals as they really were and get the book published. He couldn't use their real language and he couldn't depict the true immorality of their life styles - Victorian public wouldn't have stood for it.

For another, there are different grades of criminal portrayed in the book. Sykes, Nancy and Fagin are all treated differently.

Sykes is a conscienceless brute and (apart from moderating his language) he is protrayed as such. He has no redeeming features.

Nancy is the stereotypical tart-with-a-heart (although she is very probably one of the earliest examples) she is portrayed as a more nuanced character. She is a prostitute but she isn't lost to all moral feeling, she knows what she is doing is considered wicked by society and feels that she is behaving wickedly, but she does know that what is happening to Oliver is so wrong that she has to intervene. Even so, as many battered women do, she cannot bring herself to leave her batterer.

Fagin is a career criminal, a fence, a thief master and a grass. But he knows that, if he behaves reasonably well towards Oliver, he may be able to corrupt him. Oliver has been starved of love and attention and might very well have been corrupted by him had he been been in Fagin's clutches for long.

The really unrealistic character in the book is IMO Oliver

Answer 2

No, it portrays life was like for orphans working in the workhouses. I don't think Oliver Twist portrays criminals in a too positive light. It is after all a classic novel and isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. It is though a entranceway into Dickens way of life and I think it tells us what life was like and what Dickens saw every day as he passed through London I would imagine.

Answer 3

Positive??? I don't mean to be rude, but have you read the book or just seen the film? Oliver Twist is as darker story as they come and whilst he may have some fun with Fagin, Bill Sykes is cleary a deranged pychopath. The book and the film are very different things.

Answer 4

He's sympathetic to Nancy but that was a common middle-class victorian attitude towards the 'fallen woman', she is seen somewhat as a victim. Regarding Bill Sykes and Fagin, they both come to sticky ends, implying a moralistic attitude.

Answer 5

No. Look at Bill Sykes and what happened to Nancy. It is a social commentary to highlight the abuse of children and orphans by unscrupulous adults.

Answer 6

you may be confusing the book with the musical. in the book, to the extent any character appears sympathetic, it is because of the way they treat oliver. but fagin, bill sykes, monks, and the artful dodger all meet with typical victorian justice.

Answer 7

No.

In this life, one thing counts
In the bank, large amounts
I'm afraid these don't grow on trees
You have to pick a pocket or two!

Oliver (1968)

Answer 8

Yes, I think we should complain and have him suspended don't you?

Get real, just imagine 200 years in the future what any sensible person would make a us morons sitting here on Yahoo Answers. I shudder to think

Answer 9

The book no...the film yes and no I don't mean Bill Sykes

Answer 10

are you doing your GCSE English coursework too? if you are then the best thing to do is copy and paste all the answers you get (including this one) and then just hand it in. hand it right in just as it is. i did and it worked for me B-. Go for it!!!!

PS yuo can do your science coursework and french/spanish the same way!!! genius!