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Oliver Twist

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Oliver Twist is an 1838 novel by Charles Dickens. It has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and the basis for a highly successful British musical, entitled simply Oliver!. It was originally published as a serial.

As with most of Dickens' work, Oliver Twist is used to bring the public's attention to various contemporary social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals.

The novel is full of sarcasm and dark humour, even as it treats its serious subject, revealing the hypocrisies of the time.

Synopsis

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Oliver is a boy born in a workhouse in the year 1797, who has no idea of his parents' identity. His mother Agnes died in childbirth. By pure chance he is chosen as a scapegoat by the other starving boys, and is made to go and ask for an extra helping at a mealtime ("Please, sir, I want some more."). As a result of this breach of etiquette, he is "sold" by the workhouse as an undertaker's apprentice. The cruelty he suffers at the hands of an older apprentice named Noah Claypole causes him to run away, and he finds his way to London, where he is taken under the wing of the Artful Dodger, a boy criminal.

The Dodger introduces Oliver into his circle of friends, who include Fagin the Jew, a criminal mastermind, and his brutal ally, Bill Sikes. Oliver is taught crimes such as picking pockets, but never actually participates in them. He is shown kindness by Bill's 17-year-old mistress, Nancy.

After a robbery that goes wrong, in which Oliver played the part of an unwitting lookout, he is taken into the home of a wealthy man, Mr Brownlow. Unknown to them, efforts are being made by Oliver's half-brother, Monks, to locate him and prevent him from obtaining his inheritance, but Mr Brownlow soon begins to suspect that Oliver is the son of his niece. Sikes and Nancy snatch Oliver back, and Sikes takes him on a burglary, planning to get him a criminal record as a favour to Monks. But Oliver is left behind when the burglary goes wrong, and is adopted into the home of Rose Maylie. Ultimately he is restored to Mr Brownlow.

Meanwhile, Monks and Fagin are plotting to try to go after Oliver again and either kidnap him or kill him. Nancy is fearful of such a scenario and goes to Rose Maylie and Mr Brownlow to divulge the plot of the evil pair. She manages to keep her secret meetings hidden until Noah Claypole (he has fallen out with the same undertaker who once employed Oliver and moved to London to seek his own fortune) agrees to spy on Nancy and then gives information to Fagin and Sikes. In a fit of rage, Sikes murders Nancy and is himself killed while being pursued by an angry mob. Monks is forced to explain his secrets and give half of his inheritance to Oliver, and moves to America soon afterwards, where he quickly spends his money, reverts to criminal activities and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and hanged for his crimes. Rose Maylie marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr Brownlow.

Themes

Charity and love are themes because even though Oliver is treated horribly by most people, he is shown love by a few good people. Those people being Mr. Brownlow, Mrs. Maylie, and even Nancy.

Greed and corruption are also themes because of how people take advantage of Oliver. He is taken advantage by Mr. Bumble at the workhouse, and the thieves. Mr. Fagin tries to control Oliver, to use him for his own wealth. Monks tries to steal his identity, and his inheritance.

Characters

Theatrical, Film and TV adaptations

There have been many theatrical, film and TV adaptations of Dickens' novel:

  • The earliest film adaptation is a silent movie made in 1909.
  • In 1960, Lionel Bart's musical play "Oliver!" opened to rave reviews in London. Producer David Merrick brought the show to the United States. The show toured nationally in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit before opening at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway on January 6, 1963.
  • An animated interpretation by Disney called Oliver & Company (1988), loosely based on Dickens, about an orphaned cat named Oliver who meets a dog called Dodger.
  • The 2003 movie Twist by director Jacob Tierney is loosely based on the novel but set in modern-day Toronto with male prostitution and drugs rather than pick-pocketing.

Adaptations of the novel tend to simplify the original story. The way the book is normally interpreted on screen causes modern readers to focus on Bill Sikes as the villain. They thus fail to recognise how Fagin has trained Sikes and made him what he is; part of Dickens' message is that he might have done the same with Oliver had chance not intervened.

The renowned comic book creator, Will Eisner, disturbed by the anti-semitism in the typical depiction of Fagin, created a graphic novel in 2003 titled Fagin the Jew. In this book, the back story of the character and events of Oliver Twist are depicted from his point of view.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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