1. Oliver Twist The Victorian Period
Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist
The Victorian Period

3. Bibliography Oliver Twist (1837) David Copperfield Great Expectations
A Christmas Carol
etc

4. Biography Born in 1812 in Portsmouth Moved to London 1823
Worked in factory (labelling bottles of shoe polish)
Father arrested for debt: family moved to Marshalsea Prison
Marked for life by these experiences…

5. Biography First novel (The Pickwick Papers) successful
Immediately started publishing Oliver Twist (serial)
A Christmas Carol (1843) huge hit
In his books, he assaulted the establishment and bureaucracy
Stood up for the underprivileged
Worked himself to untimely death (1870)

6. Oliver Twist- summary Born in a workhouse. Mother dies giving birth.
Raised in workhouse orphanage by ill-tempered Mrs Corney and Mrs Mann
Age of nine: moves to workhouse to work
Sold when he asks for more gruel (havermout)
Works for Mr Sowerberry (undertaker)

7. Oliver Twist- summary Flees the undertaker’s after a row
Walks to London
Picked up by Artful Dodger, and taken in by Fagin, who learns him to be pickpocket
Arrested on the first night
Mr Brownlow exonerates Oliver and takes him in
Treated with sympathy for first time

8. Oliver Twist- summary
Sees portrait in the nurse’s room of a woman who looks just like him
Fagin desperate for Oliver’s return (potential informer)
Oliver kidnapped by Bill Sikes and Nancy
Fagin sends Oliver with Bill for a burglary
Oliver is shot
Mrs Maylie (housekeeper) takes care of Oliver

9. Oliver Twist- summary
Oliver treated kindly, also by Mrs Maylie’s niece, Rose
Oliver spied on by Monks, an agent of Fagin’s
Also, Fagin himself spies on Oliver, looking for an opportunity to abduct him
Nancy reveals the plans for a new kidnap
Bill Sykes clubs Nancy to death

10. Oliver Twist- summary Fagin arrested in police raid
Sykes accidently kills himself while fleeing from his former gang-mates
Fagin condemned to death, Artful Dodger goes to prison
Brownlow takes custody of Oliver and reveals all:
Monks was Oliver’s half-brother

11. Oliver Twist- summary
Oliver inherits his father’s money with a spotless reputation (which is why Monks tried to discredit him)
Mr Bumble (of the workhouse) is reduced to the poverty of the workhouse system because of plotting against Oliver
Happy ending, but not realistic

12. The book: style Exaggeration, vivid style, comedy
Unbelievable sentimentality
Claims to be realistic, but isn’t (too exaggerated)
Only mild social criticism: his humour sold books

13. Good vs evil
Original setting: an innocent boy against the forces of evil
But Dickens enjoys writing about the criminals too much: detailed descriptions
No character development: good remains good, evil remains evil
Oliver is always the polite, sweet boy, even in his contacts with evil-doers

14. Good vs evil
Fagin only bad guy for whom reader has little sympathy (rest victim of circumstances)
But…sometimes he is a father-figure for the boys

15. The first chapter
We will now read the first chapter, to give you an idea of Dickens’s style of writing.