Oliver Twists's Fagin as a Character for Whom the Audience has Considerable Sympathy

Oliver Twists's Fagin as a Character for Whom the Audience has Considerable Sympathy

"Oliver Twist" was the second novel of Charles Dickens. It was

initially published in monthly instalments that began in February of

1837 and ended in April of 1939. The book has been criticised for

anti-Semitism since Fagin is frequently referred to as "the Jew". At

the time many Jews, who had fled to England from persecution abroad,

were so discriminated against by the law that they became travelling

salesmen and stallholders. In these trades it was very easy to drift

into receiving and selling stolen goods. The Jewish thief's

characterizations do seem to owe much to ethnic stereotypes.

The first time Oliver meets Fagin is when The Artful Dodger takes him

away from the bitter cold of London to his den. From the very first

time we hear about Fagin, Dickens gives the reader reasons to believe

he is an evil, "villainous-looking" man. For example, at the start of

chapter 8 we see Fagin "standing over them, with a toasting fork in

his hand". This gives the images of a devil holding a fork in his

hand. In addition to this, Dickens gives Fagin the term of "merry old

gentlemen" which is also a term for the devil. From this we get the

impression Fagin is an ugly man. "His repulsive face was obscured by a

quantity of matted red hair" and "he was dressed in a greasy flannel

gown", would give the reader the impression that his face was so

awful, you could not bare to look at it. The way he presented himself

suggested his hygiene was poor since he was "greasy".

The character of Fagin is simpering but he also gives the impression

of a powerful man. "The Jew gr...

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...ty upon his blighted soul". Inevitably, if Dickens

describes him with senses he can be seen to be having humane

characteristics. It also shows that maybe because of the torture of

the environment, his soul has been destroyed. All of these words are

written illustrating great pity for the Jew.

In conclusion, there is much evidence to show that Fagin is a

stereotypical person since he has all the characteristics of a Jewish

thief with his avaricious, miserly, and ugly nature. The way he abuses

the children and other people is totally wrong. However, we can see

that Dickens is not totally anti-Jewish since he also describes decent

Jews as "Venerable men". As his humane character comes to light at the

end of the novel, we come to feel that Fagin is the product of an

unfortunate upbringing rather than a stereotypical Jew.