Literary Criticism of Oliver Twist

2032 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Oliver twist literary criticism

Literary Criticism of Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens shows notable amounts of originality and morality in his novels, making him one of the most renowned novelists of the Victorian Era and immortalizing him through his great novels and short stories. One of the reasons his work has been so popular is because his novels reflect the issues of the Victorian era, such as the great indifference of many Victorians to the plight of the poor. The reformation of the Poor Law 1834 brings even more unavoidable problems to the poor. The Poor Law of 1834 allows the poor to receive public assistance only through established workhouses, causing those in debt to be sent to prison. Unable to pay debts, new levels of poverty are created. Because of personal childhood experiences with debt, poverty, and child labor, Dickens recognizes these issues with a sympathetic yet critical eye. Dickens notices that England's politicians and people of the upper class try to solve the growing problem of poverty through the Poor Laws and what they presume to be charitable causes, but Dickens knows that these things will not be successful; in fact they are often inhumane. Dickens' view of poverty and the abuse of the poor can be seen in Oliver Twist, a novel about an orphan, brought up in a workhouse and poverty to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the upper class people. Oliver Twist shows Dickens' perspective of society in a realistic, original manner, which hope to change society's views by "combining a survey of the actual social scene with a metaphoric fiction designed to reveal the nature of such a society when exposed to a moral overview" (Gold 26). Dickens uses satire, humorous and biting, through pathos, and stock characters in Oliver Twist to pr...

... middle of paper ...

... to the many children who have gone through life unheard, opening society's eyes to the inhumane conditions that the poor children are forced to live through. Dickens does so by writing a "story of the routine cruelty exercised upon the nameless, almost faceless submerged of Victorian society" (Wilson 129). Dickens' work of social reform is not limited to Oliver Twist for "a great and universal pity for the poor and downtrodden has been awaken in him which is to provide the

driving power behind his pen in book after book" (Neill 168). Much of Dickens' literary career is devoted to create awareness of the reality that is being overlooked by many. He attempts to enlighten everyone with how the world should be, a place in perfect harmony. Truly, Dickens did not write his novel in a dream world, but rather showed the inevitable truth if society does not change.

Show More
Related

  • How Does Dickens Create Tension In The Lead-Up To Nancy’s Death?

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charles Dickens is a famous novelist who was born on February 7TH 1812, Portsmouth England. His novel ‘Oliver Twist’ had been serialized and to also show Dickens purposes, which was to show the powerful links between poverty and crime. The novel is based on a young boy called Oliver Twist; the plot is about how the underprivileged misunderstood orphan, Oliver the son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming, he is generally quiet and shy rather than being aggressive, after his parents past away he is forced to work in a workhouse and then forced to work with criminals. The novel reveals a lot of different aspects of poverty, crime and cruelty which Dickens had experienced himself as a young boy in his disturbing and unsupportive childhood, due to his parents sent to prison so therefore Charles, who was already filled with misery, melancholy and deprivation had started working at the age of twelve at a factory to repay their debt.

    Read More

  • Scrooge's Transformation in Dickens' A Christmas Carol

    2180 Words  | 5 Pages

    Charles Dickens born February 7th 1812 – 9th June 1870 is a highly remarkable novelist who had a vision to change wealthy people’s scrutiny on the underprivileged and by fulfilling the dream he writes novels. Furthermore, I think that Dickens wrote about poverty as he had experiences this awful incident in his upbringings.

    Read More

  • The Lives of Dickens' Characters

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charles Dickens' literary works are comparable to one another in many ways; plot, setting, and even experiences. His novels remain captivating to his audiences and he draws them in to teach the readers lessons of life. Although each work exists separate from all of the rest, many similarities remain. Throughout the novels, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, the process of growing up, described by the author, includes the themes of the character's ability to alienate themselves, charity given to the characters and what the money does to their lives, and the differences of good and evil individuals and the effects of their influences.

    Read More

  • Comparative Essay on Harriet Beecher Stowe´s Uncle Tom´s Cabin and Charles Dicken´s Oliver Twist

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oliver Twist mainly revolves around the mistreatment of orphans and how they were ranked low in society. The story teaches us a lot about how growing up in poverty and being ranked lowly in society makes people do things to harm others when they grow up by becoming thieves, pick-pocketers, or murderers. Oliver Twist takes us to England and while telling us the story of the fictional character Oliver Twist, who was an orphan, Charles Dickens also shows us the hard life for the people who faced poverty in old England. England,...

    Read More

  • Mystery in Charlotte Bronte's Napoleon and the Spectre and Charles Dickens' Signalman

    2508 Words  | 6 Pages

    Dickens saw it as his role to write about the plight of the poor and

    Read More

  • The Use of Language in Chapter 47 of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel ‘Oliver Twist’, written by Charles Dickens explores eighteenth century Britain and how the divide between classes affected society.

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charles Dickens was a man who suffered from poverty, which led him to expose the cruelty, injustice, and disadvantages that the poor encounter on a daily basis. Dickens was born into a low class family as many other authors of his time were. Ironically enough the restrictions that he faced living a hard and cruel life with his family, encouraged him to think outside the box of social norms. He began his career by doing some journalistic work and then worked his way up to becoming a newspaper reporter. The main focus of his works were the ignorance of the poor and child labor, both topics seemed to effect him on a personal note. Dickens’ attitude toward child labor and the poverty of the masses was exposed through his writings, which awakened the s...

    Read More

  • The Fiction and Journalism of Charles Dickens

    4560 Words  | 10 Pages

    Readers of Charles Dickens' journalism will recognize many of the author's themes as common to his novels. Certainly, Dickens addresses his fascination with the criminal underground, his sympathy for the poor, especially children, and his interest in the penal system in both his novels and his essays.  The two genres allow the author to address these matters with different approaches, though with similar ends in mind.

    Read More

  • Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last novel, exposes the reality Dickens is surrounded by in his life in Victorian England. The novel heavily displays the corruption of society through multiple examples. These examples, that are planted within the novel, relate to both the society in Dickens' writing and his reality. In order to properly portray the fraud taking place within his novels, Dickens' uses morality in his universe to compare to the reality of society. He repetitively references to the change of mind and soul for both the better and the worst. He speaks of the change of heart when poisoned by wealth, and he connects this disease to the balance of the rich and the poor. This is another major factor to novel, where the plot is surrounded by a social hierarchy that condemns the poor to a life of misery, and yet, condones any action that would normally be seen as immoral when it occurs in the aristocracy. It expands on the idea that only an education and inheritance will bring success in society, with few exceptions. Lastly, Dickens expands his opinions of society through his mockery of ...

    Read More

  • Comparing Evil, Abuse and Escape in Oliver Twist and Great Expectations

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Oliver Twist and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, both main characters refuse to except the poor hand the world has dealt them.  Pip and Oliver reach a great epiphany in regards to social injustice, and in turn rebel against the system that oppresses them.  They are tired of being mistreated and neglected, and therefore decide to make a stand.  Charles Dickens exhibits through Oliver and Pip that the revolt of the weak against the strong results from the oppression of the poor.  As a result of their revolt against the system, Pip and Oliver are ostracized for their non-conformist ideals.  Thus change in an oppressing and conformist society can only be achieved through change in moral, social, and political instincts.

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although the overall message was clear, coming on the heels of the of Poor Law of 1834 as the book did, the characters Dickens created for the purpose of making his social commentary ranged from one dimensional to multidimensional caricatures. He used them as a means of presenting the "other" side of wealth-the dark, evil side.

    Read More

  • Crime and Punishment in Great Expectations

    2220 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dickens knew how hard-pressed life was for thousands of English families in mid-ninteenth century England, and he knew the legal side of such desperation--a jungle of suspicion and fear and hate. He was especially attentive [if] . . . hungry, jobless men, women, children with few if any prospects became reduced to a fate not only marginal with respect to its "socioeconomic" character but also with respect to its very humanity. (575)

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Family in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield

    4652 Words  | 10 Pages

    Charles Dickens is one of the most popular and ingenious writers of the XIX century. He is the author of many novels. Due to reach personal experience Dickens managed to create vivid images of all kinds of people: kind and cruel ones, of the oppressed and the oppressors. Deep, wise psychoanalysis, irony, perhaps some of the sentimentalism place the reader not only in the position of spectator but also of the participant of situations that happen to Dickens’ heroes. Dickens makes the reader to think, to laugh and to cry together with his heroes throughout his books.

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    He displays his moral beliefs in every book that he has written. Dickens was a very big advocate in the “plea of Poor versus Rich';(Internet Site #1). Dickens gave plenty of aid to this plea by the works that he wrote, which provided progress to the battle for the poor. All of Dickens’ novels show the battle between upper and lower classes. He portrays the lower class in a respectable way, but he portrays the proletarian people in such a dishonorable way that the reader in some books despises them. One example of this is in Tale of Two Cities. This book shows how most people were poor during the French Revolution. The aristocracy consisted of about 3 percent of the population, and everyone else was poor in the lower class. This book shows the admirable qualities of the poor, and how they managed to squeak out a living despite the horrible conditions that they lived in. Dickens makes the reader feel bad for the lower classes in many books. He introduces many poor children in his books that the reader feels bad for because of their upbringing. This can be seen in Bleak House with the introduction of Jo into the novel. Jo was a poor boy who did everything he could to try and make money. Dickens’ makes the reader feel bad when Jo dies because the he could not help that he was given such a rough life, but he tried his best to survive. The reader also feels bad because he dies at such a young age.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Vs Oliver Twist

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the novel, the use of satire increases the readability of the text, intriguing readers’ thoughts, and, ultimately, emphasizing the adverse social condition; thus making the novel appealing. When Oliver was born, Dickens wrote, “Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time” (Dickens Chapter I). Dickens is connoting the fact that those who are in adversities would fight for living, while those who are not don’t even need to fight, highlighting the social inequality that exists at that time. Other than that, Dickens described that authorities’ reaction to “let the paupers go to sleep” as “a novel illustration of the tender laws of England”, using a sarcastic tone to make the point that paupers were not expected to sleep in that time, underscoring the ruthlessness that those who are in lower class were suffering not only in the novel but also in the corrupted society during Victorian Era (Dickens Chapter II). Dickens successfully illustrated a brutal society that once existed. Other than the innuendos, the way that the author delivers the story also makes the novel remarkable. Throughout the narration, Dickens constantly “tells” the story in the first person. For example, Dickens writes: “As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the white waistcoated gentleman was right or not, I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative (supposing it to possess any at all), if I ventured to hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no” (Dickens Chapter II). Using “I”, Dickens provides a sense of reality to the reader by “telling” the story with his personal interpretation, instead of just having the reader to “read”

    Read More

More about Literary Criticism of Oliver Twist

Open Document