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literary elements in oliver twist
literary elements in oliver twist
literary elements in oliver twist
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Throughout Oliver Twist (1838) Charles Dickens depicts Fagin as a cunning and occasionally depraved man. Fagin does not show fear or remorse as he manipulates the Artful Dodger, Oliver, and Nancy to thieve for him. When Fagin is shown as the respectable Old Gentleman on page 62 or when he is conspiring with Noah Claypole in “The Jew and Morris Bolter Begin to Understand Each Other” (Dickens 343) he appears confidant and completely in control. However, Fagin finds himself brought to justice for his misdeeds in chapter LII, he shows fear for the first time. George Cruikshank’s penultimate illustration “Fagin in the Condemned Cell” (431) accompanying Dickens’s text, presents a different Fagin, one who shows dismay and dread for the first time as he awaits hanging.
If the eyes are the windows to the soul, Dickens recognizes this in depicting Fagin as he faces his death. When he is in the courtroom Fagin finds that “inquisitive and eager eyes peered from every inch of space” (426) and he cannot escape their judgment. As Fagin listens to the judge his eyes “turned sharply” (427) on his jury in the hopes of finding even a single person who feels sympathy for him. However, such a friend is not to be found, and when the guilty verdict is brought down, Fagin is sent to prison to await his sentence, “to be hanged by the neck, till he was dead” (429). Once Fagin is brought to his cell, his eyes cease their wandering and “casting his blood-shot eyes upon the ground” (429) he attempts to gather together his thoughts.
In Cruikshank’s illustration, Fagin’s eyes dominate the entirety of the scene. They bulge out of Fagin’s face, and, in agreement with Dickens’s text, “shone with a terrible light” (433). Where in “Oliver Introduced” and “The Jew...
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...e last hours of his life in the gloom contemplating the death he deserves.
In this penultimate chapter, Dickens and Cruikshank have worked together to transform Fagin from the jolly, corrupt man that he is throughout Oliver Twist into a frightened, cowering creature who inspires the question from the turnkey, “Fagin! Are you a man?” (435) Fagin drearily answers, “I shan’t be one long” (435); he is finally being punished for his criminal transgressions. Dickens goes on to describe the black apparatus of death. Through this illustration Cruikshank brings us a Fagin contemplating his transgressions and fearing his fate in the hours before his death.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. New York: Oxford, 1978. Print.
Killian, Greg. "The Significance of The Number Seven." Watchman. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
Fed 2011. .
Fagin is the mastermind among the criminals; he is described as an “Old Jew” he has an ugly appearance although he is described as “shrivelled” he is selfish and has been corrupted by poverty yet unknowingly shows sympathy towards Oliver, as it has shown in the novel when Oliver is told to make a robbery in Mr. Brownlow’s house, until Oliver gets shot and then Fagin shows his love towards him, this makes the reader feel that even criminals may do the unlawful work they still have some emotions and love for other humans, also in this scene Fagin reveals himself t...
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Combining entertainment with a deep critique of the contemporary socioeconomic system and philosophy, Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist explores the reality that in Victorian London, crime was neither heroic nor romantic. A setting of debauchery, thievery, prostitution, and murder, Fagin's underworld didactically illustrates the "unattractive and repulsive truth (36)," that one's environment--not birth--influences character. Attempting to introduce society to the evil it had created, Dickens penned "Fagin's Last Night Alive," manipulating both his literal and figurative audience, capitalizing on the current sentiments and issues. By typifying Fagin as the absolute evil, Dickens uses contemporary religious temperaments and society's apathy and ignorance, to reveal a reality about the underworld lifestyle that society was not willing to acknowledge--society is somewhat guilty for the underworld's corruption.
Published in 1838, this fictional tale highlights the abuse and violence in 1800 Britain, venturing into the social and economical divide and focussing on the underclass, which at this time lived in harsh, squalor and awful conditions. Chapter 47 reveals the themes of criminality and scheming behaviour which runs throughout the novel. Brutality erupts when Bill is manipulated by Fagin. At this time in the story Nancy has risked her life to inform Mr Brownlow of Oliver’s whereabouts. Charles Dickens creates a dark, mysterious setting when he describes the scene of Fagin’s lair ‘the dead of night’ – already ‘death’ is in the reader’s thoughts and minds. Animal imagery is applied to depict Fagin, and is used numerous times within the first two paragraphs of chapter 47 ‘less like a man’, ‘old lair’. The reader can immediately image this monster- like man with a ‘distorted face’ who is up two hours before day-break feeling troubled and thinking up schemes to save himself.
Charles Dickens used Great Expectations as a forum for presenting his views of human nature. This essay will explore friendship, generosity, love, cruelty and other aspects of human nature presented by Dickens over 100 years ago.
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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.
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 ...
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.
Fagin has been sentenced to death, but before he is hanged, Oliver and Brownlow visit him to discover where he hid the papers verifying Oliver's heritage.
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”
Charles Dickens is well known for his distinctive writing style. Few authors before or since are as adept at bringing a character to life for the reader as he was. His novels are populated with characters who seem real to his readers, perhaps even reminding them of someone they know. What readers may not know, however, is that Dickens often based some of his most famous characters, those both beloved or reviled, on people in his own life. It is possible to see the important people, places, and events of Dickens' life thinly disguised in his fiction. Stylistically, evidence of this can be seen in Great Expectations. For instance, semblances of his mother, father, past loves, and even Dickens himself are visible in the novel. However, Dickens' past influenced not only character and plot devices in Great Expectations, but also the very syntax he used to create his fiction. Parallels can be seen between his musings on his personal life and his portrayal of people and places in Great Expectations.
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...