Charles Dickens presents Mr Bumble as an evil character. At the start of the story Dickens describes him as a "fat healthy man". While as all the orphans are being starved, he is never going without. When Oliver asks for more food, Mr Bumble:
"Aimed a blow at Oliver's head
with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms,
and aloud for the beadle."
Mr Bumble does not understand why Oliver is asking for more food; he thinks Oliver is being greedy. However, it is Mr Bumble who is cold and heartless for not realising the orphans are hungry. He feels the children already receive too many comforts from the workhouse. Given that Mr Bumble opposes the Christian ethoss of the parish, he is presented as a misanthropist who is violent and evil through his description and actions.
Another evil character Oliver is faced with is Mr Sowerberry. He is an undertaker who takes Oliver in, after the incident where Oliver asked for more food. A place in which Mr Sowerberry's icy ways were shown is when he made Oliver sleep amongst coffins:
'Oliver was fed table scraps
and had to sleep among coffins.'
This suggests Mr Sowerberry was an evil, malicious and wicked character. As Oliver was sent to Mr Sowerberry after the occasion when Oliver asked for more food, it seems this is a punishment from Mr Sowerberry as well. But Oliver was not actually being greedy, he was just being a normal person, what anybody would do when they were being starved to death. This shows Mr Sowerberry is just as much an evil character as Mr Brownlow. Dickens shows Mr Sowerberry is a bad character through his behaviour, personality and job.
Charles Dickens presents the Artful Dodger as a bad character, who is an orphan. Like Oliver, he is faced with a choice to be a child in the workhouse or pursue the life of crime. But unlike Oliver he chooses the bad life. As he has grown-up with this, he no longer knows the difference between right and wrong, but soon learns that crime doesn't pay. The place in which Artful Dodgers evilness was shown was when he meets Oliver sitting wearily on a doorstep and offers him a place to sleep:
"I know a nice old gent in London who'll
give you a bed for nothing - he knows me
very well!"
This may seem he is very kind, offering a poor boy a place to stay, but he is actually just using him; for Oliver is a good source of energy to him, someone who he think will help do his nasty deeds. Dickens presents him as a bad character through his actions and selfless thoughts!
The next person Oliver comes face to face with is Fagin. He is one of the main characters in the story. Fagin is a sly, secretive ringleader who captured poor, defenceless children and used them to make a living. A place in which his depravity is shown is when he was planning on using Oliver to help him and Bill Sikes in a big robbery:
"Fagin and Bill Sikes planned to use him
to help them in a big robbery."
This illustrates to us what kind of a character Fagin is. It tells us Fagin is a selfish, egotistical and a rapacious old man. Another place where Fagin's bad ways is shown is after Oliver escaped and met Mr Brownlow. He had willingly given him five pounds and valuable books to deliver to someone, when caught out by the gang. Fagin thought that if he ran away he would tell the police about them and they would all be arrested. So in the next few days Fagin made sure that Oliver was not to leave his sight:
"During the next few days,
Fagin made certain that Oliver had no
chance to escape."
The author Charles Dickens presents Fagin as a man who cares only for himself. Dickens also illustrates Fagin as a bad character through his looks. In animations the villains would look ugly, wrinkly and scrawny, that is almost the image that the author gives us. His bad character is shown through his behaviour, actions and appearance.
There are a few good characters Oliver comes face to face with, one of them is Nancy. A young girl belonging to Fagin's gang. Like Artful Dodger she has a choice to live the criminal life or be one of the dying children in the workhouse. Her decision is obviously to live the criminal life. But unlike the others she has a heart of gold. (You could almost say she was forced in the gang). Nancy's goodness is shown when she explains to Rose (the owner of the house Oliver was forced to rob) what Monks was going to do to Oliver (Monks was another member of the gang) and began to weep saying:
'Please miss, don't come to any harm!
I'd give my own life to save him.
Honest I would!'
Dickens has tried to emphasise the fact that in the Victorian Times there weren't very strict laws, which meant there were a lot of very bad people round at that time, but still some good left, and even though Nancy was around very dangerous people she was a good person at heart (that's why you have the proverb, 'don't judge a book by its cover!). It also illustrates how good Nancy was, for her to tell Rose everything, she must have been a very brave soul and must have loved Oliver dearly to do such a kind thing. She knew Oliver didn't deserved a better life ad didn't need to be pulled into a life as insecure as her own. Dickens presents Nancy as a good person through her emotions and actions.
