“…shook both his hands very hard- especially the one in which he held his little bundle”
“…was so obliging as to put his hands in his pockets, in order that, as he was very tired he might now have the trouble of emptying them himself...”
Of course, Dickens never actually states the fact, at this point in the book, that Fagin is a villain, nor does he state how the boys are robbing Oliver. He simply implies it through his use of tone and language.
However, near the end of the passage the reader’s decidedly negative opinion of Fagin is altered slightly as Dickens describes how Fagin feeds Oliver, gives him something to drink (even if it is alcohol) and a bed to sleep in. This can give the reader a sense that although he is a person who is going against the law, he has generally got feelings for the boys, and is certainly treating Oliver more kindly then any adult has ever treated Oliver in his life. This may all be an act to make Oliver trust him and feel safe around him, so that he can manipulate Oliver into pick pocketing for him later, but never the less, he is still making Oliver feel happier and more accepted then he has ever felt before.
However, as the text develops, Dickens ensures that all traces of pity or positive judgement for Fagin is eliminated as he presents the reader with a much darker, and sinister side of Fagin; he shows the reader just how devious, treacherous and villainous Fagin really is. The reader sees this in the passage where, Bill Sikes and Nancy have recaptured Oliver and brought him to Fagin. This is where Nancy's female intuition and feelings for Oliver are brought to air, where she defends and protects Oliver from the violence Fagin and Sikes wish to inflict on him.
‘You-you’re more clever than ever to-night. Ha!ha! my dear your acting beautifully’
Fagin here plays on a human weakness, the wish to be flattered. Fagin realizes that often, the key to getting around people and manipulating them, is by playing on their weaknesses, such as flattery. This shows how cunning and sneaky Fagin is, as he thinks that trying to seduce Nancy by flattering her will allay her fears and allow Fagin to get his own way.
However, in the next passage this clearly does not work. Nancy shows Fagin that she is smart enough to realise when someone is attempting to control her by making her think they are on her side. When she continues shouting at Fagin, Dickens implies that in truth, Fagin is an extremely cowardly, slimy character.
‘…and, shrinking back involuntarily a few paces, cast a glance, half imploringly, and half cowardly at Sikes’
This tells the reader, when a situation arises that Fagin believes he cannot control, he hides behind Sikes. This also implies that Sikes is really Fagin's thug. Sikes is the one who sorts out problems which may need violence, or methods other than manipulation or cunningness. In retrospect, one gets the impression that Fagin is a slightly pathetic and timorous character in the book, who only uses violence on people weaker than himself, i.e. the children. On the whole, Fagin in fact, is an absolute bully to the children, as he uses his advantage of being bigger and cleverer than them as means to bully them. He picks on children such as Oliver by flattering and involving the boys in his antagonising, so that the boys feel Fagin is on their side, therefore they trust him.
In the description of Fagin in chapter XIX, Charles Dickens hits home with the sheer repulsiveness of Fagin, through his evocative and dramatic vocabulary.
‘…emerged from his den’
The use of the word ‘den’ implies that Fagin is an animal, similar to a fox in the way that he moves at night. However, as the passage continues, Dickens is determined that the reader must not think of Fagin as anything more than a satanic demon, a person who deserves no such comparison to a fox or anything remotely complimentary.
‘It seemed just the night when it befitted such a being as the Jew to be abroad.’
After depicting the ghastly night in which all this was occuring (describing the rain as ‘sluggish’ and objects ‘cold and clammy’) this quote shows that Fagin is the sort of person who fits well with this weather, as if he is suited to it.
‘…the hideous old man seemed like some loathsome reptile…’
This fantastic simile makes the reader realize exactly what Dickens wants them to think. That Fagin is a subhuman, a person who is so revoltingly awful, that the only way to describe them is as a loathsome reptile, someone who can only move at night, in grotesque, disgusting places, doing dark, horrible deeds.
To accentuate this, Dickens uses vocabulary to describe Fagin's movements as ‘slunk, glided, creeping, and crawling’
Finally, to emphasize the readers mounting dislike for Fagin he finishes off with the final sentence
‘A dog growled as he touched the handle of a room door…’
In many horror films and books, vampires and other unearthly creatures are often described as enemies of everyone, even dogs. The fact that the dog growled is an indication that even the dog senses what an evil being Fagin is and how people should beware and be on their guard of him.
On Page 360, Fagin confesses to Bill Sikes how he has ordered the Artful Dodger to trail after Nancy, spying on her actions and caught her informing Mr. Brownlow on their possesion of Oliver Twist. However Fagin has decided that Nancy is a definite threat to him and his business, therefore he vindictively twists the story and makes Sikes believe that Nancy had in fact given Mr Brownlow details about them, their names, residence and plans. In his rage, Sikes immediately storms for the front door, promising that Nancy’s betrayal would not go unpunished. Sike’s rage is emphasised as Dickens describes his temper as ‘fiercely’, ‘wildly’ and ‘furiously’.
Fagin hurries after him in his haste and for a moment, Dickens influences the reader into believing that their may be just an ounce of good remaining in him as he writes the line when Fagin says:
“You wont be- too- violent, Bill?”
Here is a deliberate false truth that Dickens wishes to inflict on the readers. He raises hope in the readers mind that perhaps there is more of a heart or conscience about Fagin and that he is not truly bad. He produces some kind of good light on Fagin, and implies that he is in fact quite caring. However this hope is completely destroyed when Dickens writes the next piece of dialogue where Fagin says:
“not too violent for safety. Be careful Bill, and not too bold”
Dickens here, causes the reader’s hopes to fall and makes them realize that Fagin’s personality is truly implacable, that there is no good left in him. What Fagin actually means is that Sikes shouldn’t be too violent in front of others, that he should only kill Nancy in private and ensure that it is disguised in a way so that no one finds out. This shows that Fagin is yet again, only thinking of himself and his secrecy. This is a fantastic technique of Dickens, as he is playing with the reader’s emotions, raising their hopes only to destroy them.
In the last pages of Fagin’s existence in Oliver Twist, Dickens obviously does not want to grant Fagin any forgiveness or benefit of the doubt. He leaves the reader with an impression of Fagin, which is severe in its hate and dislike. In these pages Fagin has been caught, charged, and awaiting punishment by death, which in those times were public hangings. Oliver Twist and Mr Brownlow enter the cell in which Fagin is being kept. They meet a person who shows signs of insanity, desperation and cowardness. Fagin is obviously extremely petrified of his soon to come end and is desperate to try and escape. Dickens’s reveals to the reader that Fagin has become completely dehumanised in his fear, and that every human characteristic about him has vanished.
“Fagin! Are you a man?”
“I shant be one long” he replied looking up with a face retaining no human expression…’
This shows that Fagin’s fear of death has driven him into misery and despair. Dickens’s uses this language, to ensure that the reader is completely convinced that Fagin is not human, nor should we feel remotely sorry for his abrupt and brutal end.
However, once again, Dickens uses a classic technique, where he tries to raise the reader’s hopes regarding Fagin, one final time. When Mr Brownlow asks Fagin the whereabouts of papers concerning Oliver’s inheritance, after immediate denial, which most liars do, Fagin all of a sudden changes his position. He decides to whisper the hideaway into Oliver’s ears. This makes the reader immediately grasp onto the faintest hope that now, even after all that’s happened, Fagin has the tiniest bit of heart deep inside of him and he is trying to make amends.
However, Dickens’s implies through his language and tone that there is a much sneakier and cunning reason for this sudden act of kindness. Fagin feels that if he tries to make Oliver believe that he is on his side and is his friend, he can somehow, even now, manipulate him into helping him escape. Once again, the readers hopes are completely destroyed as one realizes there is, in truth no hope for Fagin- he will always be relentlessly evil and that there can be no saving him. It also emphasizes how utterly desperate and pathetic he has become, trying to plot an escape even when there is a guard standing only about 3 metres away from him.
Dickens sees to this last reference of Fagin, that it rids him of every fragment of dignity possible.
“He struggles with the power of desperation, for an instant: and then set up a cry upon cry that penetrated even those massive walls…”
This leaves the reader with the lasting thought that Fagin really is as pathetic, cowardly and pitiful as we think. Dickens’s obvious dislike for the character ensures that he purges Fagin of all his dignity, respect and self-esteem.
