How does Dickens represent crime and criminals in Oliver Twist

Nancy is a prostitute in the novel however Dickens portrays her as a victim rather than the Victorian view as a corrupted and dirty prostitute however it is clear to the reader she is a Godly woman who has a conscience and acts upon it. Nancy is clearly a woman who believes in God as she says phrases such as “so help me God” when she is betraying Sikes and Fagin to Rose Maylie. To the reader it shows that Nancy has morals and is able to sometimes pull away from her trapped life as a prostitute. Nancy is aware that she is a branded criminal who people ‘shrink openly from’ but she still has a dream of throwing her cares away and live a life much like Rose Maylie’s. In this sense she is very naïve as it seems impossible for someone to just break free of the crime in London however she tries to nurture the childish dream of running away and starting a new life. When Nancy is talking to Rose she admits that she is a criminal and that the ‘poorest women fall back’ but she feels older than she really is and is unable to breakaway from being a criminal.  When Bill found out that Nancy had betrayed them Bill was very violent, Nancy pleaded with him to ‘spare my life, for the love of heaven, as I spared yours’. Here Nancy was very vulnerable and still pleaded on God’s name for her life. Nancy is scared of Bill all the time but she still loves him and cannot leave him, in this situation he is again unsure ad afraid that the person she has loved I trying to kill her. Dickens is trying to show that although prostitutes are seen as dirty and corrupted they are often sweet Christian girls like Nancy who have used prostitution to make a living in London and if given a chance would be wholesome and virtuous.

Dickens shows the stereotypical view of a greedy Jew through Fagin; he is portrayed as a devil that chooses a life of exploiting young boys and crime. Fagin corrupts the young boys at his house by treating them as young gentlemen and letting them ‘smoke long clay pipes and drinking spirits with the air of middle aged men’. Fagin is letting these small boys live like men and not children, Dickens could be trying to show that Fagin himself was abandoned and raised by a stranger as a child and it is all he knows. Regardless of that Fagin is corrupting these boys and turning them into exactly what the Victorians expect. Young children who scrounge and beg from the streets and ruin peoples trade by thieving. In the novel Fagin is shown as a ‘very old shriveled Jew’ with ‘matted red hair, bare throat, a greasy flannel gown and is holding ‘a toasting fork’. All these attributes give the impression that Fagin is a devil with red hair and a trident. It shows he is untrustworthy and evil who is sending people to hell. In the novel Fagin is portrayed as someone who likes to stir rumors and gossip, he likes to annoy people and cause trouble. He successfully does this when Nancy goes to Rose. He hints that she betrayed them to Sikes, knowing full well how Sikes will react. He says ‘tell about – NANCY’ to attract Bill’s attention, he uses this to mock people and gets them into trouble. It emphasizes his devil like and malicious personality. Fagin is depicted as the devil of the novel, Dickens goes along with the Victorian view of a Jew and sculpts Fagin around it. He is trying to show that although most criminals shouldn’t fit into the stereotype some do and people should be wary of them.

Bill Sikes is portrayed as the real villain in Oliver Twist, he is a thuggish criminal who is violent and often takes advantage of others, and he chooses his life of crime and enjoys it. Like Fagin, Sikes is shows as an animal or something that is evil and corrupted. Sikes is often described with a ‘heaving chest’ and ‘savage resolution’. This shows characteristics of an animal with a savage nature, the language indicates that Dickens is trying to show the fact that Bill is not only a criminal he is a mean criminal who has no compassion or thoughts for anyone. In comparison he thinks about himself a lot, and concentrates on not getting caught rather than what he is actually doing. When Sikes is murdering Nancy, Dickens uses vocabulary such as dragged, hurled, and struggled; these words imply anger and brutality. Sikes uses his violence to take control of people and this amplifies the Victorian view of a criminal. In Sikes character Dickens is trying to suggest that there are some vicious and dangerous criminal in London that people should be wary of.  Sikes is a leader of the criminal underworld and is helping to trap innocent and naïve young boys.