What does the character of Bill Sykes bring To the novel of ‘Oliver Twist’?

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What does the character of Bill Sykes bring

To the novel of 'Oliver Twist'?

In 'Oliver Twist' Bill Sykes brings terror to the novel, which adds to the suspense and makes you want to read on. Bill Sykes is brutal which you soon realise when he delights in beating his dog or girlfriend, Nancy. Many novels of this time were full of such characters and Dickens, a playwright and an actor as well as a novelist, knew then well.

The orphan Oliver Twist escapes from the workhouse by running away to London. Oliver is introduced to Fagin who trains him to be a thief and he is then taken on a burglary with Sykes, Oliver recovers from being shot in the burglary and Nancy nurses Sykes back to full health. Sykes kills Nancy, which has a terrible effect on him, and he later kills himself.

Bill Sykes brings the real terror to the novel but he is also extremely unpredictable. Rarely he can seem quite reasonable and occasionally shows kindness to his dog and girlfriends, but generally he keeps everyone in fear of what he is going to do next. We see evidence of this when Fagin says,
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"You won't be too violent Bill?"

This statement shows that they have no trust in him. Bill Sykes also has a problem with alcohol, he drinks far too much, and this probably accounts for some of his unpredictable behaviour. We see evidence of his drinking problem when he says,

"...to prevent my standing treat for a pint of so...."

This shows that he thinks that he thinks drinking is a treat and does not himself think that he has a drinking problem.

Bill Sykes us the archetypal Victorian villain. To be a real villain ...

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