Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is a fascinating novel that recounts the dreadful childhood of young Oliver.
Set in the Industrial Revolution, this novel explores the difficulties of an orphan in an unfriendly environment. The themes and plot compels the reader to thoroughly enjoy the book however, what drives the reader to enjoy it the most is the evil and, supposedly, heartless characters that try to push Oliver down every time he stands up. Fagin and Bill Sikes are much thought about while reading this novel. This essay will talk about how evil these characters really are and how their evilness contributes towards the story.
First of all, Fagin is the old man who takes care of Oliver after he runs away from the undertaker home. Fagin may look ol
...d and innocent on the outside but inside he is a master criminal. Oliver is first introduced to Fagin by The Artful Dodger who rescues him from a homeless life from the streets. From that day on, Oliver learns to like Fagin and vice versa. Fagin is not necessarily an evil character because he loves the boys and takes care of them very much.
Even though, he may act rough towards the boys, he tries to give them a life that is not one full of pity and begging. He also cares a bit about Nancy which is justified when he tells Bill to not be so hard on her after she told Mr Brownlow about where they live. 'Hear me speak a word,' rejoined Fagin, laying his hand upon the lock. 'You won't be-' 'Well,' replied the other. 'You won't be- too- violent, Bill?' Thus, ther
is a bit of good in Fagin.
Nevertheless, Fagin still had his bad ways. Even though he may care for the boys and Nancy, he lives off stolen property. He forces the boys to do his dirty work and steal from other people. Then he sells these merchandise. This means he is a bad person.
Fagin does not care about the people he steals from. By teaching these boys these practises, he condemns them to a life of thievery. Based on the quote above, he may tell Bill not to be too violent on Nancy, but he still accepts the fact that Bill has to beat her up. He only understands what evil he has done just after he is condemned to hang. Fagin may be partly an evil character, but he has redeeming features, because ultimately, he does want to help the boys.
Bill Sikes is another controversial character in this novel. There is probably only one thing he actually cares about and that is his dog. This is probably because his dog was extremely loyal to him. This is the only good part about him.
In the novel, his dog can be interpreted as his conscience. However, even his dog, in the end, runs away in the end and this can be interpreted as Bill feeling guilty himself. Some people may perceive Nancy, the prostitute, as someone he cares about as well however, to him, she is only an object. This is proved when he beats her up after he finds out that she had betrayed him because he does not listen to her opinions and judges her worthless without a second thought.Bill Sikes, to
say the least, is evil. In this book, we are reminded again and again about how evil Bill is.
From the first time we are first introduced to him to his death, Bill is the representation of evil in this novel. He beats Nancy with barely a second thought after he finds out that he has betrayed her. 'The housebreaker freed one arm, and grasped his pistol. The certainty of immediate detection if he fired, flashed across his mind even in the midst of his fury; and he beat it twice with all the force he could summon, upon the upturned face that almost touched his own. She staggered and fell, nearly blinded with the blood that rained down from a deep gash in her forehead.
..' He is the epitome of a heartless, cruel murderer. Bill sets up the foundation of evil in this novel.
Bill Sikes and Fagin are two of the most important characters in this novel. However, there are many other characters that contribute While Fagin may seem like a good and bad character sometimes, he has a good heart because he cares about those who are close. His only error is that he should care about other people as well. Bill Sikes, on the other hand is an evil character. The only good part of him runs away from him in the end. He and his colleagues make up the evil in this Good vs Evil novel.
He definitely has no redeeming features.
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