Plot and Character Analysis: Oliver Twist

Plot and Character Analysis: Oliver Twist

Q.1In the book Oliver Twist Charles Dickens was trying to portray that the Victorian viewpoint of crime was wrong. He designed his novel to show that some criminals are drawn or forced into crime rather than being born a criminal. He highlights the workhouses bought about in 1834 as a result of the poor law. Dickens includes the condition of the workhouses which were very basic and the work was hard and unforgiving, he described this to set the scene of how young children coped when they were alone in the world. He presents some criminals as innocent victims that have been pulled into a life of crime through desperation and despair such as Oliver and Nancy, however some criminals such as Sikes have not been drawn into crime, they rather chose the life of crime that they live.

Charles Dickens uses Oliver Twist to make social comments on attitudes towards crime and poverty in 19th Century England with particular reference to Chapters One and Two to show how he achieves this Life in nineteenth century England showed a large divide between the social classes. Working people lived where factories, roads, canals, and, later, railways allowed them to.

Poverty is a prominent concern in Oliver Twist. Throughout the novel, Dickens enlarges on this theme, describing slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses are on the point of ruin. In an early chapter, Oliver attends a pauper's funeral with Mr. Sowerberry and sees a whole family crowded together in one miserable room.
Q.2Torture is the use of physical or mental pain, often to obtain information, to punish a person , or to control the members of a group to which the tortured person belongs.
The punishment for poisoning during this period was to be boiled to death. Mutilation and branding were also common. People often had their right hand cut off if they were caught stealing, and on certain occasions eyes were plucked out with hot pinchers and fingers were torn off.
Some minor cruelties included the pillory, the...

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