Fagin`s Character in Charles Dickens`
“Oliver Twist”
Characters are one of the most significant features that writers use to express their thoughts and illustrate their messages. These characters may be good or bad depending on the characterization given to them by the writers. In other words, the goodness or evilness of a character is determined by the way the writers depict the character`s physical appearance, speech, behavior or reaction. In “Oliver Twist”, Dickens successfully chooses his characters to suit the message of his work. This novel deals with many topics, one of which is the world of crime and criminals. One major character in this field of criminality is Fagin, the Jew.
Fagin is ugly and has a terrifying appearance which gives the readers a hit that this person is not a good character. And he is, indeed, a bad character. He is the master criminal; he is the leader of a group of children whom he uses for his own sake. Fagin teaches those children how to do pickpocketing. Simply, he asks them to steal and bring what they stole to him so that he can trade with some of those stolen things and keep the precious species for himself. However, Dickens doesn’t present Fagin as evil only, but he instead shows the readers many dimensions of Fagin`s character. For example, Fagin is called “merry old gentleman” since he is seen many times in sarcastic situations and humorous scenes. Besides, no one can ignore the kindness that Fagin shows towards Oliver so many times, especially when he advises Oliver to not argue with Sikes for Oliver`s safety. This shows another dimension of Fagin`s character which is his humanity even though he is criminal. In spite of Fagin`s other characteristics, the prominent trait for him is related to his evilness.
Because of Dickens`s characterization of Fagin, the latter becomes the subject of anti-Semitism during Dickens`