If the villain of Oliver Twist is the meta-character of urban setting, then the protagonist must be the meta-character of country setting, of which Oliver is as much a chief as Fagin is of the urban setting. The principle characteristic of the country setting is its goodness, in direct opposition to the corruption of the urban setting. The incorruptible goodness, which Oliver bears, is that which permits him to remain unchanged and moral despite his deep immersion in the urban setting.
In many ways Oliver Twist might be read as a refutation of Dickens's contemporary, Leo Tolstoy, who asserted that destiny is the product of historical forces driving each from his birthing station to an unavoidable end. Oliver Twist, rather, presumes that despite the terrible circumstances in which Oliver is reared, goodness prevails in his character and actions. So can we read the character of Nancy, who though corrupted by her long association with the urban setting, retains enough vestiges of her own inherent goodness to die while saving Oliver. and, we have the character of Monks, Oliver's half-brother, who, though reared in the most affluent and advantageous of circumstances, finds his way to villainy in despite. Indeed, perhaps because they are related by blood, Monks has in common with Oliver a certain tenacity of character, in that, despite the intervention of Brownlow and others, he persists -- even into the epilogue -- in a life of crime; just as Oliver, despite every temptation of circumstance, persists in a life of goodness.
The justice of the country setting is also set in opposition to that of the urban setting, and might be described as spiritual justice. This justice is best illustrated by the incidents of chapters 30 and 31, wherein the residents of the Maylie estate endeavor to alibi against officers of the law Oliver's part in the attempted break in. Mrs. Maylie herself exclaims, "This poor child can never have been the pupil of robbers," despite all empirical evidence to the contrary. What we see is a tendency to judge with the eyes of the heart, and a strong devotion to the maxim "Mercy is better than justice." Whereas governmental justice is mechanical, spiritual justice is seen to be fluid and involves even a few white lies on the parts of Giles and Brittles.
The climax of spiritual justice found in the book comes in the circumstances surrounding Sikes's accidental death. Immediately after Nancy's murder, we see Sikes tormented not by pursuers but by his own conscience. A reader might even suppose a fault of characterization in the extreme guilt which the hitherto psychopathic Sikes suddenly begins to display. Sikes is tortured by his own mind, and he flees it, but finds no recourse; governmental justice he has, so far, escaped, but it is spiritual justice which plagues him and, ultimately hangs him. "The eyes again!" he screeches and falls, loop 'round his neck, to his death and we know that it was no mere accident. No, a hand has reached from the other world -- the world which whispered in Mrs. Maylie's heart about Oliver's innocence -- and that hand has chosen its moment and hung Sikes from a pole as surely as any government could do it. In this situation, even the crowd -- the people of London who are one with the bridges burgeoning under their weight, with the muddy banks and the oily Thames and the labyrinthine streets -- even the setting has risen up and cried out for justice which, by the hand of god, is delivered. Sikes has invaded and defiled their goodness too long, and now stepped beyond the bound where he can be tolerated. The country goodness which is in the people of London -- though mixed with the urban bloodlust -- rises up and cries out against him.
So the plot tension essentially occurs between the goodness of the country setting, personified in Oliver, and the desire of the urban setting, personified in Fagin, to corrupt that goodness. Dickens's intent, as per his 1841 foreword, is to present a fable of sorts, a cautionary tale, wherein the romances are stripped back from poverty and crime and the reader may glimpse truly what it is to be a Robin Hood. Dickens even alludes to kinship with Cervantes and perhaps the comparison is appropriate because the outlaws of that author's canon are of precisely the type which were in vogue in Victorian England. So, at the...
Robin Hood We are all familiar with Robin Hood and his band of "merry men." Their creed to "rob the rich and give to the poor" was heroic and honorable during a time when the poor in England were being taxed beyond their means and suffering in squalor. Nevertheless, Robin Hood's infamy has created a series of problems for his band of 'bandits' as well as himself. "The increasing size of the
In many ways, one could argue that this film is about self-determination and equality. Would you recommend this film to someone attempting to understand the culture or event under consideration? Why or why not? Yes and no. The reason why both answers were selected is because the film can provide an accurate historical backdrop of events and issues that England was wrestling with in the 1200's. Where, many kings and aristocrats
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Robin should first establish different departments to fulfill the varied needs of the organization in a systematic and efficient manner. In that regard, Robin should immediately appoint department heads in the following areas: shelter facilities, food storage and distribution, recruitment and hiring, training, and field operations. The head of shelter facilities must solve the problem of ensuring that employees in the field have safe accommodations in remote areas of operation.
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