Analysis of Major Characters of Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist - As the child hero of a melodramatic novel of social protest, Oliver Twist is meant to appeal more to our sentiments than to our literary sensibilities. On many levels, Oliver is not a believable character, because although he is raised in corrupt surroundings, his purity and virtue are absolute. Throughout the novel, Dickens uses Oliver's character to challenge the Victorian idea that paupers and criminals are already evil at birth, arguing instead …

…between sleep and waking, at the precise time when dreams and nightmares are born from ¡°the mere silent presence of some external object.¡± Indeed, Fagin is meant to inspire nightmares in child and adult readers alike. Perhaps most frightening of all, though, is Chapter 52, in which we enter Fagin's head for his ¡°last night alive.¡± The gallows, and the fear they inspire in Fagin, are a specter even more horrifying to contemplate than Fagin himself.