Character sketches (Oliver Twist & Monks)

Character sketches

(Oliver Twist & Monks)

 

Draw Character sketches of Oliver Twist and of Monks.

The characters in Oliver Twist can be roughly divided into three groups. The characters through whom the callousness and cruelty of the workhouse system are exposed include Mr. Bumble, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Corney, Mr. Gamfield, the Chimney sweeper, Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, Noah Claypole and Charlotte. The second group belongs to the crime world. It includes Fagin, Sikes, the Artful Dodger, Charley Bates, Nancy, Toby, Tom Chiding and the magistrate. The third group belongs to the middle-class world in which Oliver ultimately finds a place. Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Grimwig, Mrs. Maylie, Rose, Harry Maylie, Dr. Losberne, Mrs. Bedwin, Giles and Brittles belong to this world.

Oliver Twist

Oliver is the central character of the novel. He is also a link among the three different worlds depicted in the novel—the workhouse, the crime world and the world of the genteel middle-class people. He is more a symbol than a fully individualized character. In the opening sentence of the Novel, Dickens describes him as an item of mortality. Till the end of the novel nothing is specifically known about his parents. The name that he bears is given to him just by chance. Dickens wanted to make him an instrument of exposing the inhumanity and the callousness of the workhouse and the underworld. He belongs to no class. He is a mobile character and the novelist makes him freely come across the different cross-sections of the society in order to expose them. In his Preface to the third edition of Oliver Twist, Dickens says, “I wished to show in little Oliver the principle of Good surviving through every adverse circumstance and triumphing at last”. Oliver is symbolic of the principle of good. If we appreciate Oliver, it is for his propensity towards always being good, and if we sympathize with him, it is for his being a deprived and outcast child. In any case we accept him less as a real child and more as a symbol.

Dickens has nowhere fully described Oliver’s appearance. In fact, with the exception of Rose Maylie, Oliver is the only major character whose appearance is not well depicted. However, we come to understand that he is delicate and handsome. He always looks innocent and the chief expression on his face is that of melancholy. He is given the responsibility of accompanying the funeral processions, particularly when it is young children that are being taken to be buried. In the novel, Oliver looks innocent because he is innocent. When he collapses outside Mrs. Maylie’s house, he looks not only weak but also innocent. Rose is sure that a childlike Oliver could never commit a robbery. Mr. Brownlow also does not need a second thought to convince himself of Oliver’s innocence. Even Mr. Grimwig acknowledges his goodness.

Another point about Oliver’s character is that his virtue remains uncontaminated throughout the novel. Most of his life is spent under the care of scoundrels like Mr. Bumble, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Sowerberry, Noah Claypole, and the odious Sikes. Anyone living under the shadow of the wicked characters would have either completely succumbed to and turned into a rogue himself, but Oliver survives. In spite of all the effort made by Monks to convert him into a thief, Oliver persists in his goodness. That is why it has been said that he represents goodness. Dickens has made him so good that on occasions he ceases to be a convincing character.

A good sturdy spirit in Oliver’s breast enabled him to survive the cruel regime of Mrs. Mann’s baby farm. He approaches the board and makes his famous demand, “please, sir, I want some more”. It is true that he is as much prompted by his own courage as by the fear or that domineering and bullying senior boy. Further evidence of his courage is seen in chapter 3 when he resists being apprenticed to Mr. Gamfield, the Chimney sweep and in chapter 6 when he gives a sound thrashing to Noah Claypole. The charity boy is older than Oliver and enjoys the patronage and help of Mrs. Sowerberry and Charlotte. But once when Oliver is provoked by the disparaging marks of Noah about his mother, nothing can suppress his wrath, not even Mr. Bumble, who in spite of the properly waxed cane in his hand, is frightened by Oliver’s audacity. His flight from Mr. Sowerbenys in chapter 7 is another proof of his being courageous. But after he goes to London, he is almost swallowed by his circumstances and after “this everything seems done to him and for him, and almost nothing is done by him”.

Monks

Monks is Oliver’s half-brother. His real name is Edward Leeford. For quite some time he remains in the background. If at all he makes an appearance, he is more a mysterious force than a real character. It is quite late in the novel, in chapter 40; that his real identity is revealed. All the other aspects of his life are given much later.

In chapter 25 Monks is described as a dark stranger. This vague impression of his personality persists until chapter 46 when Nancy gives a very detailed account of his appearance. He is tall, strong, with dark hair and eyes even his face is dark, his eyes are deeply sunken and his whole personality looks almost disfigured. Nancy tells Mr. Brownlow that there is a mark like a burn or a scald which he tries to keep covered with his handkerchief. He is subject to fits, most probably the fits of epilepsy. When he suddenly comes across Oliver in the innyard, he is much taken by surprise that he curses the boy and then falls into a fit. The poor, frightened Oliver has to shout for help before he goes back. Because of these fits, he is in the habit of biting his lips and hands. He has a lurking walk and constantly looks over his shoulder as he goes along. He is completely evil minded and his evil is fully reflected in his appearance.

Monks is obviously unstable and subject to uncontrollable fear. Although he pretends to be brave, he is rather cowardly. While talking to Fagin, he notices a woman-shadow moving along the wainscot and is overpowered by a sense of fear. Fagin takes him round the whole building but even then Monks is not satisfied. It becomes difficult for the old Jew to hide his contempt for Monks’ cowardice. At other moments also, very trivial provocations make him tremble and he throws himself into violent outbursts. About Nancy, at one moment he says that he would like to see her throttled, but the very next minute he declares that he won’t shed blood. It becomes difficult to reconcile these two aspects of his character. In his meeting with Mr. Bumble and his wife, he is in a position of command and he bullies them. But he easily succumbs to Mrs. Bumble and betrays his cowardly nature. He gets frightened during the storm also. When Mr. Brownlow interrogates him, he is sullen and defiant in the beginning but almost immediately collapses under the weight of evidence and blurts everything.

Monks is incorrigibly wicked. It seems that he has inherited this wickedness from his mother. Before her death his mother tells him something about Oliver’s birth. He also knows that Oliver is to get his father’s property, subject to the condition that he does not taint his life with any evil action and from that day he makes it the sole purpose of his life to convert Oliver into a thief. He is so much obsessed with this idea that his personality becomes unstable. He pays quite a huge sum to Fagin and it is mainly to satisfy him that Oliver is involved into the robbery at Chertsey although he is furious when the robbery fails and Oliver is taken over by Mrs. Maylie. He tries to destroy all evidence about Oliver and his parentage and feels triumphant when he throws the locket into the dark, surging water of the river Thames. The kind and benevolent Mr. Brownlow agrees to give him half the property to allow him another opportunity to redeem himself but Monks squanders the whole of the money and is imprisoned. He ultimately dies in a jail, most probably as a result of his epileptic fits.

It should be noticed that Monks is not so much a character, like Oliver. He is a device created by the novelist for the purpose of linking the three worlds in which Oliver moves, the three worlds represented by Mr. Bumble, Fagin and Mr. Brownlow, and Oliver and Monks are themselves linked up by their blood relationship. Thus, Monks is a key figure in the plot. He introduces a lot of suspense and mystery and provides additional motivation to Fagin for his villainy. It is rather regrettable that Dickens has not made him a more convincing character.