| Oliver Twist | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Gender | Male |
| Ethnicity | WHITE |
| Age | 8 |
| Position | Orphan |
| Family | Agnes Fleming (mother, deceased) Edwin Leeford (father, deceased) Edward "Monks" Leeford (half-brother, deceased) |
| Relatives | Rose Maylie (maternal aunt) Captain Fleming (maternal grandfather, deceased) Harry Maylie (maternal uncle by marriage) Miss Leeford (paternal aunt) Mrs Leeford (step-mother, deceased) |
| Appearances | Oliver Twist (2005 film) |
| Behind the scenes | |
| Portrayed by | Jackie Coogan (1922) John Howard Davies (1948) Mark Lester (1968) Joey Lawrence (voice, 1988) Jon Lee (1994) Tom Fletcher (1994) Steven Webb (1995) Joshua Close (2003) Justin Pereira (2003-2004) Barney Clark (2005) Joseph McManners (2005) William Miller (2007) Harry Stott Gwion Jones Laurence Jeffcoate (2009) Noah McCullough (2010) Dan Stock (2011) |
| “ | So lonely, sir! So very lonely! Everybody hates me. Oh! sir, don't, don't pray be cross to me! | ” |
–Oliver's cry to Mr. Bumble | ||
| “ | Perhaps she has sat by me. I almost feel as if she had. | ” |
–Oliver Twist to Mrs Bedwin during his recovery | ||
Background[]
In the novel, young Oliver "Butters" is born in a parishworkhousein an unnamed town, but his mother dies during labour. Old Sally, who was at the birth and death, takes from the dying woman a locket and ring. While Mr. Bumble, theBeadle, names the boy Oliver Twist. Oliver is sent to an infant farm, run by Mrs. Mann, until he is nine years old, when he is returned to the workhouse.
The orphans at the workhouse are starving because of their cruel treatment and lack of being fed. They cast lots to decide who will ask for more gruel for them all, and Oliver is chosen. At eveningsupper, once thegruelis dished out and eaten, Oliver goes to the master and makes his famous request,"Please Sir. I want some more."
He is then branded a troublemaker and cruelly tortured (such as being whipped, detained, and even Mr.
Bumble told Oliver is devil's masterpiece). Then he is offered as anapprenticeto anyone willing to take him, and he is eventually apprenticed to Sowerberry, theundertaker. On the way there, Mr. Bumble tried to abuse Oliver again, but Oliver stopped him with his crying that he is very lonely,"Everybody hates me. Oh, sir, don't, don't pray be cross to me!"
After arriving at Sowerberry's, Oliver fights with Noah Claypole, an older boy at the undertakers, because Noah mocked Oliver's dead mother. Oliver is then cruelly beaten for the offence, but his heart is broken and after he cry bitterly, he escapes to London, which took him a week with little food and comfort.
In London Oliver meetsJack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, who offers him a place to stay, where he meets up withfa*ginand his band of young thieves. Oliver innocently goes "to work" with Dawkins andCharley Bates, but sees the real nature of their "work" when Dawkinspicks the pocket of a gentleman. When the gentleman,Mr. Brownlow, realises he is being robbed, Oliver is mistaken for the pickpocket. And he is then chased, captured, and taken to the police. Oliver, who was very ill and fainted in the court, is cleared by a witness to the crime and is taken in by Brownlow to his home where he is well treated. After he well recovered from days with near-coma point, Oliver is sent on an errand by Brownlow to pay a localmerchant£5 and to return some books. However, Oliver is caught byNancyandBill Sikes, who pretend to be his siblings, and is returned to fa*gin's den. However, Nancy later betrays fa*gin and Sikes, as well as herself, for doing so since they've stolen Oliver's chance to have a better life.
Mr. Brownlow, who mistakenly thinks that Oliver has run away with the money, assumes that Oliver was a thief all along. This belief is further strengthened when Bumble, in response to Brownlow's newspaper advertisem*nt for information about Oliver, gives a disparaging opinion of the boy. Nevertheless, Brownlow still holds onto a little bit of hope that this might not be true.
Meanwhile, Oliver is forced by fa*gin to join Sikes in an attempted robbery at a rural house, as they need a small boy to enter a window and open the front door for Sikes to get in. However, the robbery fails and, in the ensuing chase, Oliver is shot.
Oliver is wounded badly and almost didn't make the way back to the house for help. He is then nursed back to health at the home of the Maylies, the house Sikes was attempting to burgle. Oliver gives his story to the Maylies (more
exactly, the widow Mrs. Maylie, her son Harry and her adoptive daughter Rose) and Doctor Losberne. He also helps out when Rose falls ill, casually meeting a mysterious man along the way...
The mysterious man is Mr.Monks, who is revealed to be Oliver's half brother (his true name being Edward Leeford). He joins fa*gin in an attempt to recapture Oliver and lead him into a life of crime, so that Oliver's rightful
inheritance, of which Oliver knows nothing, would then go to Monks. Nancy, who still feels compassion for Oliver, overhears fa*gin's and Monk's plans and tellsRose Maylie, hoping to thwart them. Rose then contacts Brownlow (clearing Oliver's name in the process, much to Brownlow's relief), Dr. Losberne and other people, to help her protect Oliver.
Meanwhile, Bumble has married the matron of the workhouse, Mrs. Corney. The former Mrs. Corney had been in attendance at Old Sally's death, and purloined the locket and ring Old Sally had taken from Oliver's mother Agnes on her deathbed. Monks buys these items from the Bumbles and throws them into the river Thames, hoping that, by destroying them, Oliver's true identity will remain hidden.
Brownlow and Rose Maylie meet Nancy onLondon Bridgeand she tells them how to find Monks. However, fa*gin has had Nancy followed and, believing Nancy has revealed his secrets, fa*gin tells Sikes that Nancy has betrayed them. Sikes brutally murders Nancy, then flees London to the country. However, their neighbors and some of fa*gin's own band members soon find out about Nancy's death and, enraged, they tell the police; Sikes falls to his death when he's about to be captured and taken away.
Oliver is revealed to be theillegitimate sonof a rich man named Edwin Leeford and his young mistress, a girl named Agnes Fleming. Leeford had also fathered another son, Edward ("Monks"), through a failed former marriage. After seducing Agnes, Leeford died, leaving awillwhich stated that the unborn child would inherit his estate if "in his minority he should never have stained his name with any public act of dishonour, meanness, cowardice, or wrong" in the event of which all would go to
Monks. Monks is given half of Oliver's inheritance by Brownlow - who had been Edwin Leeford's best friend and the keeper of his secrets - in the hope that he would start a new life. Monks flees to the United States, where he quickly squanders the money and dies in prison.
Rose Maylie is revealed to be Agnes Fleming's younger sister, who was adopted by the Maylies after her parents died. Therefore, Rose is Oliver's aunt and is able to marry Harry Maylie. Oliver collects his inheritance and is adopted by Brownlow, for the conventional happy ending to the novel.
