In The Shadow of an Ageing Pimp, Crook and Paedophile

HOW CHARLES DICKENS PORTRAYED OLDER CHARACTERS IN OLIVER TWIST [ PART ONE] 

WHETHER  it was Fagin's age or ethnicity which so obsessed Dickens, the now very successful young author, there can be very little doubt that in the words of commentator S.Gill's introduction to the Oxford World Classic series Oliver Twist (1999) " the presentation of Fagin has a kind of concentrated ferocity"

Yet of all the words written since 1837-39 about Dickens's intention, very little has focussed on Fagin's age and his portrayal as "a very old, shrivelled Jew" with a "villainous and repulsive face...obscured by a quantity of matted hair." The debate since the book's publication has been about whether Dickens was anti-Semitic but very little about whether he was also gerontophobic. Edgar Johnson (1951)  in his dated contribution to this "Jewish question" concludes that he was not. The question however remains to this day despite the millions of words written about Dickens before and since. My interest here is to explore Fagin in the context of his portrayal of older characters in Oliver Twist asking the questions Johnson asked but related to old age and older people. "Does Dickens draw on other derogatory" pictures of older adults in his writing, and not favourable ones? "Do his utterances elsewhere imply an ill opinion" of older people as a group"? 

It is worth mentioning that 'Fagin is referenced 257 times in the first 38 chapters - as " the Jew" whereas the race and religion of Bill Sikes, goes unremarked' ( Independent 07.10.2005). Dickens's response to the criticism at the time was seen by many as defensive and naive. 

There's little doubt that despite Dickens's later deletion of the specific term "Jew" when referencing characters, the physical repulsiveness can be viewed in the context of both anti-semitisms, and old-age gerontophobia and hence literary gerontology. Quoting the Independent again:

               " Read how Dickens introduces the villian- standing before a fire, fork in hand,with a villainess and repulsive face , matted red hair. Red hair was worn by the devil in medieval mystery plays. Dickens several times refers to Fagin as "the merry old gentleman," an ancient euphenism for the devil, as is the phrase Bill Sikes uses when he says Fagin looks as if he has come straight from "the old'un without any father at all betwixt you" "

 Older adults are often portrayed in literature, especially Victorian, as corrupting the innocents and purity of children. The conflating of both Fagin's Jewishness and old age as portrayed is a powerful narrative but it is binary. What I am reaching for in this series of Blogs is to gauge, as best I can whether Dickens's view and attitude to age and ageing through his characterization tell us something about the early/mid and late Victorian mindset regarding the concept of later life, age construction, the emergence of Midlife ( with thanks to Kay Heath) and the medicalization of old age.  

  

                           Charles Dickens was only in his early/mid-twenties when writing Oliver                                Twist. How did his childhood and adolescence affect his view on older                                    adults and hence his characterization? 

                        

 The picture that emerges of not just Fagin, but other portrayals such as Anny, Bumble, Fang, Kags, Mrs Mann, and the "old crone" Martha and Sally, all arguably negative narratives of old age. But to answer the second of Johnson's questions there are characters which can be considered "positive" ( howbeit seen today as stereotypical) such as Mrs Bayton, Bedwin, the Brownlows, Grimwig, Mrs Maylie and as we shall see many others out of some 69 characters in the book! That said, they could all be seen as living in the very long shadow of Fagin.

We need to re-engage with this young author, flush with the success of Pickwick, newly married and increasingly financially secure as he writes what will be a second successful series and book.  Critic and scholar G.K. Chesterton said much later that Oliver Twist " was "by far the most depressing of all his books [and in] in some ways the most irritating.." George Gissing writing after Dickens's death in 1870 reminds us that it was a significant step in social and political history and the importance of not losing sight of [its] historic point of view. Nevertheless, Gissing also thought it "immature" with little "coherency in the structure of the thing; the plotting is utterly without ingenuity, the mysteries so artificial" - with fans like Gissing...! Gill however concludes that despite such observations  the book "remains for all its weaknesses, the most compelling of Dickens's early novels." It is probably not necessary here to outline the plot as readers will know doubt to be familiar with the essential elements and characters, even though through the sometimes distorted lense of Lionel Bart, Ron Moody, Alec Guinness and Harry Seacombe than having actually read the book. Perhaps being unfairly said, we are reminded that Oliver Twist's portrayal as a passive, innocent, naive, and good-natured child is set alongside the evil, scheming, manipulative and despicable characters of Fagin and Sikes. Monks, (who in fact was a young adult), vicious and scheming with Fagin to ruin the reputation of Oliver. Mr Bumble the Beadle, was simply a cowardly bully abusing his position of power, but more of him later and his wife (nee Corney) who is described as "hypocritical, callous and materialistic." Add to this cast of despicable characters is Mrs Man ( "an elderly female") who physically and mentally abuses the children in her care whom she farms out!

In May 1837 Charles Dickens had completed the first four instalments of Oliver Twist when he suspended writing. The tragic and sudden death of his 17-year-old sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth who lived with the Dickens family had a lifelong impact on Dickens as both a person and an author. 

To Be Continued......

PART TWO will explore the Childhood, Adolescence and Young Adulthood of Charles Dickens, the early influencers and influences and how this shaped the minor and major older characters in Oliver Twist.