Women's Nature in Dickens's Oliver Twist: Martyrs and Whores

Introduction: Women as Moral Anchors

The women of Oliver Twist play an important function in the novel, both symbolically and in terms of the plot. The novel begins with the title character being born to a woman living in poverty and being subsequently consigned to a workhouse. Later, through a series of strange circumstances, he is found to be of noble birth. Nancy, a "whore with a heart of gold," sacrifices herself so that Oliver can move on to a new life. Women in the novel are primarily seen as nurturers, and that nurturing function enables Oliver to survive. When that nurturing function is perverted — as in the case of prostitution or the scheming Mrs. Mann — Dickens uses this as evidence of the corruption of larger society. Similarly, when male figures like Fagin attempt to take on nurturing roles, this underlines the degree to which what is natural in society has become perverted, gross, and corrupt.

Oliver's Mother and Mrs. Mann: Absent and Perverted Nurturing

Early in the novel, young Oliver is seen as condemned by the unmarried status of his mother, Agnes, who dies in childbirth: "The surgeon leaned over the body, and raised the left hand. 'The old story,' he said, shaking his head: 'no wedding ring, I see. Ah! Good night!'" (Chapter 1). Although it is later discovered that Oliver's mother loved his father, the fact of illegitimate paternity results in the child being consigned to the workhouse for the duration of his early existence. His mother's disgraced, unwed state and her poverty — as well as Oliver's lack of a father — define Oliver for much of the novel.

The lack of a mother results in Oliver being placed in the hands of Mrs. Mann, a woman who, rather than placing children first — as the novel implies she should, given both her duty and her gender — places her own needs first: "The elderly female was a woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good for children; and she had a very accurate perception of what was good for herself. So, she appropriated the greater part of the weekly stipend to her own use, and consigned the rising parochial generation to even a shorter allowance than was originally provided for them" (Chapter 2). Adults in general focus upon their own needs for food, money, and luxury and deny the basic necessities to children, but the fact that a woman denies Oliver these things is seen as particularly noxious within the novel's moral framework.

Oliver, however, retains an angelic vision of his mother in his mind's eye, and his willingness to defend her against the taunts of another boy is presented as evidence of his moral superiority. "Of a broken heart, some of our old nurses told me… I think I know what it must be to die of that!" says Oliver, in response to allegations that his mother was "bad" — and virtually the one time in the novel in which Oliver shows any initiative is when he is defending her memory (Chapter 6).

Fagin's Surrogate Motherhood and Oliver's Vulnerability

When Oliver runs away to the city, he finds himself under the "care" of the criminal Fagin, who is a fence and runs a pickpocket operation. Fagin styles himself as an almost maternal figure, presiding over his boys: "The merry old gentleman, placing a snuff-box in one pocket of his trousers, a note-case in the other, and a watch in his waistcoat pocket, with a guard-chain round his neck, and sticking a mock diamond pin in his shirt: buttoned his coat tight round him, and putting his spectacle-case and handkerchief in his pockets, trotted up and down the room with a stick, in imitation of the manner in which old gentlemen walk about the streets any hour in the day" (Chapter 9). There is a sexual suggestion in the way that Fagin "trains" the young pickpockets, and his cloying manner is unsettling. Oliver's innocence makes him vulnerable to Fagin's advances; he has no real understanding that he has been drawn into an illegal operation.

Oliver is equally unable to understand the true nature of the prostitutes and pickpockets in his circle: "a couple of young ladies called to see the young gentlemen; one of whom was named Bet, and the other Nancy. They wore a good deal of hair, not very neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about the shoes and stockings. They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty. Being remarkably free and agreeable in their manners, Oliver thought them very nice girls indeed. As there is no doubt they were" (Chapter 9). The girls appear pretty to Oliver because they wear rouge and other feminine accoutrements as part of their trade, and he cannot recognize these as signs of disrepute. Ironically, even respectable adults fail to see through Nancy when she pretends to be Oliver's mother in order to take him away from the wealthy benefactor who becomes his patron after Oliver is unjustly accused of being a pickpocket. "You see he knows me!… He can't help himself. Make him come home, there's good people, or he'll kill his dear mother and father, and break my heart!" she cries in a convincing, false performance (Chapter 15). Once again, Oliver's lack of a genuine mother makes him vulnerable to evil.

Nancy: The Prostitute with a Maternal Heart

Unlike the male criminals in the novel, Nancy does have a conscience and begins to repent what she did to Oliver. She ultimately martyrs herself in trying to protect him. This is prefigured after Nancy's first act of kidnapping, when she shows Oliver the physical scars she has endured on his behalf:

"I have saved you from being ill-used once, and I will again, and I do now," continued the girl aloud; "for those who would have fetched you, if I had not, would have been far more rough than me. I have promised for your being quiet and silent; if you are not, you will only do harm to yourself and me too, and perhaps be my death. See here! I have borne all this for you already, as true as God sees me show it."

She pointed, hastily, to some livid bruises on her neck and arms. (Chapter 20)

It should be noted that Nancy, although she appears older than her years and drinks heavily, is barely an adult: she says she became a thief when she was half Oliver's age, twelve years prior. Despite this, she becomes a kind of substitute mother for Oliver until his true parentage is identified. Even though Nancy is not nobly born, she comes to act nobly — though she pays dearly for it (just as Oliver's mother sacrifices her life for her child). Nancy, because of her status as a woman, seems to possess an innate sense of motherly affection towards Oliver that others lack: "The sight of him turns me against myself, and all of you," she tells Fagin, referring to Oliver (Chapter 26).

Dickens subtly attributes Nancy's fall to Fagin on numerous occasions, including her vice of drunkenness, which he suggests Fagin encouraged as a means of establishing greater control over her. Nancy's true, female nature is presented as womanly and good, but her poverty and occupation subvert it and make it impossible for her to rise above her circumstances. Her pretense of being a mother to Oliver has genuine substance in the sense that she eventually shows real maternal care towards him, but ultimately she "pays" for her occupation at a terrible price — her own life, and the love of Bill Sikes, the one man she loves. Still, Nancy stands in sharp contrast to figures such as the Artful Dodger, who seems to enjoy his criminal enterprises with Fagin. Nancy does not seem to enjoy being a criminal but has known no other life.

Work Cited

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Online Literature Library. Web. 7 Dec 2014.