Oliver Twist Characters

Oliver Twist

Oliver might be the main character, but he’s not all that complicated (he's an innocent...

Fagin

Fagin is pretty clearly a bad guy. We're not quibbling with the fact that a dude who thinks,...

Nancy

Okay, we try to be detached observers and analysts of literature, but sometimes characters just...

The Artful Dodger

The Artful Dodger is one of the most famous and memorable characters in the novel... and it's not...

Charley Bates

Charley Bates serves the same role as the Dodger—comic relief—but in a slightly...

Bill Sikes

Is there anything at all likeable about Sikes? Seriously, what does Nancy see in this guy? Sikes...

Mr. Brownlow

Mr. Brownlow is Oliver’s first friend and mentor. He’s had a rough life—he was...

Mrs. Maylie

Mrs. Maylie is just so dang good, it’s hard to know what to say about her. She apparently...

Rose Maylie

Rose is the sweetest, loveliest, most virtuous young lady ever. She’s pretty much a stock...

Harry Maylie

Harry doesn’t actually appear all that much in the novel, but from what we’re able to...

Mr. Giles

Mr. Giles is the butler/steward at Mrs. Maylie’s house. This is an odd position: he’s...

Mr. Grimwig

Mr. Grimwig is a typical Dickens character: he's eccentric, and his eccentricity takes the form...

Mr. Losberne

Mr. Bumble

Mr. Bumble is the beadle in the town where Oliver is born. As beadle, he’s responsible for...

Mrs. Corney

Mrs. Corney is cautious, distrustful, cruel, and power-hungry. We first meet her when she’s...

Monks

Meet our resident Big Bad: Monks is the primary villain of the novel, in that he’s the one...

Noah Claypole

Noah’s another typical minor Dickens character, in that he’s grotesque, absurd, and...

Agnes Fleming

Agnes gets the first and the last words of the novel, so even though she’s only alive for...