"How do you solve a problem like Oliver?": Character and Complexity in Oliver Twist

Abstract

Abstract:Oliver Twist is one of Dickens's best-loved novels, the hero known within a wider cultural context. But how well do we really know Dickens's character, one of the first child protagonists. This article proposes that we have missed the complexity the character embodies, both as a formal construct in which Dickens develops skills of psychological acuity, and as an entity who struggles with his own author-designated role as "the principle of Good."