“Please, sir, I want some more.” Famous words spoken in Charles Dickens’ famous tale, Oliver Twist. This tale was created in order to Dickens’ to show how society was like in London during the 19th century. Within the novel, Oliver Twist displays three critical points of this time period that display the real thieves in the story; the workhouse system, the criminal environment within that time period, and passage of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. Oliver was the main protagonist in the story, and even though Dickens’ displays him as small time pickpocket and petty theft, the real thieves are past the first 50 pages. Within this essay, I will explain, Dickens’ account on the real thieves in the Victorian time period.

Oliver Twist was a poor, orphan boy that Dickens’ develops as his main character. He is innocently displayed as juvenile criminal that where Fagin teaches Oliver how to pickpockets in order to get a few more crumbs, he runs for London, as the characters can attest that “he would be hung for sure” (Dickens 15).Oliver utters his famous words, and then gives a well-deserved whipping to Noah Claypole However his character’s story doesn’t support the rest of long story. It is the bigger story that Dickens’ is trying to tell. The real criminals of the story are of course the obvious characters of Fagin and Bill Sikes. Oliver naively links up with Fagin, unaware of his criminal activities, however the main criminal is the workhouse in which Oliver was forced to exist. “…he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once— a parish child—the orphan of a workhouse—the humble, half-starved drudge—to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none” (14). The workhouse was a brutal institution of where orphan boys were placed, Oliver was placed there never knowing his father, and under the care of the workhouse system. Within the workhouse, Oliver is beaten and threw into a dark room as an example for the others (19). The workhouse system was designed for the poor with the alternative to starve or live in the streets. The workhouse was a breeding ground for individuals that treated the orphans like peasants, while the Mrs. Mann keeps the money for the kid and lets the children starve and die. The system was a product of bigger legal battle that put the orphans there.

The Poor Amendment Act of 1834, was another criminal during the Victorian Period. The story of Oliver Twist, is filled with criticisms about the law that places the juveniles in the workhouse. Oliver runs with the group helmed by Fagin, which entangles the homeless children into a criminal world where they become scum of the society. During the time period within the 19th century, the expense of taking care of the poor was getting too much, and the passage of the Poor Law Act was supposed to ease those strained of having all the poor people on the streets. The law was designed to get the poor off the streets but instead pushed them into parishes and workplaces. “The people were poor, and began to sicken—at least the man did—of their fine humanity, so she left it with them, giving them a small present of money, which would not last long, and promising more, which she never meant to send” (215).The law that pushed the poor and juveniles into workhouses that forced to wear uniforms, scarcely ate food, and back breaking, menial labor. The children in the workhouse are force to work in mines and factories, the poor are, “despised by all, and pitied by none” (26).

The last overall criminal within the story was the criminal environment in which the children were forced to grow up in. Oliver Twist was written in the Victorian time period that was supposed to be an era of “Economic Prosperity”, but it was quickly followed by times were the people that were considered lower class was severely mistreated, forgotten, and left to die. Oliver is forced into the workhouse, to be sent with other juveniles that were offenders of the poor (5). The criminal overtone is that poor people were treat as not living beings but as problems that they needed to sweep under the rug. The gang that he fell in line were criminals that Oliver couldn’t understand. After one of the kids committed a crime, Fagin had more dirt on him. “Never mind how he came there, it’s quite enough for my power over him that was him in a robbery, that’s all I want.” (147). The society was plagued with real and amateur criminals that were just trying to survive, get money to eat, and a place for shelter. The environment was racked in violence, and many were petty criminals that wanted that did it for sport or for a few crumbs.

In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens writes a story about life in the Victorian period, it was made worst by Poor Law Amendment Act, the criminal environment, and the workhouses that the kids and the poor were forced into. It is easy to pinpoint the children as criminals in the story, but the real criminals were the supporting characters of Fagin, Bill, the society, and the messed up system that society was dragged into to. Dickens does a good job of telling the bigger story in the tale, while the title leads the readers to believe the tale is strictly on Oliver, it is clear that past the first 50 pages, the tale is much bigger and more focuses on the mistreatment of lower class, the children, and those within the society that were forced to deal with the bureaucrats making things worse. In the 19th century time in London, they went through several periods in which they thought that prosperity was around the corner, but soon they had to deal with the social realities of how the system that was supposed to help was actual the biggest criminal of them all.