Question

How does Charles Dickens use different characters to launch a critique of the social conditions in Great Britain, especially in London?

Answer 1

In Oliver Twist, we initially encounter Mrs. Mann, who is in charge of the section of the workhouse where Oliver is brought as a child. She steals from the parish funds provided for the children under her care. Her selfishness and greed leave the children underfed and poorly clothed. Through her, Dickens criticizes members of middle and working classes who continuously oppress the poor by getting more work out of them and paying them little in return.

We next learn about Mr. Bumble, who runs the parish workhouse where Oliver is brought at the age of nine. Mr. Bumble believes himself to be an authoritative figure and a self-righteous man. He is oblivious to the conditions in Mrs. Mann's workhouse and is easily fooled by her false affection for the children. Dickens uses Mr. Bumble to represent the parish and others of so-called charitable institutions. They are self-assured about their morally superior undertakings but do little to actually improve the state of the poor. In fact, they use their twisted sense of logic to increase the suffering of the poor, as evident in the excerpt below:

“Oho!” said the board, looking very knowing; “we are the fellows to set this to rights; we'll stop it all, in no time.” So, they established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.

Dickens also illustrates that the poor themselves could be cruel toward those who were less fortunate. Dickens uses the example of Noah Claypole to illustration this idea. Noah belongs to one of the lowest social classes and is constantly ridiculed and abused by others who are in superior position to him, including children. However, when he meets Oliver he treats the orphan in an equally horrible manner instead of with compassion. Noah regards Oliver to be of a lower status than himself. This belief is evident in the following excerpt:

The shop-boys in the neighbourhood had long been in the habit of branding Noah in the public streets, with the ignominious epithets of “leathers,” “charity,” and the like; and Noah had bourne them without reply. But, now that fortune had cast in his way a nameless orphan, at whom even the meanest could point the finger of scorn, he retorted on him with interest.

Answer 2

Dickens was the master of social critique in his era, which he demonstrated in his various novels like A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, Bleak House, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, among others. One of the most popular characters created by Dickens is Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), a wealthy, bitter man who looks down at life and puts his greed and ambitions above anything, and anyone, else. The reason why this is one of the stand-outs is because Scrooge represented many things that were wrong in Great Britain. The nation had gone through an economic boom and people were very absorbed by social constructs such as class and nobility. They were so in-deep that many forgot the value of life in society, and the importance of healthy interactions for healthy people. 

This is supported by the portrayal of another of Dickens's characters; Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. Interestingly enough, she happens to be the sad consequences of society's never-ending thirst for wealth as she is left at the altar by a man who only wanted to marry her for her money. After that, she seems to lose it and spends the rest of her days living with her wedding dress and wearing only one shoe. Later on, she adopts Estella and raises her to be cold and heartless in order protect her from the same evil she had to endure. This supports the thought that Dickens believed that, by not considering other people in society, we jeopardize our own futures.