An Analysis of Nancy's character in Oliver Twist”

Abstract

Charles Dickens was a critical realist in the 19th century, and he is one of the most famous representative of English critical realism writers. Oliver Twist was Dickens’ early work. Though Oliver is regarded as the main character, Nancy’s role has a significant influence in the novel. Under the dark social background, her tragic ending is inevitable. This character is more accessible to common daily life than any other character in this novel. Therefore, her complicated nature is worth to discuss. And this paper will mainly focus on her double characters.

Key words: Nancy, complicated characters

Content

Ⅰ、 Introduction……………………………………………………….……………5

（一） Introduction about the writer……………………………………….………5

（二）Introduction about the novel and the background…………………………5

Ⅱ、Analysis on Nancy’s character……………………………………….…………6

(一) Introduction about Nancy’s miserable life…………………………………….6

（二）An optimistic and angel Nancy………………………………………………7

（三） A passive and demon Nancy ……………………………………………… 8

（四） A wise and brave Nancy…………………………………………………….9

(五) Desire for brightness and contradictory view on "love"……………………..9

Ⅲ、Causes for Nancy’s character…………………………………………………10

（一）Social background at that time…………………………………………...…10

（二）Nancy’s paradoxical value and philosophy…………………………………11

IV、Conclusion………………………………………………………………………11

V、 Reference………………………………………………………………………12