Nancy, in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

“Oliver Twist” is the most melodramatic of Charles Dickens’s novels and is peopled by stock characters who would have been familiar to those acquainted with the popular theatre of the day, Dickens being a lifelong enthusiast of drama and the theatre.

These characters include the innocent child (Oliver), the two-dimensional villain (Sikes and Monks), the wily avaricious Jew (Fagin) and the whore with the heart of gold (Nancy).

However, Dickens’s treatment of Nancy, who repents her past life but sacrifices her future one by seeking to do good in saving Oliver, also reveals his wider interest in trying to do something to address a social evil, namely the prevalence of prostitution in 19th century London.

In 1847, some eight years after the completion of “Oliver Twist”, Dickens opened Urania Cottage, a home for rescued and reformed prostitutes that aimed to set them on a new path, including emigration to Australia where they could make a fresh start. It is interesting to note that this was a proposition that was made to Nancy in his novel.

Many people will know about Nancy from having seen either the stage or film version of Lionel Bart’s musical “Oliver!” (1960/1968), but this should not be relied upon as a faithful representation of the original novel. Although there are many features in common, there are also many differences, and it is important to stick to the book for a true account of the author’s intentions for his character.

Nancy’s age is not mentioned in the novel, but it can be assumed that she would be something close to 17, as Dickens has her tell Oliver that she has been part of Fagin’s gang for twelve years, ever since she was half Oliver’s age. The reader knows that she has been successful as a thief, because she is not known to the local magistrates and can therefore go to the court, when Oliver is arrested, without being recognised and linked back to the gang.

The fact that Nancy is a prostitute, with Sikes as her pimp, is not stated explicitly by Dickens, but the implication is a strong one. She is only introduced gradually to the reader, appearing at first alongside her female companion Bet, who can be taken to be a fellow prostitute. They are both described as “not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty." Nancy therefore has no individual characteristics of her own but is seen as one of a pair, and as typifying a low-class woman of the streets.

Nancy comes into her own as a character when she acts on her own accord to protect Oliver. She had previously been instrumental in kidnapping Oliver after he had been taken into Mr Brownlow’s care following the trial mentioned above, and in recruiting him to take part in a house burglary organised by Bill Sikes, which goes wrong when Oliver is wounded and taken into the care of Rose Maylie.

Having promised Oliver that she would look after him, Nancy now feels guilty that she has let him down and resolves to warn Rose and Mr Brownlow that the gang are going to try to kidnap Oliver a second time. Although she also does her best to protect Sikes from being caught, Fagin, who has found out about Nancy’s secret activities, informs on her to Sikes in such a way that Sikes believes that she has betrayed him. This leads to her being brutally beaten to death by Sikes.

When Dickens was writing “Oliver Twist”, which he did in serial parts between 1837 and 1839, he reached a dilemma as to how to conclude the story, for which he did not have a fixed plan at the outset. It would appear that he had originally intended to write a story of redemption, in which the woman who had sinned would turn the corner and become righteous, thus enabling him to draw a moral lesson in typically evangelical terms. This plot was being worked through, with Nancy recognizing the evil of her past and expressing contrition, then performing an act of atonement in risking her life by making contact with Rose and Mr Brownlow.

However, Dickens realised that he could not follow the plot through without producing some unworkable contradictions. He could have made Nancy repent of her past life as a thief and a prostitute and “go straight” under Rose’s guidance and Mr Brownlow’s protection. However, that would also have meant her abandoning Bill Sikes, whom she clearly loves, which would have been one conversion too far. For Dickens, womanly virtues consisted of service, compassion, love and loyalty, and for Nancy to cut all ties with Sikes she would have had to deny her nature as a woman.

Fortunately for Dickens, fate intervened in the shape of a horrific murder that took place in London in May 1838, when Eliza Grimwood, a young prostitute, had her throat cut by William Hubbard, who was her pimp and her lover. This therefore suggested itself as the fate for Nancy, as not only did it solve the moral question referred to above, but it also had the backing of a real event to give the fictional action due plausibility.

Dickens used a number of the features of the Grimwood murder in his description of that of Nancy, including the final position of the body on the floor having fallen backwards from a kneeling posture. In Nancy’s case:

“'Raising herself, with difficulty, on her knees, she breathed one prayer for mercy to her Maker.”

Sikes then rains further blows on her with her lifeless eyes staring up at him, which continue to haunt him afterwards.

Dickens went to town in his description of Nancy’s murder and was accused of sensationalism as a result. However, he also made full use of this passage later in his career when he gave public readings of his works, with “Sikes and Nancy” being a particular favourite with his audiences.

By ending Nancy’s life in this way, Dickens achieved his aim of securing her redemption, although this has to be in the next life rather than this. Having been the perpetrator of sin, and having indicated her wish to mend her ways, she is now the victim of an even worse sin and, by reaching heavenwards with Rose Maylie’s bloodstained handkerchief in her hand, she achieves a form of martyrdom which Dickens’s readers would have recognized and applauded.

In terms both of drama and of solving the problem of making Nancy’s conversion convincing, Dickens pulled a rabbit out of the hat with her murder. He also rescued a novel that might otherwise have been somewhat insipid, given the fact that very few of his characters display much in the way of development. Oliver remains innocent throughout, whereas Fagin, Sikes and Monks begin and end as villains. Only Nancy makes the move from guilt towards innocence, with the awkward question of the believability of her conversion, at least in 19th century eyes, being answered by her death.