Fagin

Infobox character
colour = Brown
name = Fagin


caption = An etching by George Cruikshank titled "Fagin in the condemned Cell", November 1838.
first = "Oliver Twist"
last =
cause =
nickname =
alias =
species =
gender = Male
age = probably over 60 (claims to be an "old man")
born =
death = execution by hanging
occupation = criminal
title =
callsign =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
residence = London, England
episode =
portrayer = Lon Chaney, Sr. (1922), Alec Guinness (1948), Ron Moody (1968), Dom DeLuise (voice, 1988), Gary Farmer (2003), Ben Kingsley (2005), Timothy Spall (2007), Rowan Atkinson(2009)
creator = Charles Dickens

Fagin (pronEng|ˈfeɪɡɪn) is a fictional character who appears in the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist", referred to in the preface of the novel as "a receiver of stolen goods", but referred to more frequently within the actual story as "the merry old gentleman" or just "the Jew".

Character

Born in London, Fagin is described as "disgusting" to look at, he is the leader of a group of children, the Artful Dodger among them, whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities in exchange for a roof over their heads. At the time of the novel, he is said by another character, Monks, to have already made criminals out of "scores" of children who grow up to live – or die – committing the same crimes as adults. Bill Sikes, one of the major villains of the novel, is hinted to be one of Fagin's old pupils, and Nancy clearly was. Whilst portrayed as relatively humorous, he is nonetheless a self-confessed miser who, despite the amount he has acquired over the years from the work of others, does very little to improve the squalid lives of the children he takes in, allowing them to smoke pipes and drink gin "with the air of middle-aged men". In the second chapter of his appearance, it is shown – albeit when talking to himself – that he cares less about those children who are eventually hanged for their crimes and more about the fact that they do not "peach" on him and the other children. Still darker sides to the character's nature are shown in his attempted beating of Oliver for running away and allowing himself to be taken in by the kind man Mr. Brownlow, and in his own involvement with various plots and schemes throughout the story. He could also be said to be indirectly responsible for Nancy's death, due to his informing Sikes – mistakenly – that she had betrayed him. Near the end of the book, Fagin is hanged following capture, in a chapter that portrays him as being pitiful in his anguish.

Historical basis

Dickens took Fagin's name from a friend he had known in his youth while working in a boot-blacking factory. Fact|date=January 2008

Fagin's character was based on the criminal Ikey Solomon,Fact|date=January 2008 who was a fence at the centre of a highly-publicised arrest, escape, recapture, and trial. Some accounts of Solomon also describe him as a London underworld "kidsman". A kidsman was an adult who recruited children and trained them as pickpockets, exchanging food and shelter for goods the children stole.

Antisemitism

Fagin is noted for being one of the few Jewish characters of 19th century literature, let alone any of Dickens's pieces. Fagin has been the subject of much debate over antisemitism. In an introduction to a 1981 Bantam Books reissue of Oliver Twist, for example, Irving Howe wrote that Fagin was considered an "archetypical Jewish villain."

In later editions of the book printed during his lifetime, Dickens excised many (but not all) of the references to Fagin's Jewishness. [Geoffrey Nunberg, "The Way We Talk Now" (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), p. 126.] In his last completed novel, "Our Mutual Friend", he included a favourable Jewish character, Mr. Riah.

Dickens sold his London home to a Jewish banker, James Davis in 1860. "The purchaser of Tavistock House will be a Jew Money-Lender," he told a friend. Later he wrote "I must say that in all things the purchaser has behaved thoroughly well, and that I cannot call to mind any occasion when I have had moneydealings with anyone that has been so satisfactory, considerate and trusting." Dickens was rather attached to his wife, Eliza Davis, who reproached him in a letter of 1863 for the "great wrong" he had committed in Oliver Twist. Two years later, Dickens created, in "Our Mutual Friend", the noble character of Riah, an elderly Jew who finds jobs for downcast young women in Jewish-owned factories. "I think there cannot be kinder people in the world," exclaims one of the girls. "There is nothing but good will left between me and a People for whom I have a real regard and to whom I would not willfully have given an offence," wrote Dickens to Mrs Davis. He set about revising "Oliver Twist" in the light of her criticisms, removing almost all mention of "the Jew" from the last 15 chapters. In one of his final public readings in 1869, a year before his death, Dickens cleansed Fagin of stereotypical caricature. A contemporary report observed: "There is no nasal intonation; a bent back but no shoulder-shrug: the conventional attributes are omitted."

The comic book creator Will Eisner, disturbed by the antisemitism in the typical depiction of the character, created a graphic novel in 2003 titled "Fagin the Jew". In this book, the back story of the character and events of "Oliver Twist" are depicted from his point of view.

Film and theatre

Numerous prominent actors have portrayed Fagin. In the 1922 film, Lon Chaney, Sr. played Fagin, while Alec Guinness performed the role in the 1948 film version directed by David Lean.

Ron Moody's portrayal in the musical "Oliver!" is recognisably influenced by Guinness' portrayal, as was Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Fagin in Roman Polanski's 2005 screen adaptation.

In the 1982 made-for-tv movie version, Fagin is portrayed by George C. Scott. Though the character is generally portrayed as elderly, diminutive and homely, Scott's version of the character was markedly younger, stronger, and strikingly handsome, which made the character much more formidable.

In the 1985 miniseries, Fagin was portrayed by Eric Porter. In Disney's version, "Oliver & Company" (1988), Fagin is voiced by Dom DeLuise. In the 2003 film "Twist" (a film loosely based on Dickens' "Oliver Twist") Fagin is played by actor Gary Farmer. In the 2007 BBC Television adaptation Fagin is played by Timothy Spall. In the musical, Fagin is portrayed much more favourably by Ron Moody, and escapes with the Artful Dodger at the end.

On May 30th 2008, it was announced by Andrew Lloyd Weber and John Barrowman on "Friday Night with Jonathon Ross" that in the upcoming theatre production of "Oliver!", Rowan Atkinson will play the character of Fagin.

References

* Howe, Irving. "Selected Writings, 1950–1990". Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, New York, London, 1990

Footnotes

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External links

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