Analysis of Dickens’ use of irony, satire and humour in ...

You will discover multiple illustrations throughout Oliver Twist of irony, epigramme and humour. Although a dark story, there are many occasions of humour and an extraordinary amount of chuckling, giggling and knee-slapping by heroes.

Each of the fictional techniques of humour, paradox and epigramme, employed by Dickens help put focus and depth on the various conflicts between the novels outcasts and its established culture. It is impossible to cover every avenues inside Oliver Angle that might be considered as humorous, satirical or ironic but some of the more obvious and significant examples of every will now become discussed. There may be ambiguous humour in disputes between the institution and the specific found during Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

A good example of this coming early in the second chapter once Oliver is told that “the table has said he has to look before this forthwith1”, the humour here comes in Oliver’s ignorance of “not creating a very precise notion of what a live board was” and on entering the room of “eight to ten excess fat gentlemen” he is told to “bow to the board”, “seeing no plank but the stand, he luckily bowed to that”. Oliver’s ignorance is both amusing and sad, as it underpins his vibrant ignorance and helplessness in the face of his circumstance which is quite definitely out of his control. There are many cases where Dickens juxtaposes connaissance and ridicule with hostility and rudeness; one example getting the introduction of Mr.

Gamfield in chapter 3, who was “alternately cudgelling his brains great donkey2”, thus giving rise to laughter on the part of the audience and also gives, i think, an impression of Gamfield while ridiculous or as a fool. Soon after were told that he provided the donkeys jaw “a sharp wrench”, and “another blow around the head, just to stun him till this individual came back again”, this portrayal of him as aggressive and chaotic is juxtaposed with the deceive implied previously.

The “cudgelling” that was at one time used humorously is now substituted by the more intense definition, “short, thick keep used as a weapon3” This dichotomy among humour and aggression is utilized repeatedly by Dickens and in my estimation forces the group to never completely feel comfortable in laughing in situations even as are never truly sure in the event this situation or perhaps character will eventually show a darker part. Later in the scene among Gamfield and the board, the use of laughter like a weapon and inextricably associated with aggression and violence can be again proven when he explains to the table: “Boys is wery obstinit, and wery lazy gen’lmen, and there’s nothink like a good warm blaze to make ’em come down with a work.

It’s humane too, gen’lmen, acause, even if they’re caught up in the chimbley, roasting their particular feet makes ’em fight to hextricate theirselves”2 Our frivolity here is certainly one of incredulousness and a few revolt in Gamfields raw account of his take care of boys. This puts the audience in the not comfortable position with the board because we are just like the “gentleman in the white waistcoat” who “appeared very much amused by his explanation. ” This rapport of humour and violence puts the audience in the uncomfortable position of being able to put itself inside the position from the more intense and aggresive characters in Oliver Turn while also allowing all of us to sympathise and empathise with Oliver and detest those accountable for their maltreatment.

The connaissance in the popular scene where Oliver requests more are visible the professionals somewhat severe to a unimportant event. We are told this individual “gazed in stupefied astonishment” and “clung for support to the copper”. This intense reaction to such a small request while hilarious in and of itself will serve a greater goal in displaying the terrible situation and impoverished position this orphan boy, Oliver Twist located himself in.

The fact that to ask for “more” then the meagre “supper allotted by the dietary” could cause this sort of a reaction from your master and cause the gentleman in the white waistcoat to say, “that boy will be hung…I realize that boy will be hung”, although amusing in the extreme reaction, this also serves to pointedly reveal the dire situation for all those orphaned and state ‘care’ at the time, who have encountered brutality and apathy at every change. Another sort of laughter in Oliver Twist is in the naming of the character types; ‘Master Charles Bates’, often referred to as ‘Master Bates’ is a very very clear pun that is most definitely not really lost on the audience. The mere reference to his name mirrors a smirk and fun from the viewers.

The identifying of the personality of the Beadle as ‘Mr. Bumble’ is also for comedian effect i believe. The Oxford English Dictionary defines bumble as to ‘move or act in an awkward or puzzled manner; speak in a confused or indistinct way. ‘ Like that of Master. Bates, the image evoked by the term “Bumble” is usually one of poker fun at, a deceive or fool but Mister.

Bumbles behavior throughout the book does not make him a sympathetic unreasonable character, instead his consistent brutality, viciousness and violent nature lends him for being one of the evil doers of the story. However his naming by Dickens isn’t just a source of humour although also of irony. It is ironic that Mr. Bumble is not capable of seeing Oliver’s situation correctly and is quickly fooled by those he believes will be inferior. Dickens’ Oliver Angle is stuffed with paradox.

The starting chapters exemplify this the moment Oliver cries himself to rest and Dickens sarcastically exclaims, “What a novel representation of the young laws of England! They let the paupers go to sleep! 1” This paradox is effective in showing the discontinuity involving the various classes in Victorian London, greater than simply saying the conditions present at the time. The scene in which Oliver asks for more gruel is also ironic in that the helpless famished orphan, just trying to improve his situation in life, is definitely treated incredulously and punished by the healthy and balanced and well-feed board users who actually should be the ones who happen to be punished because of their treatment of the indegent.

Another kind of irony Dickens uses is showing the duplicitous nature of the society in Even victorian London at the time. The upper class found on the table, believe Mrs. Mann to be a great childcare professional of the orphans, however when looked at from the placement of the reduced class point of view of the orphans themselves, she is greedy and abusive.

Again this foul play and irony can be seen the moment Oliver is definitely presented towards the Board and begins to weep, a reaction that ought to be understandable to anyone, as they is a afraid, nine year old boy, only, in a space full of daunting adults, not being aware of what to expect, however the board simply cannot understand this and one inquiries, “What will you be crying to get? …And to make certain it was incredibly extraordinary. What could the boy be crying for? “1 The users of the plank really have not any understanding of why Oliver could possibly be crying, assuming they have provided him with everything this individual could need and a luxurious house in the workhouse.

They have not any understanding or perhaps sympathy intended for the situation with the poor people of London as shown when ever Dickens says that: “When they [the board members] turn their particular attention to the workhouse, that they found out simultaneously, what common folks would not have discovered – the poor persons liked that! It was an everyday place of public entertainment to get the lesser classes; a tavern high was not pay”1 You will find multiple types of social and political epigramme throughout Oliver Twist. This can be a satirical strike of the manner in which predestined interpersonal class and poverty impacts the outcomes of a person’s your life and a protest by Dickens against the Poor Legislation and the Workhouse system of the time.

The forgotten manner in which Oliver’s birth is usually described provokes compassion inside the audience. He “breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise towards the inmates from the workhouse the truth of a fresh burden having being imposed upon the parish”. It really is dark and ironic; Oliver is portrayed as a frustrating burden after the parish and world. From the outset his entrance in the world is despised, the antithesis of what a child’s birth ought to elicit.

His life is ruined from the beginning by the ugliness on the planet he have been born into and his sociable standing is definitely imprinted after him, he’s a “humble, half-starved work – being cuffed and buffeted throughout the world – despised simply by all, and pitied by none “3 and reaffirmed in the second chapter when the gentleman inside the white waistcoat exclaims “that boy will probably be hung” Oliver is the car employed by Dickens to display the inadequacies within just society. This individual highlights society’s various injustices. Through the employ of Oliver, the vulnerable of society are given a voice.

The character types that Oliver encounters each represent a different sort of corrupted socio-political aspect frequent in the culture of the time. Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble both focus on the hypocrisy and vicio of the Poor Law and the Workhouse program, while Fagin is created as being a representation of greed and materialism. It is clear that Dickens employs irony, epigramme and humour to great effect in Oliver Distort, and does so in a manner that is definitely not as straightforward as may possibly originally seem to be. His usage of irony and humour being a weapon reveals clearly the maltreatment with the poor as a result of the upper classes and serves to both amuse the group and make it uneasy in having a laugh along with the unfair and improper situations that are to be portrayed.

The satire used by Dickens, although an exaggeration, exposes the ridiculousness and impropriety in the society becoming described and could also act as a true rendering of the associated with the Poor Regulation and the workhouse system of time.