Level 3

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse in England during the 1830s. ​

His mother, whose name is unknown, is discovered on the street and passes away shortly after giving birth to Oliver.

During the first nine years of his life, Oliver lives in a poorly managed orphanage. Later, he is transferred to a workhouse.​

There, the other boys bully Oliver. One day, they force him to ask for more gruel at the end of a meal.​

Mr Bumble, the parish official, gets mad and offers five pounds to the person who will take Oliver away from the workhouse.

Oliver eventually becomes an apprentice for a local undertaker, Mr Sowerberry.

When Noah Claypole, the undertaker’s other apprentice, makes disrespectful comments about Oliver’s mother, Oliver attacks him and faces the Sowerberrys’ anger.​

Desperate and fearing the consequences, Oliver runs away and embarks on a journey towards London.

On the outskirts of London, starving and exhausted, Oliver meets a boy named Jack Dawkins, also called “the Artful Dodger”, who is the same age as him.​

Jack offers him to stay in the London house of his mentor, Fagin.​

It turns out that Fagin is a criminal who trains orphan boys to steal for him.

After a few days of training, Oliver is sent on a mission to pick pockets with two other boys. ​

When he sees them taking a handkerchief from an elderly man, Oliver is horrified and runs away. ​

He gets caught but narrowly escapes and is accused of the theft.

Mr Brownlow, the victim of the theft, takes pity on the feverish Oliver and brings him to his home to nurse him back to health.​

Mr Brownlow is shocked by Oliver’s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman hanging in his house.

With time, Oliver does well in Mr Brownlow’s home, but two young adults from Fagin’s gang, Bill Sikes and his lover Nancy, capture Oliver and bring him back to Fagin.​

Oliver is sent by Faggin to assist Sikes in a burglary.

Oliver gets shot by a servant of the house.​

Sikes escapes, and Oliver is taken in by the women living there, Mrs Maylie and Rose, her beautiful adopted niece. ​

The two women become fond of Oliver, and he spends a wonderful summer with them in the countryside.

However, Fagin and a strange man named Monks are determined to recapture Oliver.​

It is revealed that Oliver’s mother had a gold locket when she died.​

Monks obtains and destroys the locket.

Nancy meets with Rose in secret when the Maylies come to London. She informs her about Fagin’s plans. ​

A member of Fagin’s gang overhears their conversation and when Sikes discovers Nancy’s disclosure, he brutally murders her and flees London.​

Sikes accidentally hangs himself while trying to escape.

Mr Brownlow has reunited with the Maylies and Oliver. ​

He confronts Monks and forces him to reveal the truth about Oliver’s parentage.

It is revealed that Monks is Oliver’s half-brother. ​

Mr Leeford, their father, was unhappily married to a rich woman and had an affair with Oliver’s mother, Agnes Fleming.

All this time, Monks was pursuing Oliver to deprive him of his family inheritance.​

Mr Brownlow forces Monks to let Oliver have his share.

Additionally, it is discovered that Rose is Agnes’s younger sister, making her Oliver’s aunt.

Fagin is executed for his crimes.​

Finally, Mr Brownlow adopts Oliver, and they, along with the Maylies, live happily in the countryside.