Fagin
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Fagin is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. 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. Bill Sikes, one of the major villains of the novel, is one of Fagin's old pupils. Near the end of the book, he is hanged, following capture.
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[edit] Historical basis
Dickens took Fagin's name from a man he had known in his youth while working in a boot-blacking factory. Ironically, the two workmates had been friends.
Fagin's character was based on the criminal Ikey Solomon, who was a fence at the center of a highly-publicized 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.
[edit] Anti-Semitism
Fagin is noted for being one of the few Jewish characters of 19th century literature, let alone any of Dickens' pieces. Fagin has been the subject of much debate over anti-semitism. 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." Howe reports that a Jewish woman had written a complaint to Dickens that the character was too negatively stereotypical. Dickens wrote back to her, saying, "Fagin is a Jew because it is unfortunately true, of the time to which the story refers, that that class of criminal almost invariably was Jewish."
In later editions of the book printed during his lifetime, Dickens excised as many irrelevant references to Fagin's Jewishness as he could in an effort to make amends for any hurt he had caused to his Jewish friends and readers. In his last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend, he included a favourable Jewish character, Mr. Riah.
The comic book creator Will Eisner, disturbed by the anti-Semitism 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.
[edit] 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. More recently, Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley portrayed Fagin in Roman Polanski's 2005 screen adaptation. In Disney's version, Oliver & Company (1988), Fagin (voiced by Dom DeLuise) is a more sympathetic character than in the novel.
[edit] Popular culture
In his Little Fuzzy novels, H. Beam Piper makes reference to the crime of "faginy;" using minors or incompetents (in this case the Fuzzies themselves, extraterrestrials with no understanding that what they are doing is wrong) to commit crimes. The punishment for faginy is the same as for enslavement: death.
[edit] References
- Howe, Irving. Selected Writings, 1950-1990. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, New York, London, 1990
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| Characters: | Fagin | Bill Sikes | The Artful Dodger | Nancy Sikes | Rose Maylie |
| Film adaptions: | Oliver Twist (1948) | Oliver! | Oliver & Company | Oliver Twist (1997) | Twist | Boy called Twist | Oliver Twist (2005) |
| Other adaptions: | Oliver! | Fagin the Jew | Oliver Twist (TV miniseries) |
