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In the film Twist (2003), a film also loosely based on Dickens' Oliver Twist, Fagin is played by actor Gary Farmer. [29] In a 2007 BBC television adaptation, Fagin is played by Timothy Spall. Contrary to his appearance in the novel, he is beardless and overweight in this version.
However, Fagin is more than a statement of ethnic prejudice. He is a richly drawn, resonant embodiment of terrifying villainy. At times, he seems like a child’s distorted vision of pure evil. Fagin is described as a “loathsome reptile” and as having “fangs such as should have been a dog’s or rat’s.”.
Twice, Oliver wakes up to find Fagin nearby, while he is in the hazy zone between sleep and waking – the moment when dreams and nightmares are born from what the narrator calls “the mere silent presence of some external object.”
One of the novel's trio of antagonists, Fagin is in charge of the "boys," his thieves, and their exploits pay for his life in London. Fagin attempts to make Oliver a thief, but fails; Fagin is later sentenced to death. Fagin is Jewish, and described in extremely anti-Semitic terms by the narrator.
Bill Sikes dies in this way, hanging from a noose that he made for himself. In chapter 52, Fagin is executed for his part in a murder. A judge sentences him to "be hanged by the neck, till he [is...
There are some traces of human feeling left in Fagin's self-serving nature. On several occasions, he shows a trace of kindliness toward Oliver. On the night that he maneuvers Oliver into the Chertsey expedition, the old man checks his impulse to disrupt the persecuted child's sleep.
He had seen some of them die,—and had joked too, because they died with prayers upon their lips. With what a rattling noise the drop went down; and how suddenly they changed, from strong and vigorous men to dangling heaps of clothes!
