Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, 'the law is a ass - a idiot.

When Mr Bumble tries to pass the guilt of the stolen locket and ring off on his wife, Mr Brownlow informs him that in the eyes of the law Bumble was the more guilty of the two because the law assumes that his wife operated under his direction.īumble's reply, one of the most quoted lines in all of Dickens, implies that any married man knows that he has no such control over the actions of his wife. Because they were mobile and traveled all over England, they were much more effective at catching criminals than the stationary London Watch ( Wikipedia). The Bow Street Runners earned their income through rewards and private fees and gained much of their information through the use of informers. This group operated as London's police force from 1750 until they were incorporated into Sir Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police in 1829.

516-517).įrom Fagin to Riah: How Charles Dickens looked at the Jews By Herb Moskovitzīlathers and Duff, who responded to the attempted robbery of the Maylie home, were officers in the famous Bow Street Runners. Dickens also, when editing Oliver Twist for the Charles Dickens edition of his works, eliminated most references to Fagin as 'the Jew' ( Slater, 2009, p. In his novel, Our Mutual Friend, Dickens created Riah, a positive Jewish character. Later, when Dickens sold his London residence, Tavistock House, to a Jewish couple, whom he befriended, he was compelled to make restitution. Dickens expressed surprise when the Jewish community complained about the stereotypical depiction of Fagin. Your browser does not support JavaScript!Īnti-Semitism, ingrained into English society at the time Oliver Twist was written (1837), manifest itself in Charles Dickens' depiction of Fagin.

Oliver & twist