For the final part of my series on Fairy Tales in Classics, I’m focusing on a perennial favorite: Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
Oliver Twist, first published in 1837 as a serial, doesn’t immediately come to mind as a specific fairy tale. Instead, it fits more broadly into a type known as Rags-to-Riches or Rags-to-Royalty. This theme includes well-known stories like Cinderella, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, and even elements from the legend of King Arthur. TV Tropes describes variations of this theme as follows:
Cinderella Style: A commoner becomes royalty through hard work, perseverance, and some magical help. Examples include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and King David.
Snow White Style: A legitimate royal forced into hiding to escape danger or oppression, often having to prove their birthright. Examples include The Princess and the Pea and Donkey Skin.
Sleeping Beauty Style: Like Snow White, the character is royalty in hiding for protection but unaware of their true lineage, discovered through specific items or events. This greatly resembles Oliver Twist, where he grows up unaware of his middle-class heritage.
King Thrushbeard Style: A spoiled royal loses their inheritance due to their actions, lives in poverty, and regains their status after understanding its value.
The Goose Girl Style: The princess is overthrown and forced into a menial role until her true identity is revealed, often combined with Cinderella-like elements.
Oliver Twist most closely aligns with the Sleeping Beauty Style. Oliver grows up an orphan, poor and mistreated, unaware of his true family background. Eventually, he finds he is related to the very family that has sheltered him, though one family member tries to sabotage him.
In the famous “Sword in the Stone” tale, young Arthur discovers his true lineage by pulling the sword from the stone. Similarly, in Oliver Twist, items like a locket and a ring belonging to Oliver’s mother reveal his identity.
We see reflections of the Oliver Twist story in other classic tales. For instance, Sir Gareth of Orkney, mistreated yet ultimately mentored by Sir Launcelot, mirrors Oliver’s varying treatment by different characters in the book.
In the Norse fairy tale collection East of the Sun and West of the Moon, stories like “The Blue Belt” and “The Widow’s Son” feature harsh treatment and deception similar to Oliver’s experiences. In “The Widow’s Son,” survival requires cunning, much like Oliver dodging Fagin’s wrath.
As Oliver navigates his hardships, disguised by his neglected appearance, there’s a deeper message. Rather than suggesting his success is due to his middle-class origin, it raises the idea that every child, even the downtrodden, holds potential for goodness.
Eventually, Oliver achieves his “happily ever after,” gaining his rightful inheritance and finding a family with his aunt Rose and her true love, Harry Maylie. Though Oliver himself is too young to marry, his tale concludes with justice and fulfillment for the deserving.
