Describe the atmosphere terror in ‘Oliver Twist’.

The strong Gothic tradition of the English novel influenced Dickens very much. It is the reason that we find the atmosphere of fear and desperation in ‘Oliver Twist‘. Terror prevails in the novel and its pervasive influence is seen in the novel. Dickens has exhibited dark streets, dark alleys, all the London haunts and lurking places of vice, crime and pain. The novelist has depicted many evil-infested places. Fagin and Bill Sikes are monsters of evil. Their presence fill the atmosphere with terror. They are evil incarnated. They are full of brutality and monstrosity. They are dirty, unshaven and scowning in looks.

Fagin, Bill Sikes and their world represents the world of crime and evil, cruelty and trachery. There are many descriptions which add suspense and terror in the novel. The scene in which Monks takes the locket and the ring from Mr. Bumble and removing a wooden plank very close to his feet throws them into the dark surging waters of the river Thames. The setting of the scene appears to home been taken from some late 18th century novel. The name Monks has also been derived from Monks Ceruis, the most reputed writers of the Gothic romance.

There is another instance about the setting of the scene terror where Oliver spends his night among the coffins. Apart from this Fagin carries on his trade in some deserted, dilapidated, out of the world house. His denis totally closed to the sunlight. The public house in the Saffron Hill. The Three Cripples’ also belongs to the same world of terror. At one scene Fagin and Monks appear and then disappear without leaving trace of at least their foot prints. It seems that Dickens provides almost supernatural powers. In this way Dicken has made use of a lot of the machinery of the Gothic romance to expose the social evils. The atmosphere of horror and terror prevail several places in the novel.

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