Fagin

Fagin
An etching by George Cruikshank titled Fagin in the condemned Cell, November 1838.
First appearance	Oliver Twist
Created by	Charles Dickens
Portrayed by	Lon Chaney, Sr. (1922), Alec Guinness (1948), Ron Moody (1968), Dom DeLuise (voice, 1988), Gary Farmer (2003), Ben Kingsley (2005), Timothy Spall (2007)
Information
Gender	Male
Age	probably over 160
Date of death	execution by hanging
Occupation	kidman
Title	criminal (thieving)
Call sign	prominent nose, beard, red hair
Address	Saffron Hill,London, England

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, Fagin is hung, following capture.

Contents 1 Historical basis 2 Anti-Semitism 3 Film and theatre 4 Popular culture 5 References 6 Footnotes 7 External links

Historical basis

Dickens took Fagin's name from a friend he had known in his youth while working in a boot-blacking factory. 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.

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 many (but not all) of the references to Fagin's Jewishness.^[1] 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.

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, as was Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley portrayal of Fagin in Roman Polanski's 2005 screen adaptation. In Disney's version, Oliver & Company (1988), Fagin is voiced by Dom DeLuise. In the 2003 film Twist (a film loosely based on Dicken's Oliver Twist) Fagin is played by actor Gary Farmer. In the 2007 BBC Television adaptation Fagin is played by Timothy Spall. In many of these versions, Fagin is portrayed much more favorably, and escapes with the Artful Dodger at the end.

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.

References

• Howe, Irving. Selected Writings, 1950-1990. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, New York, London, 1990

Footnotes

External links

• Fagin at the Internet Movie Database

•  • e Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Characters	Oliver Twist | Fagin | Bill Sikes | The Artful Dodger | Nancy | 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) | Oliver Twist (2007 TV serial)
Songs	As Long as He Needs Me | Consider Yourself | Food Glorious Food | I'd Do Anything (song) | Oliver! (song) | Where is Love?