Abstract

This thesis looks at dual character of Nancy in Oliver Twist, it’s always believed that there are two kinds of characters in any story, either the protagonists or the antagonists. The protagonist is a hero/heroin, who usually does good things to people and fights against the antagonist, who causes bad things to happen to people.
  However, the dual nature of Nancy’s Character in Oliver Twist calls for critical analysis. The character of human is a contradiction, they are like colors, some of them are bright, and some of them are dark. Nancy character in the novel is very complicated despite being relatively a minor character. She played a very important and significant role in the novel. Nancy unique character made her to be the one who is very close to common people’s life than any other characters in Oliver Twist. So her complex and double character calls for researching. This article is based on the novel Oliver Twist written by Charles Dickens, who is the master of the most prominent English critical realistic writer. This thesis will examine the definition of English critical realistic, the lifetime and writing style of Charles Dickens, and finally analyze Nancy’s character in details.

Key words: English critical realistic; Charles Dickens; Oliver Twist; Nancy’s character

摘要

任何一个故事里都有两种人物形象：好人或坏人。好人通常扮演的是英雄角色，打倒一切恶势力，拯救大众于水深火热之中。人类的性格是一个矛盾体，就像各种色彩一样，有明亮，也有灰暗。《雾都孤儿》中南希就是这样一面镜子。在这篇小说中，南希扮演了一个非常重要的角色。南希的双重性格更接近普通大众的日常生活，所以才更值得我们去研究。本文以英国现实批判家查尔斯•狄更斯的小说《雾都孤儿》为主要素材，本文将从英国现实批判主义定义入手，再对狄更斯生平进行介绍，最后细细分析小说中南希的性格特征。

关键词：英国批判现实主义；查尔斯•狄更斯；雾都孤儿；南希性格

1.    Introduction
Charles Dickens, one of the most famous English critical realistic writers of the Victorian era, was born in February, 1812 at Portsmouth.  The sudden change of Dickens's life happened when he was only a child. That year he was only 12 years old, and his father was in debtors' prison, he had to quit from school and work in a factory. This change made deeply influence on the sensitive boy.  Stefan Zweig once said “He is the genius who most fully expressed his contemporaries in the common interest.” His works are always involved in sharp social criticism, gentle humanitarian, humorous and pungent irony, and vivid outward portrayal.