Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to our next lesson of Oliver Twist.

In our last lesson, we met a very mysterious man, Monks.

Now Monks gave Mrs. Bumble some money in return for a locket.

This locket belonged to a lady who died giving birth.

It was stolen by this lady's nurse and it has the name Agnes engraved on it.

I think this locket may have belonged to Oliver's mother.

As soon as Monks gets the locket, he throws it into the river.

Maybe, for some reason, Monks does not want people to know about Oliver's family.

What might this man be up to? In today's lesson, we will learn about Monks' evil plan.

Let's begin.

For today's lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper and a pen.

If you do not have this equipment, press the pause button on this video now, go and collect this equipment, and then we will begin our lesson.

Let's begin with a recap from our last lesson, why does Monks want the locket from Mrs. Bumble? You have four options.

Option one, the locket is valuable and could be sold for money.

Option two, the locket could reveal secrets about Oliver's family and Monks doesn't want these secrets to be revealed.

Option three, the locket could reveal secrets about Oliver's family, and Monks wants these secrets to be revealed, or option four, Monks wants to get rid of this locket because it rightfully belongs to Oliver's mother.

Press the pause button on your video now and tell the screen the right answer.

I will now tell you the right answer, which is, of course, option two.

Monks wants the locket from Mrs. Bumble because the locket could reveal secrets about Oliver's family, and Monks doesn't want these secrets to be revealed.

As you may remember, the locket is engraved with the name, Agnes, and we assume that Agnes may be Oliver's mother.

Monks clearly does not want people to find out about Oliver's family from looking at this locket.

He therefore throws it into the river as soon as he gets it from Mrs. Bumble.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, some of you may have chosen one of the other options.

You may have chosen option one, the locket is valuable and could be sold for money, but as you know, Monks is not interested in making money from this locket.

It's the secret that this locket reveals about Oliver's family that interests Monks.

Some of you may have chosen option three, the locket could reveal secrets about Oliver's family and Monks wants these secrets to be revealed, but again, Monks does not want these secrets to be revealed.

He wants to make sure that no one finds out the truth about Oliver's family.

And some of you may have chosen option four, Monks wants to get rid of this locket because it rightfully belongs to Oliver's mother.

Now, you're right, that this locket does belong to Oliver's mother and it was stolen from her, but that is not why Monks wants this locket.

He wants this locket to stop people from learning the truth about Oliver Twist's family.

I will now explain our plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we will revise villains.

We will then read our extract.

And then, we have a question for you.

Is Nancy a villain? And after that, we will consider a second question.

Is Nancy actually a victim? Let's begin.

So first of all, we were advised what a villain is.

This is an idea that we looked back, we looked at in previous lessons.

A villain is a bad person who harms other people or breaks the law to get what they want.

And this word, villainous, if someone behaves like a villain, they can be described as villainous.

Let's take a look at some different villains from our novel.

Fagin could be seen as a villain in Oliver Twist.

And Bill Sikes is a villain in Oliver Twist, too.

And so far, Dickens has hinted that Monks is a villain.

It is clear that Monks is a selfish character who's willing to harm other people in order to get what he wants.

Now, the question that we're going to think about in today's lesson is this.

Is Nancy a villain? Let's first of all revise what we know about Nancy so far.

So as you may remember, Nancy is Bill's girlfriend.

She seemed to care for Oliver during the brief period of time Oliver was with Fagin, but then she betrayed this trust because she helped Bill kidnap Oliver.

You may remember when Mr. Brownlow sent Oliver Twist off to London to deliver a parcel, as Nancy pretended to be Oliver's older sister, and with the help of Bill, Nancy kidnapped Oliver and brought him back to Fagin's gang.

So far throughout our story, Nancy's behaviour could be described as villainous, but as you will see, Nancy does change throughout our story.

You will see this, in particular, in the extract that we're about to read.

Now, in this extract, I want you, as we read, to think about this question, is Nancy a villain or a victim? It's very late one night and Monks is having a secret meeting with Fagin.

Now, Nancy just happens to be walking past, but when she hears their voices, she steps by their door and listens to their conversation.

And as Nancy listens to what Monks tells Fagin, she's shocked by something that he says.

What is Monks' secret? And is Nancy going to change her villainous ways? Let's find out.

One night, Fagin met Monks for a secret conversation, and Nancy listened in to their meeting.

Monks said something that shocked Nancy.

Now Nancy knows that Oliver lives with Rose.

So Nancy decided to go and tell Rose what she had heard Monks say.

Now you may remember that Oliver lives with Rose in Mrs. Maylie's house, that you can see here.

So, the next day, Nancy meets Rose to tell her all that she has learned from the conversation between Monks and Fagin.

Now this is a rather odd meeting.

On one hand, you have Rose.

Rose is a wealthy, respectable, and moral girl.

And then you have Nancy.

Nancy is the opposite.

Nancy is poor, Nancy has lived a life characterised by crime and evil.

These two women could not be more different.

Now this is how Dickens describes Nancy as she walks to meet Rose.

The girl's life had been squandered in the streets, and among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London.

The miserable companion of thieves and ruffians, the fallen outcast of low haunts, the associate of the scourings of the jails and hulks, living within the shadow of the gallows itself.

This is a very tragic description of Nancy's life.

Dickens says that the girl's life had been squandered in the streets.

Now that word squandered means wasted.

Nancy's life has been wasted in the streets.

Her life has been characterised by suffering and evil.

Let's continue to read.

She felt burdened with the sense of her own deep shame and shrunk as though she could scarcely bear the presence of her with whom she had sought this interview.

Now here Dickens writes that Nancy felt burdened with the sense of our own deep shame.

Now that word, shame, means guilt.

That's when you feel really terrible for something bad that you've done, and I would suggest that Nancy feels shame for being involved in Oliver's kidnapping earlier in the story.

Now I'm very interested in this word, burdened.

Dickens is suggesting that Nancy's guilt feels like a great heavy burden that's weighing her down.

Clearly, Nancy's guilt is something which is causing her a lot of pain.

Maybe she's now going to tell Rose something that will help her get rid of this guilt.

This is what Nancy now says.

"I am the girl that dragged little Oliver "back to old Fagin's, on the night he went "from the house in Pentonville." "You!" said Rose Maylie.

"I, lady!" replied the girl.

"I am the infamous creature you have heard of, "that lives among the thieves, "that never from the first moment "I can recollect my eyes and senses "opening on London streets have known any better life, "so help me God!" "What dreadful things are these!" said Rose, involuntarily falling from her strange companion.

"Thank Heaven upon your knees, dear lady," cried the girl, Nancy, "that you had friends to take care for "and keep you in your childhood, "and that you were never in the midst of cold and hunger, "and riot and drunkenness, "and, and something worse than all, "as I have been from my cradle.

"I may use the word, for the alley and the gutter were mine, "as they will be my deathbed." "I pity you!" said Rose, in a broken voice.

"It wrings my heart to hear you!" Here, Nancy is making it very clear that she has lived a completely different life to Rose.

She's talked about just how difficult her life has been.

Nancy says that while Rose had friends to care for and keep you in your childhood, obviously, Nancy did not have any friends.

And she next says this.

"And you were never in the midst of cold and hunger," so there's been many dark, lonely nights where Nancy has been cold, without shelter, and hungry.

She's been brought up poor and often has not had enough food.

And riot and drunkenness, so often, Nancy has been surrounded by all sorts of evil.

There's been riots breaking out around her and drunk people around her, too.

Nancy has been surrounded by very immoral people her whole life, all from the moment that she was born, from a moment that she was from her cradle.

Let's continue to read.

And this is how Rose responds.

She says I pity you, I feel sorry for you.

"Heaven bless you for your goodness!" rejoined the girl, Nancy.

"If you knew what I am sometimes, "you would pity me, indeed.

"But I have stolen away from those "who would surely murder me, if they knew I had been here "to tell you what I have overheard." So Nancy here says if you knew what I am sometimes, if you could see my life, you would pity me indeed.

But I'm very interested in this next thing that Nancy tells Rose.

She says, "But I have stolen away from those "who would surely murder me, if they knew I had been here "to tell you what I have overheard." In other words, Nancy is telling Rose this.

I'm now going to tell you something that could get me murdered if anyone finds out.

Nancy is risking her life by telling Rose the secret that she learned from listening in to the conversation between Monks and Fagin.

What secret has Nancy heard? Well, let's find out.

Nancy tells us that Monks asked Fagin to kidnap Oliver and turn him into a criminal.

Monks next reveals that Oliver is of high birth.

That means that Oliver is very, comes from a very rich, powerful family, either from his mum or his dad.

Now, this is rather shocking for the reader because up until this point in the novel, we have assumed that Oliver's parents are very poor, but this is not true.

Oliver's mother or Oliver's father are, in fact, very rich and very powerful.

Monks wants Oliver's inheritance money.

Now, let me now explain to you what this word inheritance means.

Imagine a mum and a dad.

Throughout their whole life, they make lots of money for themselves, and eventually, they might have children.

Now, one day, the mother and the father will pass away, but what will happen to their money? Their money remains.

Well, the money may well pass on to the children.

This money, when it is passed on from their parents to the children, is called inheritance money, and Monks wants to take the inheritance money from Oliver.

Monks wants Oliver's inheritance money, that he should get from his mother and father.

Now why does Monks want this? Well, Nancy next reveals that Monks is Oliver's brother.

What a great shock, and that is why Monks thinks he can get Oliver, he can steal Oliver's inheritance money from him.

Nancy next arranges to meet Rose every week at London Bridge to keep her updated on the criminals' plans.

So every week, Nancy is going to meet Rose, she's going to update her on the criminals' plans to stop Fagin and Monks from kidnapping Oliver again.

Rose thanks Nancy for all of this information and agrees to help Nancy prevent Fagin and Monks from kidnapping Oliver.

Rose next offers Nancy some support.

She says that she can help Nancy escape her life of crime, and this is how Nancy responds.

"Lady," cried the girl, sinking on her knees, "dear, sweet, angel lady, you are the first "that ever blessed me with such words as these, "and if I had heard them years ago, "they might have turned me from a life of sin and sorrow, "but it is too late, it is too late." "It is never too late," said Rose, "for penitence and atonement." "It is," cried the girl, writhing in the agony of her mind.

"I cannot leave him now.

"I could not be his death." Now, Nancy here explains why she cannot leave her life of crime, even though it's so miserable.

She says that if she'd heard Rose's words years ago, she might've been turned from this life of sin and sorrow.

Notice that word sin means evil and that word sorrow means sadness.

She knows that she lives a very miserable life, but she says now, it is too late, it's too late for her to leave this miserable life of crime, and why is it too late? Well, Nancy goes on to explain this.

Nancy says, "I cannot leave him now." Now Nancy is talking about Bill here.

Bill is Nancy's boyfriend, and because Nancy feels such loyalty towards Bill, she refuses to leave him, and therefore, she refuses to leave her lifestyle of crime and evil.

"You would serve me best, lady," continues Nancy, wringing her hands, "if you could take my life at once, "for I have felt more grief to think of what I am tonight "than I ever did before, as it would be something not to die "in the hell in which I have lived.

"God bless you, sweet lady.

"Send me as much happiness on your head "as I have brought shame on mine." Thus speaking and sobbing aloud, the unhappy creature turned away, while Rose Maylie, overpowered by this extraordinary interview, sank into a chair, and endeavoured to collect her wandering thoughts.

A lot happened in that extract.

Let's begin by thinking about the conversation between Monks and Fagin.

Monks explains that he is Oliver's brother, and Monks is an evil brother.

Monks is desperate to make sure that Oliver receives none of his inheritance money.

We're not exactly sure how Monks plans to do this, but Monks does ask Fagin to kidnap Oliver and make sure that Oliver becomes a criminal.

Now Nancy overhears this conversation and is shocked by everything that's been said.

So Nancy tells Rose everything she has heard, and as Nancy walks to meet Rose, she feels full of shame for all the terrible things she's done in her life, in particular, Nancy feels terrible for helping Bill kidnap Oliver earlier on in this story, and I feel quite sorry for Nancy.

Nancy has been a victim.

She's been brought up in poverty.

She's only ever known criminals.

She's been mistreated all her life, but there's still some goodness left in Nancy.

By revealing this information to Rose, Nancy is risking her life.

She knows that if Fagin or Bill or Monks find out about this, she would be murdered.

Maybe Nancy is more of a victim than a villain.

I will now test your understanding of that extract.

Question one, who does Nancy visit in this extract? I'll give you a clue.

This person lives with Mrs. Maylie and Oliver.

Her name begins with R, the name of a flower.

It is, of course, Rose.

Nancy visits Rose in this extract.

Question two, Nancy wants to tell Rose about a conversation she overheard between which two men? I'll give you a clue.

Both of these men are criminals.

Both of them broke into the Maylies' house to peer through Oliver's window in our last lesson.

They are, of course, Fagin and Monks.

Nancy wants to tell Rose about a conversation she overheard between Monks and Fagin.

Question three, how is Monks related to Oliver? I'll give you a clue.

Monks is a member of Oliver's family.

It is, of course, Monks says that he is Oliver's brother.

Monks is Oliver's brother.

Question four, what does Monks want that rightfully belongs to Oliver? I'll give you a clue.

This is something which passes down from parents to children after the parents pass away.

It is, of course, Oliver's inheritance.

Monks wants the money from Oliver's inheritance.

Question five, what does Monks ask Fagin to do? I'll give you a clue.

He wants Fagin to take Oliver away from the Maylies' house and make him into what? He wants Monks, he wants Fagin to kidnap Oliver and make him a criminal.

Monks asks Fagin to kidnap Oliver and make him a criminal.

Final question, why is Nancy's decision to tell Rose these secrets very risky? I'll give you a clue.

What would Fagin or Monks or Bill Sikes do if they find out that Nancy told Rose these secrets? They would, of course, kill her.

Nancy realises that she could be murdered if the gang discovered that she told Rose these secrets.

Well done if you got all those questions right.

Let's now move on to this question.

Is Nancy a villain? Here's a chart to help answer this question.

On the left hand side, we have good characters in our novel.

In the right hand side, we have villains in our novel.

Now some characters in our novel seem to be completely good.

A character like Mr. Brownlow, for example, or Rose.

Mr. Brownlow and Rose both seem to be completely good.

They never seem to do anything evil or selfish in our novel.

Now, this novel also has many villains.

For example, Monks is clearly willing to hurt other people, particularly, Oliver Twist, in order to get what he wants.

Fagin also seems to be a villain, and all the way towards the most right hand side of this chart, we have Bill Sikes.

Bill Sikes seems to be the novel's main villain.

Bill Sikes appears to be 100% evil.

Now, here's a question for you.

Where would you place Nancy on this chart? I would person, would you place her with the good characters or with the villains or somewhere in between? I would place Nancy here.

Nancy belongs somewhere in between the good characters and the villains.

She is a conflicted character.

Nancy does not belong with the good characters because she does some very terrible things in our novel, in particular, Nancy is involved in Oliver's kidnapping, but I would not place Nancy with the villains because Nancy does some very good things in our novel, particularly, towards the end.

In the extract that we've just read, Nancy is prepared to sacrifice her own life to make sure that Oliver is not kidnapped again.

She therefore goes to Rose with all the information that she's heard from the conversation between Monks and Fagin.

In this extract, Nancy behaves very bravely and is clearly willing to sacrifice herself for others.

As you can see, Nancy, I wouldn't describe her as a good character, but I wouldn't describe her as a villain either.

I would describe Nancy as a conflicted character.

She is somewhere in between.

Here's our next question.

Is Nancy a victim? Now a victim is a person who is harmed by an unfortunate event or another person through no fault of their own.

With this definition, I would suggest that Nancy is a victim.

She has been harmed by unfortunate events and other people through no fault of her own.

I would suggest that Nancy is a victim for three main reasons.

First of all, Nancy was born into poverty.

Nancy has been poor the whole way through her life.

In her conversation with Rose, Nancy says that she has often felt very hungry and cold during her life on the streets.

Nancy's life has been characterised by hardship and suffering.

So Nancy is a victim because of her poverty.

I would also suggest that Nancy is a victim because of the group that she's been forced to associate with.

Her whole life, Nancy has been forced to associate with criminals.

She was born into Fagin's gang, and the whole way through her life, Nancy has not had any good influences on her at all.

She has never been loved or cared for by anyone.

Nancy has been forced to live and associate with criminals.

This is another way that Nancy is a victim.

And a third way that Nancy is the victim is in her abusive relationship with Bill.

Bill abuses Nancy in order to get what he wants.

We saw that a few lessons ago.

Whenever Nancy told Fagin to stop using Oliver, Bill threw her across the room.

Bill is very cruel and violent towards Nancy.

In this way, we can say that Nancy is a victim.

Dickens clearly wants us to pity Nancy and feel sorry for this character.

Okay, let's now complete the sentences.

Number one, it is clear there is still some goodness left in Nancy because.

Number two, Nancy is ultimately a victim because.

Now I've got some keywords for you to use to help you complete these sentences.

These keywords are in this table here.

You don't need to use all of the keywords, just a few of them.

Press the pause button on your video now and complete these sentences in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at some exemplar sentences.

Here's our acceptable answer for number one.

It is clear that there is still some goodness left in Nancy because she risks her life by revealing the criminals' plans to Rose.

By making this decision, Nancy is attempting to save Oliver from being kidnapped.

Perhaps she is trying to make up for her role in kidnapping this orphan earlier in the story.

Nancy now wants to ensure that Oliver will not be a victim of Fagin's gang again, and here's our acceptable answer for number two.

Nancy is ultimately a victim because she has been poor throughout her whole life, and has only associated with evil criminals.

Nobody has ever shown her any love or care.

In addition, Nancy cannot leave this awful life because she is trapped in an abusive relationship with Bill.

And here are our, here is our good answers.

Number one, it is clear that there's still some goodness left in Nancy because she courageously risks her life by revealing the criminals' plans to Rose.

Ashamed by her role in Oliver's kidnapping, this wayward woman now attempts to repair the damage that she has inflicted in his life by ensuring that he will not fall prey to the villains' schemes again.

This decision reflects Nancy's selflessness because she is prepared to sacrifice her life in order to save Oliver's.

And number two, Nancy is ultimately a victim because she has spent her whole life struggling with poverty and fighting to survive in the cruel, criminal underworld of London.

Most tragically, Nancy cannot escape this hellish life because she is trapped in an abusive relationship with Bill.

Nancy can free Oliver from the grip of these criminals, of these villains, but she cannot save herself.

Well done for all of your work.

Now, if you would like to do an extension task, write a paragraph or essay on the question above.

Does Dickens present Nancy as a villain or a victim? If you would like to do this task, press the pause button on your video now and complete this paragraph or essay in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

And that brings us to the end of our lesson.

Well done for all of your amazing work.

In our next lesson, the gang gets its revenge on Nancy.

I'm already nervous.

I'll see you next time.

And before you leave, make sure you complete your quiz on all the learning you've done today.