"Oliver Twist thrashes Noah Claypole" by Harold Copping (1924)

Oliver Twist thrashes Noah Claypole by Harold Copping. "Oliver Twist" in Children's Stories from Dickens (1893): p. 23, 11.5 cm by 12.9 cm (4 ½ by 5 inches), vignetted.

Passage Illustrated: Oliver Incensed at Noah's Insulting His Mother

A minute ago the boy had looked the quiet, mild, dejected creature that harsh treatment had made him. But his spirit was roused at last; the cruel insult to his dead mother had set his blood on fire. His breast heaved; his attitude was erect; his eye bright and vivid; his whole person changed, as he stood glaring over the cowardly tormentor who now lay crouching at his feet, and defied him with an energy he had never known before.

"He'll murder me!" blubbered Noah. "Charlotte! Missis! Here's the new boy a-murdering of me! Help! Help! Oliver's gone mad! Charlotte! ["Oliver Twist," pp. 22-23]

Commentary: Detailism in the Clothing Alone

Copping's realism in modelling his figures and clothing does not extend to including any elements of background but the overturned chair (mentioned in the letterpress) and the floorboards at the undertaker's. Although he has dressed both Noah and Oliver in respectable, middle-class clothing of the period, Oliver wears full trousers and a short jacket, whereas Noah, perhaps slightly older than Oliver, wears breeches and hose. To suggest that Noah is the bigger of the two, Copping has given him larger feet. The illustrator leaves the reader to complete Oliver's mixed expression of moral indignation and white-hot fury which Noah's remark about "hard labouring in Bridewell" (22) has just provoked.

In fact, Noah has referred to Oliver's mother as a petty criminal, sent to a house of correction, perhaps for prostitution. The Bridewell House of Correction, originally a royal palace built for Henry VIII between 1515 and 1520 in the City of London, was a hospital for vagrants, a sanctuary for homeless children, and a place of incarceration for petty criminals. It was given to the City of London in 1553, brought under state control in 1833, and finally closed in 1855. The greater London area boasted several other such houses of correction, at Clerkenwell, Tothill Fields (1618-1884), and Westminister.

Other Copping Representations of Oliver Twist

Other studies of Oliver and Noah at the Undertaker's (1837-1910)

Left: Harry Furniss's Charles Dickens Library Edition illustration of the same scene emphasizes the tremendous energy released in the figures of the three principles: Oliver aroused (1910). Right: James Mahoney's Household Edition realizes the aftermath, with Oliver triumphant as Charlotte rushes in: Oliver rather astonishes Noah (1871).

Left: Sol Eytinge, Junior's Diamond Edition wood-engraving of Charlotte and Noah absconding with the contents of Sowerberry's till, Noah and Charlotte (1867). Centre: Clayton J. Clarke's watercolour version of Noah Claypole (c. 1900). Right: George Cruikshank's original April 1837 illustration of Oliver's assaulting Noah in the Sowerberrys' parlour: Oliver plucks up a spirit. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Related Material

Scanned images, captions and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bentley: 1837.

Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans; Chapman and Hall, 1846.

Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Created 22 September 2023