Lesson video

Hello everyone, welcome to our next lesson of "Oliver Twist." In our last lesson, Oliver was kidnapped by Bill and Nancy.

In today's lesson, Oliver is forced to take part in a burglary that goes very badly wrong.

Let's find out what happens.

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.

What word best describes Bill Sikes? Option one, vulnerable, option two, naive, option three, villainous, or option four, innocent? 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 three.

Bill Sikes is a villainous character.

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

You may have chosen option one.

Bill Sikes is a vulnerable character.

Of course, we cannot describe Bill Sikes as vulnerable.

That word, vulnerable, describes someone who is easily harmed.

Bill Sikes is a very large, muscular, and intimidating brute.

Bill Sikes is not vulnerable at all.

You may have chosen option two, Bill Sikes is naive, but I would suggest that Bill Sikes is not naive.

That word, naive, describes someone who trusts people all too easily.

As you will see, Bill Sikes is in fact a very distrustful character.

And some of you may have chosen option four, Bill Sikes is innocent.

I would suggest that Bill Sikes is not innocent at all, in fact, Bill Sikes is a criminal who has committed many terrible crimes throughout his life.

Well done if you got that right, I will now describe our plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we will revise villains.

We will then read our extract.

We will then analyse Oliver's behaviour during the burglary.

And then we will analyse Bill's behaviour during the burglary.

Let's begin.

So let's first of all revise this idea of villains.

This is a concept I introduced in an earlier lesson.

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

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

I will now give you some examples of different villains in various stories.

Darth Vader is the villain in "Star Wars." Voldemort is the villain in "Harry Potter." Captain Hook is the villain in "Peter Pan." Fagin could be seen as a villain in "Oliver Twist".

But of course, the main villain in "Oliver Twist" is Bill Sikes.

Now we've learned a number of things about Bill Sikes so far.

Bill Sikes is a criminal who works with Fagin, and is also a violent robber.

In our last lesson, we looked at Bill Sikes' villainous appearance and behaviour, and we learned three main things.

Bill is violent.

Remember when he threw Nancy across the room, and threatened to kill both Oliver and Nancy? Bill is a criminal.

So as you may remember, Bill committed a crime when he kidnapped Oliver with the help of Nancy.

Bill is also a professional robber, and Bill is intimidating, remember he's is very large, he's muscular, he's very strong, he is terrifying brute.

In the extract that we're about to read, we will once again see Bill Sikes acting in a particularly villainous way.

But before we begin, let me just give you a bit of background information about this extract.

It is a very, very dark night.

There's fog that covers the ground.

It's very quiet and there's no one around.

Bill Sikes has brought Oliver, and the young man called Toby.

on the mission to burgle a house.

Bill Sikes is a very experienced robber.

So what can possibly go wrong? Well, two things actually, number one, people in this house are light sleepers, and number two, people in this house have lots of guns.

Let's see what happens.

"It was now intensely dark.

The fog was much heavier than it had been in the early part of the night.

They hurried through the main street of the little town, which was at that late hour, wholly deserted.

A dim the light shone at intervals from some bedroom window, and the hoarse barking of dogs occasionally broke the silence of the night.

But there was nobody abroad.

They had cleared the town as the church bell struck two.

Quickening their pace, they turned up a road upon the left hand.

After walking about a quarter of a mile, they stopped before a detached house, surrounded by a wall, to the top of which Toby Crockett, scarcely pausing to take breath, climbed in a twinkling.

"The boy next," said Toby, "Hoist him up, I'll catch hold of him." Before Oliver had time to look round, Sikes had caught him under the arms, and then three or four seconds, he and Toby were lying on the grass on the other side.

Sikes followed directly, and they stole cautiously towards the house.

And now for the first time, Oliver, well-night mad with grief and terror, saw that housebreaking and robbery, if not murder, were the objects of the expedition.

He clasps his hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror.

A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face; his limbs failed him; and he sank upon his knees.

"Get up!" murmured Sikes, trembling with rage, and drawing a pistol from his pocket.

"Get up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass." "Oh! For God's sake, let me go!" cried Oliver.

"Let me run away and die in the fields.

I will never come near London; never, never! Oh! Pray have mercy on me, and do not make me steal.

For the love of all the bright Angels that rest in Heaven, have mercy upon me!"" I'll just explain to you what is happening here.

Oliver has now been through and over the wall of the house that they are about to burgle, and only at this point does Oliver realise that housebreaking and robbery, and maybe murder, are the aims, or the objects, of this expedition.

Now, as you know, Oliver is a very good innocent boy, and the last thing that Oliver wants to do is to help Bill Sikes and Toby burgle a house.

Now, when he realises that this is the job that he's supposed to do, Oliver becomes overwhelmed with fear and worry.

This is not, burgling a house is something that Oliver does not want to do.

A mist comes before his eyes, so he can't see properly a cold sweat comes upon his ashy face, that means he's very pale, he's got a cold sweat, Oliver's limbs or legs begin to fail him, and he sinks upon his knees.

Oliver, right now, is so nervous and scared that he is about to faint.

But this is how Bill responds to Oliver's worries.

Bill takes out his pistol from his pocket, and says this: "Get up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass." In other words, get up or I will shoot you in the head.

Let's now see what happens next.

"Bill swore a dreadful oath and began trying to open the window.

Invoking terrific imprecations upon Fagin's head for sending Oliver on such an errand, Sikes plied but crowbar vigorously, but with little noise, and opened the window.

"Listen here, youngling," whispered Sikes, drawing a dark lantern from his pocket, and throwing the glare full on Oliver's face.

"I'm going to put you through that window.

Take this light, go softly up the stairs, straight a'for you, and along the little hall, to the street door.

Unfastened it, and let us in." Sikes lifted Oliver gently through the window, with this feet first.

And, without leaving hold of his collar, planted him safely on the floor inside.

"Take this lantern," said Sikes, looking into the room.

"You see the stairs before you." Oliver, more dead than alive, gasped out, "Yes." Sikes, pointing to the street door with the pistol barrel, briefly advised him to take notice that he was within shot all the way, and that if Oliver faltered, he would fall dead that instant.

"It's done in a minute," said Sikes, in the same low whisper.

"Directly, I leave your your view.

Do your work." In the short time he had to collect his senses, Oliver decided that, whether he died in the attempt or not, he would make one effort to dart upstairs from the hall, and alarm the family about the burglary.

Filled with this idea, he had advanced at once, but stealthily.

"Come back!" suddenly cried Sikes aloud, "Back, back!" Scared by the sudden breaking of the dead stillness of the place, and by a loud cry which followed it, Oliver let his lantern fall, and knew not whether to advance or fly.

The cry was repeated, a light appeared, a vision of two terrified, half-dressed men at the top of the stairs swam before Oliver's eyes.

A flash, a loud noise, a smoke, a crash somewhere, but where he knew not, and he staggered back.

Sikes had disappeared for an instant, but he was up again, and had Oliver by the collar before the smoke had cleared away.

He fired his own pistol after the men, who were already retreating, and dragging the boy up, "Clasp your arm tighter," said Sikes, as he drew him through the window.

"Give me a shawl here, they've hit him.

Quick, hold the boy, he bleeds!" Then came a loud ringing of a bell, mingled with the noise of fire-arms, and the shouts of men, and the sensation of being carried over uneven ground at a rapid pace.

And then, the noise noises grew confused in the distance, and a cold deadly feeling crept over the boy's heart, and he saw or heard no more." As you can see, Oliver has just been shot, and the cold deadly feeling creeps over Oliver's heart, and then he can see or hear no more.

In other words Oliver now faints.

Wow, that burglary went very badly wrong.

It began to go wrong quite early on.

After Oliver was lifted into the garden, he suddenly realised what was going on.

He can't believe that he's been taken to burgle a house, and Oliver freaks out.

His eyes turned misty, he turns ashen white, he begins to have a cold sweat, his voice begins to tremble, and his legs give way.

Oliver is about to faint.

And in this very stressful situation, Oliver is beside the last person that you would want for support.

Bill Sikes.

Bill Sikes has no sympathy for this display of weakness.

Instead, Bill Sikes takes his gun, aims it at Oliver's head, and says, "Get up, or I'll strew your brains across the ground." In other words, stand up, and get on with the burglary, otherwise I'm going to shoot you in the head, and this garden will be covered in your brains.

So they hoist Oliver into the window, and Oliver climbs through the house.

Oliver's decided to go into alarm everyone in the house about the burglary, but he doesn't get the chance.

Two members of the house wake up and hear Oliver.

They get their guns and they shoot him.

Oliver's hit in the arm! Bill Sikes grabs him, Oliver begins to faint, and Bill Sikes runs away.

That was a disaster.

Let's now test your understanding of this extract.

What crime is Bill planning to commit at the beginning of this extract? I'll give you a clue, he's planning to break into somewhere.

Of course, he's planning to break into a house.

Bill is planning to burgle a house at the beginning of this extract.

Question two, who is accompanying Bill for this burglary? And there's two other people, one is called T and the other is called, O.

it is of course, Toby and Oliver.

Oliver and Toby are accompanying Bill on this burglary.

Question three, what is Oliver's job in this burglary? I'll give you a clue, Oliver's very small, and you would need a very small person to fit into this place.

Oliver's job is, of course, to climb through the window.

Oliver's job is to climb through a window and let Bill and Toby into the house.

Question four, what happens to Oliver after he climbs through the window? I'll give you a clue, who spots him, and what do they do, and how do they injure Oliver? Oliver is of course shot, and then he faints.

Oliver is shot by one of the people in the house after he climbs through the window.

After this, he faints.

Well done if you got all those answers right.

Right, let's now analyse Oliver's behaviour during the burglary.

And as you will see, Oliver is presented as a very vulnerable character in this extract.

Now, I introduced this word vulnerable to you in a previous lesson.

As you may remember, the word vulnerable describes someone or something that could be harmed easily.

I'll now give you some examples of this word, vulnerable.

Surrounded by the barking dogs, the kitten look small and vulnerable.

Walking through the streets late at night by yourself will make you vulnerable.

The elderly are vulnerable members of society.

Oliver twist is a young, vulnerable orphan.

Now in the description that we're about to read, Oliver Twist with comes across as being very vulnerable.

It's clear that he is in a very weak situation in which he cannot protect himself.

This quotation here comes at the moment in the extract that we've just read, when Oliver is first lifted over the wall of the house that is supposed to burgle.

And now that Oliver is in this garden, he now realises that he is supposed to help Bill and Toby burgle the house.

Oliver is filled with terror and fear when he realises this.

Let's now read this quotation for a second time, and think about how Oliver comes across as being very vulnerable here.

"And now, for the first time, Oliver well-night mad with grief and terror, saw that housebreaking and robbery, if not murder, were the objects of the expedition.

He clasped his hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror.

A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face; his limbs failed him; and the sank upon his knees." Now Dickens writes that Oliver is "well-nigh mad with grief and terror" here.

That word, grief, means sadness, and that word, terror, means fear.

So Oliver is filled with grief and fear now that he realises that he is supposed to take part in this burglary.

But the part of this phrase that I'm really interested in is this phrase, "well-night mad." Oliver is well-nigh mad with grief and terror.

In other words, Oliver cannot think clearly.

He is so overwhelmed with grief and terror, he is so overwhelmed with sadness and fear, that he feels like he is going mad.

He cannot think clearly, he is losing his mind with these overwhelming emotions.

Let's now take a look at this next quotation.

"A mist came before his eyes." So Oliver cannot see clearly, "the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face," so Oliver begins to have a cold, nervous sweat, and his face is ashy.

That word, ashy, means his face is very white, it's very pale.

His limbs, or his legs, failed him, so he can no longer stand up, he's that nervous and scared, "and he sank upon his knees." Together, these descriptions create the impression that Oliver feels sick and faint, he is so overwhelmed with stress and fear right now.

And together, I would suggest that these quotations reflect Oliver's vulnerability.

This nine year old child right now is overwhelmed with fear and worry.

And this puts them into a very weak, vulnerable position.

Press the pause button on your video now, and take notes upon this quotation in your book, or on your page.

Off you go, We will now write a short paragraph upon this quotation.

Complete the paragraph.

Now you will see that I have given you a rough paragraph plan for writing this paragraph.

You will also see that in this paragraph plan, there are two blanks.

You will need to fill in these two blanks with your own words.

And here is some key words that you can use in your answer.

Press the pause button on your video now, and complete this paragraph in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

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

Here is our acceptable answer.

"Dickens demonstrates Oliver's vulnerability through describing how this orphan becomes "well-nigh mad with grief and terror" upon learning that he is supposed to commit a burglary.

This description suggests that Oliver is so scared and shocked by this discovery that he cannot think clearly.

Dickens further emphasises Oliver's vulnerability through describing how a "cold sweat" appeared on this poor child's face as "his limbs failed him." This descriptions suggest that Oliver is so overcome with fear that he's about to faint." Let's now take a look at our good answer.

"Dickens demonstrates Oliver's vulnerability through describing harvest pitiful orphan becomes "well-nigh mad with grief and terror" upon learning that he is supposed to commit a burglary.

This description suggests that Oliver is so shaken by learning that he must commit this crime that he cannot think clearly.

He is left confused and overwhelmed by his desperate situation.

Dickens further emphasises Oliver's vulnerability through describing how a "cold sweat" appeared on this poor child's face as his "limbs failed him." This description suggests that Oliver is turning sick, weak, and faint at the thought of burgling the house.

Well done for all of your hard work on that paragraph.

Let's now analyse Bill's behaviour during this burglary.

Now, as you will see, while Oliver comes across as being very weak and vulnerable in our extract, Bill comes across as being very cruel and villainous.

Now, to remind you what a villain is, a villain is a bad character who harms other people or breaks the law to get what they want.

As you will see in this extract, Bill comes across as being particularly villainous.

He is prepared to harm Oliver in order to make sure that he burgles this house.

Now this description here is how Bill responds to Oliver falling on the ground out of fear, out of the idea of burgling the house.

As you will see, Bill has no sympathy for Oliver's weakness.

This is what Bill says.

Let's read.

""Get up!" murmured Sikes, trembling with rage, and drawing the pistol from his pocket; "Gets up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass."" Now, the phrase that stands out to me in these words is this very short, sharp command, "Get up!" Now notice how short this command is, "Get up!" Bill does not politely ask Oliver, "Please, if you may, could you please stand up?" Instead Bill issues this very short, cutting, sharp command, "Get up!" And this short, sharp command reflects Bill's impatience.

He has no sympathy for Oliver's weakness at all, he wants Oliver to hurry up, he wants Oliver to pull himself together so that they can go and rob this house.

Now notice the idea that Bill is trembling with rage.

In other words, Bill is so angry with Oliver right now that he is shaking.

Dickens is giving the impression that Bill is about to explode in violence against Oliver now, as little Oliver falls upon the ground, shaking out of fear from the idea of burgling this house.

Oliver's weakness and vulnerability does not win any sympathy from Bill at all, in fact, Oliver's weakness simply makes Bill angry.

But the most shocking thing that Bill does is what happens next.

Bill takes this pistol from his pocket, aims at Oliver and says, "Get up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass." In other words, get up or I will shoot you in the head, and your brains will cover this garden.

So this is a terrifying threat of violence that Bill is giving Oliver here.

Now, Dickens is reflecting the source of Bill's power through these words.

In order to get Oliver to do what he wants.

Bill threatens him with violence.

In other words, Bill uses fear to control Oliver.

You can press the pause button on this video now, and take some notes upon this quotation.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at our paragraph.

Here's a rough plan for a paragraph.

You will notice that there are some spaces which you will need to fill in yourself.

Here are some key words and phrases that you can use in your answer.

You don't need to use them all, just try to use some of them.

Press the pause button on your video now, and complete this paragraph in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

Let's take a look at our exemplar answers.

Here's our acceptable answer.

"Dickens presents Bill as a villain through describing how this criminal orders Oliver to "Get up!" and support the burglary.

The short, sharp commands suggest that Bill feels very impatient with Oliver's hesitation.

Dickens further emphasises Bill's villainy through describing how this brute next gives Oliver a violent threat, "Get up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass." This threat suggests that Bill is using fear in order to pressurise Oliver into burgling the house." And here's our good answer.

"Dickens presents Bill as a villain through describing how this criminal orders Oliver to "Get up!" and support the burglary.

This short, sharp command suggests that Bill has no sympathy for Oliver's feelings of horror and terror.

The callous criminal is impatient to complete the burglary, and is becoming increasingly furious with Oliver's delay.

Dickens further emphasises Bill's villainy through describing how this brute next gives Oliver a violent threat, "Get up, or I'll strew your brains upon the grass." This gruesome warning suggests that Bill uses cruelty to establish his power over others.

In this case, the ruffian uses fear to force the vulnerable Oliver to support the burglary.

Well done for all of your hard work.

And that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Well done for all of your amazing work today, you have been amazing.

Join us in our next lesson, where we find out what this family will do with our little injured burglar, Oliver Twist.

I'll see you next time.

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