Bet and Nancy

Bet and Nancy are two young women who belong to Fagin's gang of thieves and prostitutes, their lives shaped by the same brutal environment of poverty, crime, and exploitation. They are introduced together when they visit Fagin's den, described as wearing a good deal of hair not very neatly turned up behind, rather untidy about the shoes and stockings, and having a great deal of colour in their faces. Oliver Twist, still innocent, thinks them very nice girls indeed. Their friendship is one of the few stable relationships each possesses in a world of treachery and violence.

Shared History and Mutual Support

Bet and Nancy have grown up together in the criminal underworld, thieving for Fagin from a very young age. Nancy later reveals that she has been in the same trade and the same service for twelve years, since she was a child not half as old as Oliver. Bet shares this background, and their bond is forged in the shared experience of poverty, hunger, and the constant threat of the gallows. They support each other in the daily routines of their dangerous lives, appearing together at Fagin's den and participating in the gang's social life. When Nancy is preparing to go to the police office to inquire about Oliver, Bet is the first young lady Fagin approaches, though she refuses the errand with an emphatic and earnest desire to be 'blessed' if she would. Nancy, however, is ultimately prevailed upon to undertake the commission, demonstrating that while Bet may avoid certain risks, the two women are both subject to the demands of Fagin and Sikes.

Contrasting Fates and Nancy's Final Act

The friendship between Bet and Nancy is most poignantly revealed in the aftermath of Nancy's murder. When the gang is scattered and Fagin has been captured, Bet's fate is reported by Tom Chitling: she went to see the body, to speak to who it was, and went off mad, screaming and raving, and beating her head against the boards. The shock of seeing her friend's corpse drives Bet to insanity, and she is taken to the hospital in a strait-waistcoat. This reaction underscores the depth of their bond—Bet's mind cannot withstand the horror of Nancy's violent death. While Nancy's final act of defiance against the gang leads to her murder, Bet's response is a complete mental collapse, a different but equally devastating consequence of the same brutal world. Their friendship, forged in shared suffering, ends in tragedy for both, one through death and the other through madness.