Mr. Fang
Mr. Fang is the notoriously harsh and abusive police magistrate who presides over Oliver Twist's hearing after the pickpocketing incident, embodying the novel's critique of a corrupt and prejudiced legal system that presumes guilt and denies the poor a fair hearing. His brief but memorable appearance in the Bow Street police office serves as a concentrated satire of summary justice, where the dignity of the bench is a mask for petty tyranny and class contempt.
Appearance and Demeanor
Mr. Fang is described as a lean, long-backed, stiff-necked, middle-sized man with no great quantity of hair, which grows on the back and sides of his head. His face is stern and much flushed; the narrator remarks that if he were not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for him, he might have brought an action against his own countenance for libel. This physical description aligns his appearance with his character: a man whose ruddy, inflamed look suggests intemperance and whose rigid posture signals an inflexible, bullying nature. He sits behind a bar at the upper end of the office, a raised position that physically enforces his authority over the proceedings.
Conduct of the Hearing
When Mr. Brownlow, the prosecutor, respectfully presents his card and bows, Mr. Fang tosses it contemptuously away with a newspaper and demands, "Who is this fellow?" He refuses to hear Mr. Brownlow's explanation, repeatedly ordering him to "Hold your tongue, sir!" and threatening to have him turned out of the office for insolence. He swears the policeman before hearing the charge, and when the policeman states that he found nothing on Oliver, Mr. Fang sits silent for some minutes before turning on the prosecutor in a towering passion. He interrupts Mr. Brownlow's testimony with insults and only allows him to state his case after repeated interruptions. When Oliver, deadly pale and unable to speak, murmurs a feeble prayer for a draught of water, Mr. Fang dismisses it as "Stuff and nonsense!" and accuses him of trying to make a fool of the court. When Oliver faints and falls to the floor, Mr. Fang declares, "I knew he was shamming," and refuses to allow anyone to assist him, saying, "Let him lie there; he'll soon be tired of that." He summarily commits Oliver for three months' hard labour without hearing any defence.
Reversal and Exposure
The magistrate's arbitrary power is checked only by the timely intervention of the book-stall keeper, who rushes into the office and demands to be sworn as a witness. The book-stall keeper testifies that he saw the robbery committed by another boy and that Oliver was "perfectly amazed and stupified by it." Mr. Fang, with ill grace, is forced to discharge Oliver. He then turns on Mr. Brownlow, accusing him of obtaining the book under suspicious circumstances and warning him to consider himself fortunate that the owner declines to prosecute. This final act of petty malice—turning the victim into the accused—completes the portrait of a magistrate who uses his position to humiliate and oppress rather than to dispense justice.
Thematic Significance
Mr. Fang functions as a concentrated embodiment of the legal system's failure to protect the innocent poor. His court is a place where the accused is presumed guilty, where the prosecutor is bullied, and where a child's illness is dismissed as a trick. The narrator's ironic comment that Mr. Fang was perusing a newspaper article commending him for the three hundred and fiftieth time to the notice of the Secretary of State for the Home Department underscores the systemic nature of this injustice: Fang is not an isolated aberration but a recognized and even celebrated figure within the machinery of the law. His name—Fang—suggests a predatory, biting quality, and his conduct prefigures the novel's broader argument that the institutions meant to protect the vulnerable are often the most dangerous to them.
