Revelation of Oliver's parentage

The revelation of Oliver Twist's parentage is the novel's climactic resolution, transforming the orphaned parish boy into the legitimate heir of a substantial fortune and the beloved nephew of Rose Maylie, while exposing the criminal conspiracy of his half-brother Monks and the villainous Fagin. This scene, set in a hotel in Oliver's native town, brings together all the principal characters for a formal reading of the confessions that Monks has been forced to sign, and it rewrites the entire meaning of Oliver's journey from the workhouse to the Maylie cottage.

The Setting and the Participants

The scene takes place at nine o'clock in the evening in the chief hotel of the town where Oliver was born. The party includes Mrs. Maylie, Rose, Mrs. Bedwin, Mr. Losberne, and Oliver himself, who have traveled down from London in a carriage, with Mr. Brownlow following in a post-chaise accompanied by another person whose name has not yet been mentioned. Mr. Grimwig is already at the hotel to receive them. The atmosphere is tense and expectant: the hurry of the first half-hour over, the same silence and constraint that marked the journey prevails. Mr. Brownlow does not join them at dinner but remains in a separate room; the two other gentlemen hurry in and out with anxious faces, conversing apart. Mrs. Maylie is called away and returns with eyes swollen from weeping. At length, Mr. Losberne and Mr. Grimwig enter, followed by Mr. Brownlow and a man whom Oliver almost shrieks with surprise to see: it is the same man he met at the market-town and saw looking in with Fagin at the window of his little room—his half-brother, Monks. Monks casts a look of undisguised hate at the astonished boy and sits down near the door.

The Formal Declaration of Oliver's Birth

Mr. Brownlow, holding papers in his hand, walks to a table near where Rose and Oliver are seated and begins the painful task. He declares that these declarations, already signed in London before many gentlemen, must be repeated in substance here. Then he speaks the words that change everything: "This child is your half-brother; the illegitimate son of your father, my dear friend Edwin Leeford, by poor young Agnes Fleming, who died in giving him birth." Monks, scowling at the trembling boy, confirms it with the bitter words, "That is the bastard child." Mr. Brownlow sternly rebukes him for the term, saying it reflects disgrace on no one living except the one who uses it. Monks then reveals that Oliver was born in the workhouse of this very town.

The Story of Edwin Leeford's Will and Letter

Monks, under compulsion, narrates the hidden history. His father, Edwin Leeford, taken ill at Rome, was joined there by his estranged wife (Monks's mother) and by Monks himself, who came from Paris—not out of affection, but to look after the property. Leeford died the next day, his senses gone. Among his papers were two documents, dated the night his illness first came on, directed to Mr. Brownlow, with instructions not to be forwarded until after his death. One was a letter to Agnes Fleming; the other, a will. The letter was a sheet of paper crossed and recrossed with a penitent confession and prayers to God to help her. Leeford had told the girl that some secret mystery prevented his marrying her just then, and she had trusted him until she trusted too far. He reminded her of the day he had given her the little locket and ring with her Christian name engraved upon it, and a blank left for the surname he hoped one day to bestow upon her. The will was in the same spirit: it divided Leeford's property into two equal portions—one for Agnes Fleming, the other for their child, if it should be born alive and ever come of age. If the child were a girl, she was to inherit unconditionally; if a boy, only on the stipulation that in his minority he should never have stained his name with any public act of dishonor, meanness, cowardice, or wrong. If he disappointed this expectation, the money was to go to Monks.

The Destruction of the Will and the Fate of Agnes Fleming

Monks then reveals his mother's crime: she burned the will. The letter never reached its destination, but she kept it and other proofs, in case anyone ever tried to "lie away the blot." The girl's father, Agnes's father, learned the truth from Monks's mother, with every aggravation that her violent hate could add. Goaded by shame and dishonor, he fled with his two children into a remote corner of Wales, changing his very name so that his friends might never know of his retreat. There, not long afterward, he was found dead in his bed. The girl—Agnes—had left her home in secret some weeks before; he had searched for her on foot in every town and village near; it was on the night when he returned home, assured that she had destroyed herself to hide her shame and his, that his old heart broke.

Monks's Pursuit of Oliver and the Conspiracy with Fagin

Mr. Brownlow then takes up the thread. Years later, Monks's mother, sinking under a painful and incurable disease, wished to recover her son before she died. Inquiries were set on foot, and Monks was found and brought back to France. On her deathbed, she bequeathed these secrets to him, together with her unquenchable and deadly hatred of all whom they involved—though she need not have left him that, for he had inherited it long before. She was filled with the impression that a male child had been born and was alive. Monks swore to her that if ever it crossed his path, he would hunt it down, never let it rest, pursue it with the bitterest and most unrelenting animosity, and drag it, if he could, to the very gallows-foot. He began well, he says, and but for "babbling drabs" (meaning Nancy), he would have finished as he began. Mr. Brownlow explains that Fagin, who had been Monks's old accomplice and confidant, had a large reward for keeping Oliver ensnared, of which some part was to be given up in the event of his rescue, and that a dispute on this head had led to their visit to the country house for the purpose of identifying him.

The Recovery of the Locket and Ring

Mr. Brownlow turns to Monks and asks about the locket and ring. Monks replies that he bought them from the man and woman who stole them from the nurse, who stole them from the corpse. Mr. Brownlow nods to Mr. Grimwig, who disappears and returns pushing in Mrs. Bumble and dragging her unwilling consort after him. Mr. Bumble, with ill-feigned enthusiasm, greets Oliver, but Mrs. Bumble is defiant. Mr. Brownlow then brings in two palsied old women who testify that they heard old Sally try to tell Mrs. Bumble what she had done, saw her take a paper from the dying woman's hand, and watched her the next day at the pawnbroker's shop. They confirm that it was a locket and gold ring. Mrs. Bumble, seeing that Monks has confessed and that the old women have been found, admits she did sell them but says they are where no one will ever get them. Mr. Brownlow dismisses the Bumbles, telling them they will never be employed in a position of trust again. Mr. Bumble, in his famous protest, declares that if the law supposes a wife acts under her husband's direction, "the law is a ass—a idiot."

The Revelation of Rose Maylie's Identity

The most personal revelation is yet to come. Mr. Brownlow turns to Rose and tells her not to fear. He asks Monks if he knows this young lady. Monks replies that he has seen her often. Mr. Brownlow then reveals that the father of the unhappy Agnes had two daughters, and asks what became of the other—the child. Monks explains that when the father died in a strange place under a strange name, the child was taken by some wretched cottagers who reared it as their own. His mother found the child after a year of cunning search, but left it with the poor people, giving them a small present of money that would not last long, and telling them the history of the sister's shame with such alterations as suited her, bidding them take good heed of the child, for she came of bad blood. The child dragged on a miserable existence until a widow lady, residing then at Chester, saw the girl by chance, pitied her, and took her home. That girl is Rose Maylie. Mrs. Maylie, folding the fainting girl in her arms, cries out, "But not the less my niece! Not the less my dearest child!" Oliver throws his arms around Rose's neck and declares, "I'll never call her aunt—sister, my own dear sister!" The two orphans embrace, and joy and grief are mingled in the cup.

The Aftermath and Harry Maylie's Proposal

After a long time alone, a soft tap at the door announces Harry Maylie. He tells Rose that he knows it all, and that he has come to remind her of a promise. He reveals that he has renounced his worldly ambitions: he has turned from the world of power and patronage, and now offers her only a home—a heart and home—in a rustic dwelling by a village church, which is his own. Rose, now knowing that she is the daughter of Agnes Fleming's sister and thus of unblemished birth, accepts him. The scene ends with Mr. Grimwig waking up and declaring that he had serious thoughts of eating his head, and then saluting "the bride that is to be."