The burglary at Chertsey

The burglary at Chertsey is the central criminal event of Oliver Twist, the violent turning point that transforms Oliver from a passive victim of Fagin's gang into a wounded fugitive whose rescue by the Maylie family ultimately unravels the mystery of his parentage and brings about the destruction of his persecutors. Planned by Fagin and Bill Sikes as an outside job requiring a small boy to enter through a window, the expedition forces Oliver to confront the reality of housebreaking and robbery, and his attempted warning of the household leads directly to his being shot, abandoned, and finally taken in by the very people he tried to save.

Planning and Preparation

The burglary was conceived during a meeting at Sikes's lodgings, where Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy discussed the failed attempt to corrupt the servants at a house in Chertsey belonging to an old lady. Sikes reported that Toby Crackit had been unable to suborn any of the staff, leaving an outside break-in as the only option. Sikes demanded a boy small enough to enter through a narrow aperture, and Fagin immediately proposed Oliver, who had been kept in training for weeks and was now the perfect size. Nancy supported the choice, assuring Sikes that Oliver was safe and would do whatever he was told if frightened enough. Fagin, rubbing his hands with joy, declared that once Oliver felt himself a thief, he would be theirs for life. The plan was set for the night after next, when there would be no moon, and Oliver was to be delivered to Sikes by Nancy the following evening.

The Journey to Chertsey

On the morning of the expedition, Sikes woke Oliver at half-past five, loaded a pistol with powder, bullet, and wadding, and held it to the boy's temple, warning him that if he spoke a word without leave, the loading would be in his head. Nancy, who had drugged Sikes with laudanum the night before to enable her secret meeting with Rose Maylie, gave Oliver a handkerchief to tie round his throat, and Sikes provided a large rough cape. They set out through the dark, rainy streets, passing through Smithfield market with its tumult of cattle and crowds, then by cart to Isleworth, and on foot through Hampton and Shepperton until they reached a solitary, ruinous house near the river. There they met Toby Crackit, a flashily dressed housebreaker with corkscrew curls, and his assistant Barney, who had prepared food and drink. After a short rest, the three men and Oliver set out again into the intensely dark, foggy night, crossing the bridge and hurrying through the deserted main street of Chertsey as the church bell struck two.

The Break-In and Oliver's Resistance

They stopped before a detached house surrounded by a wall. Toby climbed over easily, then Sikes hoisted Oliver up to him, and they dropped onto the grass inside. Sikes followed, and they crept toward the house. For the first time, Oliver fully understood that he was being used for housebreaking and robbery, if not murder. He clasped his hands and uttered a subdued exclamation of horror, then sank to his knees, begging Sikes to let him go, to let him run away and die in the fields rather than be made to steal. Sikes swore a dreadful oath and cocked his pistol, but Toby struck it from his grasp, put his hand over Oliver's mouth, and dragged him to the house. Sikes and Toby forced open a small lattice window at the back, about five and a half feet above the ground, which led into a scullery. Sikes gave Oliver a dark lantern and ordered him to go up the steps, along the hall, and unbolt the street door. Toby noted that the hall chairs bore the old lady's arms—a large blue unicorn and gold pitchfork—and that the room door was left open with a catch so the dog could walk the passage. Oliver, resolved to dart upstairs and alarm the family even if it cost him his life, advanced stealthily. But Sikes, sensing his intention, suddenly cried out for him to come back. Scared by the shout and a loud cry from within, Oliver dropped the lantern. A light appeared, two terrified half-dressed men swam before his eyes at the top of the stairs, then a flash, a loud noise, smoke, a crash—and Oliver staggered back, shot.

The Shooting and Abandonment

Sikes had disappeared for an instant but was up again and had Oliver by the collar before the smoke cleared. He fired his own pistol after the retreating men and dragged the boy back through the window. "Give me a shawl here. They've hit him. Quick! How the boy bleeds!" The alarm bell rang, firearms were discharged, men shouted, and Oliver was carried over uneven ground at a rapid pace. Then the noises grew confused in the distance, and a cold, deadly feeling crept over his heart. He saw and heard no more. Sikes and Crackit fled across the fields with Oliver between them, but the pursuit was close. When Oliver's head hung down and he grew cold, they left him lying in a ditch, each man for himself. Toby Crackit later reported to Fagin that they had parted company and left the youngster in a ditch, alive or dead—that was all he knew.

Aftermath and Rescue

Oliver lay motionless and insensible through the night, exposed to the cold and rain. At dawn, he awoke in agony, his left arm rudely bandaged and saturated with blood. Trembling with cold and exhaustion, he managed to stand and stagger onward, driven by a creeping sickness that warned him he must die if he lay there. He reached a road and saw a house in the distance; as he drew nearer, he recognized it with horror as the very house they had attempted to rob. Fear gave way to desperation, and he pushed through the unlocked garden gate, tottered across the lawn, climbed the steps, and knocked faintly at the door before sinking down against a pillar. He was discovered by Mr. Giles, the butler, who had shot him, and who now seized him by one leg and one arm and dragged him into the hall, proclaiming him one of the thieves. But the young lady of the house, Rose Maylie, intervened, ordering that the wounded boy be carried carefully upstairs and that a doctor be sent for. Under the care of Mrs. Maylie, Rose, and the kind-hearted Mr. Losberne, Oliver slowly recovered, and his truthful account of his life won their compassion and belief. The burglary thus became the means of his deliverance, leading directly to his adoption into a loving home and the eventual exposure of Monks's conspiracy.

Narrative Role and Significance

The Chertsey burglary functions as the story's central peripeteia, the sudden reversal that shifts Oliver's trajectory from degradation toward salvation. It is the event that forces Oliver to take a moral stand—his attempted warning of the household, despite the mortal danger—and that physically wounds him, bringing him into the Maylie household where his resemblance to the portrait of Agnes Fleming first hints at his true parentage. The crime also sets in motion the chain of consequences that destroys the gang: Nancy's guilt over her part in it drives her to betray Fagin and Monks to Rose Maylie, leading to her murder by Sikes, Sikes's own death, and Fagin's arrest and execution. The burglary is thus the fulcrum on which the entire plot turns, the moment of maximum peril that paradoxically opens the door to Oliver's happy ending.