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Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character: an antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods", but within the text he is more frequently identified as the "merry old gentleman" or simply "the Jew.". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates among them) whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. A distinguishing trait is his constant—and insincere—use of the phrase "my dear" when addressing others. At the time of the novel, he is said by another character, Monks, to have already made criminals out of "scores" of children. Bill Sikes, one of the novel's major villains, is hinted to be one of Fagin's old pupils, and Nancy, Sikes's lover, is confirmed as such.
Although portrayed humorously, Fagin is a self-confessed miser who, despite the wealth he has acquired, does very little to improve the squalid lives of the children he guards. In the second chapter of his appearance, he is shown (when talking to himself) that he cares less for their welfare, than that they do not "peach" (inform) on him and the other children. Still darker sides to the character's nature are shown when he beats the Artful Dodger for not bringing Oliver back; in his attempted beating of Oliver for trying to escape; and in his own involvement with various plots and schemes throughout the story. He indirectly but intentionally causes the death of Nancy by falsely informing Sikes that she had betrayed him, when in reality she had shielded Sikes from the law; whereupon Sikes kills her. Near the end of the book, Fagin is captured and sentenced to be hanged, in a chapter that portrays him as pitiable in his anguish.
==Historical basis==
Dickens took Fagin's name from a friend he had known in his youth while working in a boot-blacking factory.
Fagin's character is thought to be based on the criminal Ikey Solomon, who was a fence at the centre of a highly publicised arrest, escape, recapture, and trial. Some accounts of Solomon also describe him as a London underworld "kidsman" (a kidsman was an adult who recruited children and trained them as pickpockets, exchanging food and shelter for goods the children stole). The popularity of Dickens's novel caused "fagin" to replace "kidsman" in some crime circles, denoting an adult who teaches minors to steal and keeps a major portion of the loot.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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