In this grim depiction of Fagin's last days, Dickens presents a harrowing picture of the ultimate penalty of a life of evil. Again we see excruciating isolation visited upon the criminal. In the courtroom, the accused loses all feeling except the crushing awareness that no human being has an interest in him except to see him die, just as he had so completely pursued the destruction of others. He has been an unswerving enemy of society, and now all men are united against him.
The final price of roguery is degradation and death. Here there is no dashing figure posturing bravely before admiring crowds, as some authors would have us believe. Instead, there is a complete disintegration of the living person, culminating in a ghastly death. There are no compassionate supports nor any solaces of repentance, courage, or dignity.
The visit of Brownlow and Oliver to the prison is a clever dramatic way to demonstrate that the boy and the ladies have now been told about the fates that have come to members of the gang. This is accomplished without a single mention of detail already well-known to the reader. Dickens's subtle selective touch is also apparent in his omission of the execution of Fagin. We have already witnessed the grisly death of Sikes. Given the impact of Nancy's death on the reader, Dickens may have decided that he'd gone far enough in the service of making his point.
