Betrayal in the novel Oliver Twist is a very common and important theme throughout the story. Betrayal changes the outcome in the story a lot, because it affects many of the characters. There are many ongoing themes, Betrayal being the major issue.
In Oliver Twist there are many betrayals, but the person who has been betrayed the most is the main character himself. Oliver had been betrayed since a young age by pretty much everyone he had known. Mr bumble betrayed Oliver because he was the parish beadle and was supposed to take care of him and put him into a caring house hold but instead hurt him and treated him harshly. Nancy betrayed Oliver by taking him from the streets, where he was safe, back to Fagins gang again. Mr Sowerberry and Mrs Sowerberry were nice enough to take Oliver into their household and as an apprentice, but in the end they also betrayed him. Mrs Sowerberry was always cold towards Oliver, because she was jealous of the close relationship him and her husband had. Mr Sowerberry was really close with Oliver, but after Noah antagonised Oliver and Oliver attacked Noah, Mr Sowerberry did not take any second thought to beat Oliver up. Basically everyone he had known from birth, had betrayed him in all different ways.
The theme betrayal had affected the plot very majorly. If Oliver wasnt betrayed by the other characters, he wouldnt have to keep running away. Oliver would keep running away from all the people who betrayed him, which ended him up in England, so he could start a better life. When Jack Dawkins saw Oliver in the streets in London, he basically betrayed Oliver by introducing him to Fagin and his gang, because he knew what he was getting Oliver into, he knew it would only be trouble. So if betrayal wasnt apart of the story, the plot would be different.
There are many themes that can be related to betrayal in the story. Some of these themes could be unloyality, loneliness and friendships. Unloyality is a theme that is shown often