Monks (Oliver Twist)

Edward "Monks" Leeford
Monks (left) depicted by James Mahoney
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Family	Edwin Leeford (father, deceased) Mrs Leeford (mother, deceased) Oliver Twist (half-brother)

Edward "Monks" Leeford is a character in the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He is actually the criminally-inclined half-brother of Oliver Twist, but he hides his identity. Monks's parents separated when he was a child, and his father had a sexual and romantic relationship with a young woman, Agnes Fleming. This resulted in Agnes's pregnancy. She died in childbirth after giving birth to the baby that would be named Oliver Twist.

Character history

Background

The orphaned Oliver has no idea of Monks's existence, but Monks knows of the existence of Oliver, and sets out to ruin him. Goaded to hatred of the boy by his own mother, Monks accidentally sees him on the streets of London one day and tracks him to the den of Fagin, an old master criminal and fence. Oliver has gone to live at Fagin's, completely unaware that the old man is a criminal. Monks knows of the existence of a will left by his father, who despised him. The will favours Oliver, and not Monks; however, if Oliver ever should commit a criminal act, he will be automatically disinherited, where upon the money would go to Monks.

Oliver Twist

Monks and Fagin spy on Oliver

Monks pays Fagin to make Oliver into a criminal, and this is the real reason that Fagin wishes to keep him in his clutches. No one knows of the bargain that Fagin has made with Monks, until Nancy, one of the members of the gang, who harbors a motherly affection for Oliver, overhears a conversation between the two criminals. By this time, Oliver has unwillingly accompanied Fagin's vicious henchman, Bill Sikes, on a house break-in, and has been shot by Mr. Giles, one of the servants. Monks and Fagin plot to get him back, and Nancy informs on Monks to Rose Maylie, a young and innocent woman who lives in the house that Sikes attempted to rob, and who found the wounded Oliver, became convinced of his innocence, and nursed him back to health. In addition, Monks meets with Mr. Bumble, the local beadle of the parish workhouse in which Oliver was born, and the Widow Corney, now Bumble's unhappily married wife. From them he buys a locket and a ring that belonged to Oliver's mother, the only proof of his half-brother's true identity, throwing the evidence into the river.

Fagin, suspicious of Nancy, sends out a spy after her. She goes to London Bridge to keep an arranged appointment with Rose and Mr. Brownlow, Oliver's benefactor. Nancy reveals all she knows about Monks to them, and Brownlow, a close friend of Oliver's late father, realizes Monks's true identity, but does not reveal it to Nancy or Rose. After returning home, Nancy is viciously murdered by Sikes (her lover) when he returns from a burglary and is tricked by Fagin into believing that she also informed on him. Her murder not only brings down Fagin's gang, but enables Brownlow and the police to get their hands on Monks. Brownlow agrees not to send him to prison, on the condition that he make financial restitution and reveal all to Oliver and Rose Fleming. At a family meeting arranged by Brownlow, Monks does so. He emigrates to America, but soon squanders his money, becomes involved in crime again and is imprisoned. He dies in prison.

Characteristics

Monks is one of Dickens's more melodramatic characters - totally evil without even the shred of affection that Bill Sikes has for his bull terrier, Bullseye. He is physically unattractive, has a dark red mark on the left side of his jaw, is subject to severe epileptic fits, and completely cowardly, not willing to outwardly be associated with any form of crime (this is not because he is a moral being, but because he fears being caught). Dickens keeps his motives and his true identity a total secret until nearly the end of the novel, thus surprising the reader with an unexpected revelation that adds complications to the plot.

In other media

He does not appear at all in Oliver!, the musical adaptation of the novel, nor in several film versions of the novel which seek to simplify the story, including Roman Polanski's 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist. He does, however, appear in several mini-series versions of the novel, as well as in David Lean's 1948 film version.

Oliver Cotton plays Monks in the 1982 TV version of the film, where he actually has an encounter with Oliver. (Not to be confused with the Australian film version, which was released the same year.)

The character of Monks (aka Edward Leeford) was particularly elaborated upon in a 1999 mini-series starring Robert Lindsay as Fagin. Monks (played by Marc Warren) is shown as a pathetic, snivelling character, dominated by his ambitious mother Mrs. Leeford (Lindsay Duncan). At one stage he complains "If I could live my life again, I wouldn't." Eventually his mother dies of a heart attack and, with some money granted by Oliver's guardians, he moves to the Caribbean where he finds happiness with a local woman with whom he starts a family (this does not happen in the Dickens novel). In one musical adaption of Oliver Twist, Monks is portrayed as a young woman named Emma Leeford, trying to give Oliver, now portrayed as a girl named Olivia Twist, a bad name so she may inherit her father's money.

Monks appears as a much different character in the 2007 TV serial, in which he is portrayed as a suave, manipulative mastermind, darkly witty and attractive to women. He is Mr Brownlow's heir and master of the household. Arrogant and greedy, he is somewhat more daring than in the book and most of its adaptations and is shown to be a gifted liar and smooth-talker. Somehow he secretly poisons Oliver's mother, and she dies right after giving birth to Oliver. Nine years later, Monks hires Fagin to kill Oliver, but when Fagin doesn't, he gives him two more days or Monks himself will kill Oliver (although Monks said he simply would not pay Fagin, Fagin knew Monks would kill him as well). Nancy informs Mr Brownlow and Rose that Monks wants Oliver dead. Rose believes her, but Mr Brownlow does not until Fagin confesses. Mr Brownlow angrily sends Monks to the West Indies. He is played by Julian Rhind-Tutt in this version.