George Cruikshank drew 25 plates for Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the last of which had to be altered due to the author’s wishes. The final plate, known as the hearth plate was exchanged for another, depicting Rose and Oliver in a church. I believe that the last plate was changed because of its explicitly idyllic imagery. The last chapters of the novel were filled with dramatic and striking events, such as Monk’s death in prison and the accidental death of Sikes running from the police. These events gave the novel a dark and brooding tone, even though they served to punish the villains of the novel. Therefore, the somewhat pensive figures of Rose and Oliver on the new plate provided the novel with a wistful yet hopeful ending.
It is likely that Cruikshank’s hearth plate was slightly too sentimental and, therefore, incongruous with the general tone and atmosphere of the novel to be preserved. The plate depicted Oliver with Mr. Brownlow and the Maylies sitting before a fire in a comfortably furnished room. There is a sense of completion and a feeling of ease that is at odds with the novel’s grim and foreboding mood. Since Dickens reflected the dark realities of Victorian England, he would likely have preferred a final illustration that was more open to interpretation. The plate with Rose and Oliver in church captures the goodness and righteousness of Oliver’s new life without greater subtlety.
On the other hand, each of these visual endings provides a unique reflection of the written word. While the hearth plate captures the joys that Oliver must have experienced in finding a new family, the plate with the church provides a metaphor for the significant change in Oliver’s life. Accordingly, Oliver not only finds a family but renounces his criminal ways at the end of the novel. Moreover, Oliver starts to live a peaceful and morally virtuous life. The “church plate” is a suitable parallel to this change in lifestyle and outlook. Finally, this plate reflects the theme of lawful justice and God’s mercy, with the latter aptly symbolized by the church.