Secondly, Mr. Bumble and the Anglican establishment demonstrate a lack of proper regard for marriage as a sacred institution. In Paul’s letter to Philemon, he enjoins, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4). For example, Mr. Bumble trades his religious station “for six teaspoons, a pair of sugar-tongs, and a milk-pot; ... second-hand furniture, ... twenty pound in money”, the hand of Mrs. Corney, and the post of workhouse director (271). For him, socioeconomic success is more important than his responsibilities — or the special relationship with God which he enjoyed — as a beadle. Edwin Leeford is likewise forced to marry for economic gain rather than for Christian virtues. Both their marriages result in complete disaster, and in the latter instance, from the union springs the cunning “villain” Monks (401), while the unsanctioned and conventionally immoral partnership of Edwin and Agnes Fleming produces Oliver Twist, who is a “grateful little dear” and a "beautiful creetur [sic]" (78). In addition, Mr. Bumble displays a double standard concerning romantic expression. “The beadle drank his tea ...; finished a piece of toast; whisked the crumbs off his knees; wiped his lips; and deliberately kissed the matron.” (171). Upon stumbling on Noah indicating his intention to kiss Charlotte, however, he rages, “Say it again, you wile, owdacious [sic] fellow! ... Kissing! ... The sin and wickedness of the lower orders ... is frightful!” (202). Furthermore, the workhouse is an institution which destroys marriage rather than preserves or affirms it, by undertaking to “divorce poor married people ... and instead of compelling a man to support his family, ... took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor!” (11).

Thirdly, the behavior of the parish authorities runs counter to the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15). For example, because there wasn’t adequate care available to the young infant, Oliver is transported to a branch workhouse where he is “farmed,” or in other words, exploited by Mrs. Mann. “She appropriated the greater part of the weekly stipend to her own use, and consigned the rising parochial generation to even a shorter allowance than was originally provided for them” (4). Mr. Bumble himself is a symbol of how the parish steals from the paupers by depriving them of some basic necessities of life for their own financial gain. He “was a fat man” with a “leathern pocket-book: which, like himself, was very corpulent” (34), while the poor are allotted “three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll on Sundays.” Also, the workhouse strips individuals of their dignity and their voice. When Oliver pleads for more gruel, there is “a general start” with “horror ... depicted on every countenance,” (13) and he was subsequently incarcerated, vilified, beaten “every morning under the pump, in a stone yard”, and flogged in the dining hall “as a public warning and example.” (15).

       

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