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David Copperfield[N 1] is a novel by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity. As such, it is typically categorized in the bildungsroman genre. It was published as a serial in 1849 and 1850 and then as a book in 1850.
David Copperfield is also a partially autobiographical novel:[2] "a very complicated weaving of truth and invention",[3] with events following Dickens's own life.[4] Of the books he wrote, it was his favourite.[5] Called "the triumph of the art of Dickens",[6][7] it marks a turning point in his work, separating the novels of youth and those of maturity.[8]
At first glance, the work is modelled on 18th-century "personal histories" that were very popular, like Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews or Tom Jones, but David Copperfield is a more carefully structured work. It begins, like other novels by Dickens, with a bleak picture of childhood in Victorian England, followed by young Copperfield's slow social ascent, as he painfully provides for his aunt, while continuing his studies.[9]
Dickens wrote without an outline, unlike his previous novel, Dombey and Son. Some aspects of the story were fixed in his mind from the start, but others were undecided until the serial publications were underway.[10] The novel has a primary theme of growth and change, but Dickens also satirises many aspects of Victorian life. These include the plight of prostitutes, the status of women in marriage, class structure, the criminal justice system, the quality of schools, and the employment of children in factories.[11]
Plot summary
The England of David Copperfield.
The story follows the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. David was born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, England, six months after the death of his father. David spends his early years residing in a small house called the Rookery. His loving and childish mother and their kindly housekeeper, Clara Peggotty, raise him here, where they call him Davy. When he is seven years old his mother marries Edward Murdstone without having told him they plan to marry. To get him out of the way, David is sent to visit with Peggotty's family in Yarmouth. Her brother, fisherman Mr Peggotty, lives in a beached barge, with his adopted niece and nephew Emily and Ham, and an elderly widow, Mrs Gummidge. "Little Em'ly" is somewhat spoiled by her fond foster father, and David is in love with her. They call him Master Copperfield.
On his return, David discovers his mother has married and is immediately given good reason to dislike his stepfather, Murdstone, who believes exclusively in stern, harsh methods of parenting, calling it "firmness". David has similar feelings for Murdstone's sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards. Between them they tyrannise his poor mother, making David's and her lives miserable, and when, in consequence, David falls behind in his studies, Murdstone attempts to thrash him – partly to give further pain his mother. David bites him and soon afterwards is sent away to Salem House, a boarding school, under a ruthless headmaster named Mr Creakle. There he is befriended by an older boy, James Steerforth, and Tommy Traddles. He develops an impassioned admiration for Steerforth, perceiving him as someone noble, who could do great things if he would, and one who pays attention to him.
David goes home for the holidays to learn that his mother has given birth to a baby boy. Shortly after David returns to Salem House, his mother and her baby die, and David returns home immediately. Peggotty marries the local carrier, Mr Barkis. Murdstone sends David to work for a wine merchant in London – a business of which Murdstone is a joint owner. After some months, David's friendly but spendthrift landlord, Wilkins Micawber, is arrested for debt and sent to the King's Bench Prison. On one of David's visits, Micawber advises David to head to Dover to find his only known remaining relative, his eccentric and kind-hearted great-aunt Betsey Trotwood. After Micawber is released and has moved to Plymouth, no one in London cares about David, so he decides to run away to his aunt. She had come to Blunderstone at his birth, only to depart in ire upon learning that he was not a girl. However, she takes it upon herself to raise David, despite Murdstone's attempt to regain custody of him. She encourages him to 'be as like his sister, Betsey Trotwood' as he can be – that is, to meet the expectations she had for the girl who was never born. David's great-aunt renames him "Trotwood Copperfield" and addresses him as "Trot", one of several names others call David in the novel.
David's aunt sends him to a better school than the last he attended. It is run by kind Dr. Strong, whose methods inculcate honour and self-reliance in his pupils. During term, David lodges with the lawyer Mr Wickfield and his daughter Agnes, who becomes David's friend and confidante. Wickfield's clerk, Uriah Heep, also lives at the house.
By devious means, Uriah Heep gradually gains a complete ascendancy over the aging and alcoholic Wickfield, to Agnes's great sorrow. Heep, as he maliciously confides to David, aspires to marry Agnes. Ultimately with the aid of Micawber, who has been employed by Heep as a secretary, his fraudulent behaviour is revealed. (At the end of the book, David encounters him in prison, convicted of attempting to defraud the Bank of England.)
After completing school, David apprentices to be a proctor. During this time, due to Heep's fraudulent activities, his aunt's fortune has diminished. David toils to make a living. He works mornings and evenings for his former teacher Dr Strong as a secretary, and also starts to learn shorthand, with the help of his old school-friend Traddles, upon completion reporting parliamentary debate for a newspaper. With considerable moral support from Agnes and his own great diligence and hard work, David ultimately finds fame and fortune as an author, writing fiction.
David's romantic but self-serving school friend, Steerforth, also re-acquainted with David, goes on to seduce and dishonour Emily, offering to marry her off to his manservant Littimer before deserting her in Europe. Her uncle Mr Peggotty manages to find her with the help of Martha, who had grown up in their part of England and then settled in London. Ham, who had been engaged to marry Emily before the tragedy, dies in a fierce storm off the coast while rescuing shipwreck victims. Steerforth was aboard the ship and also dies. Mr Peggotty takes Emily to a new life in Australia, accompanied by Mrs Gummidge and the Micawbers, where all eventually find security and happiness.
David, meanwhile, has fallen completely in love with Dora Spenlow, and then marries her. Their marriage proves troublesome for David in the sense of everyday practical affairs, but he never stops loving her. Dora dies early in their marriage after a miscarriage. After Dora's death, Agnes encourages David to return to normal life and his profession of writing. While living in Switzerland to dispel his grief over so many losses, David realises that he loves Agnes. Upon returning to Britain, after a failed attempt to conceal his feelings, David finds that Agnes loves him too. They quickly marry, and in this marriage he finds true happiness. David and Agnes then have at least five children, including a daughter named after his great-aunt, Betsey Trotwood.
Characters
Illustration of David falling in love with Dora Spenlow, by Frank Reynolds
David Copperfield – The narrator and protagonist of the novel. David's father, David Sr, dies six months before he is born, and he is raised by his mother and nursemaid Peggotty until his mother remarries. David's stepfather, Mr Murdstone, sends David away to a boarding school. While attending school, David learns his mother has died, on his ninth birthday. He is sent to work at a factory until he runs away to find his aunt. David Copperfield is characterised in the book as trusting, goal-oriented, but as yet immature. He marries Dora Spenlow and later Agnes Wickfield.
Clara Copperfield – David's affectionate and beautiful mother, described as being innocently childish. She is married to David Copperfield Sr until his death, and gives birth six months later to the central character of the novel. She loves and coddles young David with the help of Peggotty. Years later she remarries Mr Murdstone. She dies a couple of months after the birth of her second son, who dies a day or so later, while David is away at Salem House boarding school.
Clara Peggotty – The faithful servant of the Copperfield family and a lifelong companion to David – she is called by her surname Peggotty within David's family, as her given name is Clara, the same as David's mother; she is also referred to at times as Barkis after her marriage to Mr Barkis. After her husband's death, Peggotty helps to put in order David's rooms in London and then returns to Yarmouth to keep house for her nephew, Ham Peggotty. Following Ham's death, she keeps house for David's great-aunt, Betsey Trotwood.
Betsey Trotwood – David's eccentric and temperamental yet kind-hearted great-aunt; she becomes his guardian after he runs away from the Murdstone and Grinby warehouse in Blackfriars, London. She is present on the night of David's birth but leaves after hearing that Clara Copperfield's child is a boy instead of a girl, and is not seen again until David flees to her house in Dover from London. She is portrayed as affectionate towards David, and defends him and his late mother when Mr Murdstone arrives to take custody of David: she confronts the man and rebukes him for his abuse of David and his mother, then threatens him and drives him off the premises. Universally believed to be a widow, she conceals the existence of her ne'er-do-well husband who occasionally bleeds her for money.
Dr Edward Chillip – A shy doctor who assists at David's birth and faces the wrath and anger of Betsey Trotwood after he informs her that Clara's baby is a boy instead of the girl Betsey wanted. David meets this doctor each time he returns to the neighborhood of his birth. Mr Chillip, met in London when David Copperfield returns from Switzerland, tells David of the fate of Murdstone's second wife, which is much the same as the fate of David's mother.
Mr Barkis – An aloof carter who declares his intention to marry Peggotty after eating her handmade pastries. He says to David: "Tell her, 'Barkis is willin'!' Just so." Peggotty marries him after Clara Copperfield's death. He is a miser, keeping an unexpected amount of wealth in a plain box labelled "Old Clothes". He bequeaths two-thirds of his money to his wife from his savings of £3,000 (about £410,000 in present-day value (2022)) when he dies after about ten years of marriage. He leaves annuities for Mr Daniel Peggotty, Little Emily, and David from the rest.
Edward Murdstone – The main antagonist of the first half of the novel, he is Young David's cruel stepfather who beats him for falling behind in his studies and emotionally torments Clara. David reacts by biting Mr Murdstone, and is sent to Salem House – a private school owned by Mr Murdstone's friend Mr Creakle – in retribution. After his mother dies, he sends David to work at his factory in London. He appears at Betsey Trotwood's Dover house after David runs away. Mr Murdstone appears to show signs of repentance when confronted by Copperfield's aunt about his treatment of Clara and David, but when David works at Doctors' Commons years later, he meets Murdstone taking out a marriage licence for his next young and trusting wife.
Jane Murdstone – Mr Murdstone's equally cruel spinster sister, who moves into the Copperfield house shortly after Mr Murdstone marries Clara Copperfield, taking over the housekeeping. Much like her brother she is domineering, mean-spirited, and petty. She is the "Confidential Friend" of David's first wife, Dora Spenlow, and is the one who found David's letters to Dora, and creates the scene between David Copperfield and Dora's father, Mr Spenlow. Later, she rejoins her brother and his second wife in a marriage much like the one with David's mother.
Daniel Peggotty – Peggotty's brother; a humble but generous Yarmouth fisherman who takes his nephew Ham and niece Emily into his custody after each of them has been orphaned. He welcomes David as a child when holidaying in Yarmouth with Peggotty. When Emily is older and runs away with David's friend Steerforth, he travels around the world in search of her. He eventually finds her as a prostitute in London, and after that, they emigrate to Australia.
David and Emily on the beach at Yarmouth, by Harold Copping.Emily (Little Em'ly) – The niece of Daniel Peggotty and his sister Clara Peggotty. She is a childhood friend of David Copperfield, who loved her in his childhood days. She abandons Ham, her cousin and fiancé, on the eve of their wedding, disappearing abroad with Steerforth for several years. Broken by Steerforth's desertion, she does not go back home, but she does eventually go to London. With the help of Martha, her uncle recovers her from the brink of prostitution, after Rosa Dartle rants at her. She accompanies her uncle to Australia.
Ham Peggotty – The good-natured nephew of Mr Peggotty who is tall and strong, and becomes a skilled boat builder. He is the fiancé of Emily before she leaves him for Steerforth. His aunt, (Clara) Peggotty, looks after Ham once Emily is gone. When a fierce storm at sea off Yarmouth demasts a merchant ship from the south, Ham attempts to rescue the crew, but is drowned by the ferocity of the waves before he can reach anyone. News of his death, a day before Emily and Mr Peggotty's emigration, is withheld from his family to enable them to leave without hesitation or remorse.
Mrs Gummidge – The widow of Daniel Peggotty's partner, who is taken in and supported by Daniel after his partner's death. She is a self-described "lone, lorn creetur" who spends much of her time pining for "the old 'un" (her late husband). After Emily runs away with Steerforth, she renounces her self-pity and becomes Daniel and Ham's primary caretaker. She too emigrates to Australia with Daniel and Emily. In Australia, when she receives a marriage proposal, she responds by attacking the unlucky suitor with a bucket.
Martha Endell – A young woman, once Little Emily's friend, who flees to London after an unspecified disgrace. She falls into prostitution and is stopped from suicide by Daniel Peggotty and David, resolving to help them recover Emily. She emigrates with the Peggotty family to Australia, where she marries an outback farmer.
Mr Creakle – The harsh headmaster of young David's boarding school, Salem House, who is assisted by the one-legged Tungay. Mr Creakle is a friend of Mr Murdstone. He singles out David for extra torment at Murdstone's request, but later treats him normally after David apologises to Murdstone. With a surprising amount of delicacy, Creakle's wife breaks the news to David that his mother has died. Later, he becomes a Middlesex magistrate and is considered 'enlightened' for his day. He runs his prison by the system and is portrayed with great sarcasm, as he thinks that his model inmates, Heep and Littimer, have changed their criminal ways because of his intervention.
James Steerforth – A student at Creakle's school who befriends young David, even as he takes over David's money. He is condescending to other social classes, a snob who unhesitatingly takes advantage of his younger friends and uses his mother's influence, going so far as to get Mr Mell dismissed from the school because Mell's mother lives in an almshouse. Although he grows into a charming and handsome young man, he proves to be lacking in character when he seduces and later abandons Little Em'ly. He eventually drowns at Yarmouth in a fierce storm at sea, washing up on the shore after the merchant ship breaks apart.
Tommy Traddles – David's friend from Salem House. Traddles is one of the few boys who does not trust Steerforth and is notable for drawing skeletons on his slate. (David speculates that this is to cheer himself up with the macabre thought that his predicaments are only temporary.) He and David meet again later and become lifelong friends. Traddles works hard but faces great obstacles because of his lack of money and connections. He succeeds in making a name and a career for himself, becoming a Judge and marrying his true love, Sophy.
Wilkins Micawber – A melodramatic, kind-hearted gentleman who has a way with words and eternal optimism. He befriends David as a young boy in London, taking him as a lodger. Micawber suffers from financial difficulty and spends time in a debtors' prison before moving his family briefly to Plymouth. Micawber meets David again, passing by the Heep household in Canterbury when David is taking tea there. Micawber takes a position at Wickfield and Heep. Thinking Micawber is weak-minded, Heep makes him an accomplice in several of his schemes, but Micawber turns the tables on his employer and is instrumental in his downfall. Micawber emigrates to Australia, where he enjoys a successful career as a sheep farmer and becomes a magistrate. He is based on Dickens's father, John Dickens, as described in § Autobiographical novel who faced similar financial problems when Dickens was a child, but never emigrated.[4]
Emma Micawber – Wilkins Micawber's wife and the mother of their five children. She comes from a wealthy family who disapprove of her husband, but she constantly protests that she will "never leave Micawber!"
Mr Dick (Richard Babley) – A slightly deranged, rather childish but amiable man who lives with Betsey Trotwood; they are distant relatives. His madness is amply described; he claims to have the "trouble" of King Charles I in his head. He is fond of making gigantic kites and tries to write a "Memorial" (that is, a Petition – though on what subject is never revealed) but is unable to focus and finish it. Despite his limitations, Dick is able to see issues with a certain clarity. He proves to be not only a kind and loyal friend but also demonstrates a keen emotional intelligence, particularly when he helps Dr and Mrs Strong through a marriage crisis.
Mr Wickfield – The widowed father of Agnes Wickfield and lawyer to Betsey Trotwood. While David attends school in Canterbury, he stays with the Wickfields until he graduates. Mr Wickfield feels guilty that, through his love, he has hurt his daughter by keeping her too close to himself. This sense of guilt leads him to drink. His apprentice Uriah Heep uses the information to lead Mr Wickfield down a slippery slope, encouraging the alcoholism and feelings of guilt, and eventually convincing him that he has committed improprieties while inebriated, and blackmailing him. He is saved by Mr Micawber, and his friends consider him to have become a better man through the experience.
Agnes Wickfield – Mr Wickfield's mature and lovely daughter and close friend of David since he began school at Dr Strong's in Canterbury. Agnes nurtures an unrequited love for David for many years but never tells him, helping and advising him through his infatuation with, and marriage to Dora. After David returns to England, he realises his feelings for her, and she becomes David's second wife and mother of their children.
Uriah Heep – The main antagonist of the novel's second half, Heep serves first as clerk from age 11 or 12; at age 15 he meets Copperfield and a few years later becomes partner to Mr Wickfield. He presents himself as self-deprecating and talks of being "'umble", but gradually reveals his wicked and twisted character. He gains power over Wickfield but is exposed by Wilkins Micawber and Traddles, who have gathered evidence that Uriah committed multiple acts of fraud. By forging Mr Wickfield's signature, he misappropriates the personal wealth of the Wickfield family, together with portfolios entrusted to them by others, including funds belonging to Betsey Trotwood. He fools Wickfield into thinking he has himself committed this act while drunk, and then blackmails him. Heep is defeated but not prosecuted. He is later imprisoned for a separate fraud on the Bank of England. He nurtures a deep hatred of David Copperfield and of many others, though in some ways he is a mirror to David, wanting to get ahead and to marry the boss's daughter.
Mrs Heep – Uriah's mother, who is as sycophantic as her son. She has instilled in him his lifelong tactic of pretending to be subservient to achieve his goals, and even as his schemes fall apart she begs him to save himself by "being 'umble".
Dr Strong and Annie Strong – Director and assistant of the school David attends in Canterbury. Dr Strong's main concern is to work on his dictionary, where, at the end of the novel, he has reached the letter D. The Doctor is 62 when David meets him, and married about a year to Annie, considerably younger than her husband. In this happy loving couple, each one cares more about the other than about themselves. The depth of their feeling allows them to defeat the efforts of Uriah Heep in trying to break their union.
Jack Maldon – A cousin and childhood sweetheart of Annie Strong. He continues to bear affection for her and assumes she will leave Dr Strong for him. Instead, Dr Strong helps him financially and in finding a position. Maldon is charming, and after his time in India, he ends up in London society, in a social circle with Julia Mills. They live a life that seems empty to the adult David Copperfield.
Julia Mills – She is a friend of Dora who supports Dora's romance with David Copperfield; she moves to India when her father gets a new position. She marries a wealthy Scottish man, a "Scotch Croesus", and lives in London in the end. She thinks of little besides money.
Mrs Markleham – Annie's mother, nicknamed "The Old Soldier" by her husband's students for her stubbornness. She tries to take pecuniary advantage of her son-in-law Dr Strong in every way possible, to Annie's sorrow.
Mrs Emma Steerforth – The wealthy widowed mother of James Steerforth. She dotes on her son to the point of being completely blind to his faults. When Steerforth disgraces his family and the Peggottys by running off with Em'ly, Mrs Steerforth blames Em'ly for corrupting her son, rather than accept that James has disgraced an innocent girl. The news of her son's death destroys her. She lives on, but she never recovers from the shock.
Rosa Dartle – Steerforth's cousin, a bitter, sarcastic spinster who lives with Mrs Steerforth. She is secretly in love with Steerforth and blames others such as Emily and Steerforth's mother for corrupting him. She is described as being thin and displays a visible scar on her lip caused by Steerforth in one of his violent rages as a child.
Francis Spenlow – A lawyer, employer of David as a proctor and the father of Dora Spenlow. He dies suddenly of a heart attack while driving his phaeton home. After his death, it is revealed that he is heavily in debt, and left no will.
Dora Spenlow – The adorable daughter of Mr Spenlow who becomes David's first wife after a long courtship. She is described as being impractical and has many similarities to David's mother. In their first year of marriage, David learns their differences as to keeping a house in order. Dora does not learn firmness, but remains herself, affectionate with David and attached to her lapdog, Jip. She is not unaware of their differences, and asks David, whom she calls "Doady", to think of her as a "child-wife". She suffers a miscarriage, which begins a long illness from which she dies with David's childhood friend and later second wife Agnes Wickfield at her side.
Littimer – Steerforth's obsequious valet (repeatedly described as being "respectable"), who is instrumental in aiding his seduction of Emily. Littimer is always polite and correct but his condescending manner intimidates David, who always feels as if Littimer is reminding him how young he is. He later winds up in prison for embezzlement, and his manners allow him to con his way to the stature of Model Prisoner in Creakle's establishment.
Miss Mowcher – a dwarf and Steerforth's hairdresser. Though she participates in Steerforth's circle as a witty and glib gossip, she is strong against the discomfort others might feel associated with her dwarfism. She is later instrumental in Littimer's arrest.
Mr Mell – A poor teacher at Salem House. He takes David to Salem House and is the only adult there who is kind to him. His mother lives in a workhouse, and Mell supports her with his wages. When Steerforth discovers this information from David, he uses it to get Creakle to fire Mell. Near the end of the novel, Copperfield discovers in an Australian newspaper that Mell has emigrated and is now Doctor Mell of Colonial Salem-House Grammar School, Port Middlebay, married with children.
Sophy Crewler – One of a family of ten daughters, Sophy runs the household and takes care of all her sisters. She and Traddles are engaged to be married, but her family has made Sophy so indispensable that they do not want her to part from them with Traddles. The pair do eventually marry and settle down happily, and Sophy proves to be an invaluable aid in Traddles's legal career, while still helping her sisters.
Mr Sharp – The chief teacher of Salem House, he has more authority than Mr Mell. He looks weak, both in health and character; his head seems to be very heavy for him; he walks on one side, and has a big nose.
Mr Jorkins – The rarely seen partner of Mr Spenlow. Spenlow uses him as a scapegoat for any unpopular decision he chooses to make, painting Jorkins as an inflexible tyrant, but Jorkins is, in fact, a meek and timid nonentity who, when confronted, takes the same track by blaming his inability to act on Mr Spenlow.
Autobiographical novel
Fragments of autobiography
Between 1845 and 1848, Dickens wrote fragments of autobiography, excerpts of which he showed to his wife and John Forster. Then in 1855 he made an attempt at revising it. This was a failure because, as he tells his first love Maria Beadnell (now Mrs Winter), when he began dealing with his youthful love for her, "I lost courage and burned the rest".[12][13] Paul Schlicke points out that in fact not all the pages have gone through the flames and that, as Dickens began writing David Copperfield some pages were unearthed. Proof of this is found in the eleventh chapter of the novel: "I begin Life on my own Account and don't like it", where the story of Dickens's experience at the Warren Shoe Factory is told almost verbatim, with the only change, "Mr Micawber" instead of "my father".[4] John Forster also published substantial extracts relating to this period in Dickens's biography, including a paragraph devoted to Wellington House College, which corresponds with the second stage of childhood recounted in the novel.[14] Thus Dickens looks back on his painful past, already evoked by the martyrdom of Little Paul in Dombey and Son, though voiced by an omniscient narrator in that earlier novel.[15] Until Forster published his biography of Dickens in 1872–1874, no one knew that Dickens had worked in a factory as a child, not even his wife, until Dickens wrote it down and gave the papers to Forster in 1847.[16] The first generations of readers did not know this part of David Copperfield's story began like an incident in the author's life.
The autobiographical dimension
If David Copperfield has come to be Dickens's "darling", it is because it is the most autobiographical of all his novels.[17] Some of the most painful episodes of his life are barely disguised; others appear indirectly, termed "oblique revelations" by Paul Davis.[17] However, Dickens himself wrote to Forster that the book is not a pure autobiography, but "a very complicated weaving of truth and invention".[3]
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