David Copperfield

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This article is about the novel by Charles Dickens. For the American illusionist, see David
Copperfield (illusionist). For other uses, see David Copperfield (disambiguation).

David Copperfield

Cover, first serial edition of 1849

Author

Charles Dickens

Original title The Personal History, Adventures,

Experience and Observation
of David Copperfield
the Younger
of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never
meant to publish on any account)
Illustrator

Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)

Cover artist

Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Genre

Novel

Published

Serialized May 1849 November 1850; book

format 1850

Publisher

Bradbury & Evans

Media type

Print

Pages

624 (first book edition)[1]

Preceded by

Dombey and Son (1848)

Followed by

Bleak House (1852-3)

David Copperfield, (full title: The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and
Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never
Meant to Publish on Any Account)[2] is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens. It was first
published as a serial in 184950, and as a book in 1850. Many elements of the novel follow
events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of his novels. [3] In the
preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens wrote, "like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a
favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield."[4]

Contents
[hide]

1 Plot summary

2 Characters

3 Publication

4 Major editions

5 Film and TV adaptations

6 References
o

6.1 Bibliography
7 External links

Plot summary[edit]
The story traces the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. David was born
in Blunderstone, Suffolk, nearGreat Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, in 1820, six months after the
death of his father. David spends his early years in relative happiness with his loving but frail
mother and their kindly housekeeper, Peggotty. When he is seven years old his mother
marries Edward Murdstone. David is given good reason to dislike his stepfather and has similar
feelings for Murdstone's sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards. Murdstone
attempts to thrash David for falling behind in his studies. David bites him and soon afterwards is
sent away to a boarding school, Salem House, with a ruthless headmaster, Mr. Creakle. There he
befriends James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles.

David returns home for the holidays only 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 a man named Mr Barkis. Murdstone sends David to work for
a wine merchant in London a business of which Murdstone is a joint owner.[5] Copperfield's
landlord, Wilkins Micawber, is sent to debtors' prison (the King's Bench Prison) and remains there
for several months before being released and moving to Plymouth. No one remains to care for
David in London, so he decides to run away.
He walks from London to Dover, where he finds his only relative, his unmarried, eccentric greataunt Betsey Trotwood. She agrees to raise him, despite Murdstone's attempt to regain custody of
David. David's great-aunt renames him "Trotwood Copperfield" and addresses him as "Trot", and
it becomes one of several names to which David answers in the course of the novel.

"The friendly Waiter and I"

As David grows to adulthood, a variety of characters enter, leave, and re-enter his life. These
include Peggotty and her family, including her orphaned niece "Little Em'ly", who moves in with
them and charms the young David. David's romantic but self-serving school friend, Steerforth,
seduces and dishonours Emily, precipitating the novel's greatest tragedy, and Agnes Wickfield,
the daughter of David's landlord, becomes his confidante. The novel's two most familiar
characters are David's sometime mentor, the debt-ridden Micawber, and the devious and
fraudulent clerk, Uriah Heep, whose misdeeds are eventually revealed with Micawber's
assistance. Micawber is painted sympathetically even as the narrator deplores his financial
ineptitude. Micawber, like Dickens's own father, is briefly imprisoned for insolvency.
The major characters eventually get some measure of what they deserve, and few narrative
threads are left hanging. Peggotty's brother Dan takes Emily to a new life in Australia,
accompanied by the widowed Mrs. Gummidge and the Micawbers. All eventually find security and
happiness in their adopted country. David marries the beautiful but nave Dora Spenlow, who dies
after failing to recover from a miscarriage early in their marriage. David then searches his soul
and marries the sensible Agnes, who had always loved him and with whom he finds true
happiness. David and Agnes then have at least four children, including a daughter named after
his great-aunt Betsey Trotwood.

Characters[edit]

David falls for Dora Spenlow.

David Copperfield The narrator and protagonist of this pseudo-autobiography. He is

characterised in the book as having perseverance, but also an undisciplined heart, which
becomes the focal point of the latter part of the book. After being adopted by his aunt Betsey
Trotwood, he is called "Trotwood Copperfield" in deference to her wishes. Throughout the
novel he has some nicknames: the Peggotty family address him as "Davy", James Steerforth
nicknames him "Daisy", Dora calls him "Doady", the Micawbers mostly address him by his
last name, and his aunt and her circle refer to him as "Trot".

Clara Copperfield David's kind mother, described as being innocently childish, who
dies while David is at Salem House. She dies just after the birth of her second child (a son,
Edward Murdstone junior, born to her second husband), who dies around the same time.

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). When Mr. Barkis dies, she inherits a substantial portion of his estate,
valued at 3,000 a large sum in the mid-19th century (he also leaves modest annuities for
David, Mr. Daniel Peggotty, and Little Emily). 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 aunt, Betsey
Trotwood.

Betsey Trotwood David's eccentric and temperamental yet kind-hearted great-aunt;

she becomes his guardian after he runs away from Grinby and Murdstone's
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 until
David is older and 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 constantly bleeds her
for money.

Mr. Chillip A shy, elderly 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 a girl.

Mr. Barkis An aloof carter who declares his intention to marry Peggotty. He says to
David: "Tell her, 'Barkis is willin'!' Just so." He is a bit of a miser, and hides his surprisingly
vast liquid wealth in a plain box labelled "Old Clothes". He bequeaths to his wife and her
family (including David) the then astronomical sum of 3,000 when he dies about ten years
later.

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. David reacts by biting
Mr Murdstone, who then sends him to Salem House, the private school owned by his friend
Mr. Creakle. After David's mother dies, Mr. Murdstone sends him to work in his factory in
London, where he has to clean wine bottles. He appears at Betsey Trotwood's 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 later in the book we hear he
has married another young woman and applied his old principles of "firmness".

Jane Murdstone Mr. Murdstone's equally cruel spinster sister, who moves into the
Copperfield house shortly after Mr. Murdstone marries Clara Copperfield. She is the
"Confidential Friend" of David's first wife, Dora Spenlow, and encourages many of the
problems that occur between David Copperfield and Dora's father, Mr. Spenlow. Later, she
rejoins her brother and his new wife in a relationship very much like the one they had 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, and welcomes David as a child when he holidays to 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 in London, and after that they emigrate to Australia.

Emily (Little Em'ly) A niece of Mr. Peggotty. She is a childhood friend of David
Copperfield, who loved her in his childhood days. On the eve of her wedding to her cousin
and fianc, Ham, she abandons him for Steerforth with whom she disappears abroad for
several years. After Steerforth deserts her, she doesn't go back home, because she has
disgraced herself and her family. Her uncle, Mr. Peggotty, who has been searching for her
since she left home, finds her in London (the text implies that she was on the brink of being
forced into prostitution). So that she may have a fresh start away from her now degraded
reputation, she and her uncle emigrate to Australia.

Ham Peggotty A good-natured nephew of Mr. Peggotty and the fianc of Emily before
she leaves him for Steerforth. He later drowns while attempting to rescue Steerforth (it's not
clear, however, that he realises that it is Steerforth) from a shipwreck at Yarmouth. News of
his death is withheld from his family to enable them to emigrate 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 suddenly renounces her self-pity and becomes Daniel and Ham's primary
caretaker. She too emigrates to Australia with Dan and the rest of the surviving family. 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 later gains a bad
reputation; it is implied that she engages in some sexually inappropriate behaviour and is
thus disgraced. In the later chapters of the novel, she redeems herself by helping Daniel
Peggotty find his niece after she returns to London. She has been a prostitute and
contemplated suicide, but goes with Emily to start a new life in Australia. There, she marries
and lives happily.

Mr. Creakle The harsh dictatorial headmaster of young David's boarding school who is
assisted by the one-legged Tungay. Mr. Creakle is a friend of Mr. Murdstone. He singles out
David for extra torment on Murdstone's request, but later treats him normally when David
apologises to Murdstone. With a surprising amount of delicacy, he 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. Creakle's two model inmates, Heep and Littimer, show no change from their former
scheming selves but have completely fooled Creakle into believing their repentance.

James Steerforth A close friend of David who has known him since his first days at
Salem House, he is a charismatic and outspoken hero of the younger boys, but he is also a
snob who unhesitatingly takes advantage of his younger friends and uses his mother's power
to get what he wants, going so far as to get Mr. Mell dismissed from the school after he
argues with him. Although he grows up into a well-liked 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 with Ham Peggotty, who had been trying to rescue him.

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 to cheer
himself up with the macabre thought that his predicaments are only temporary. They meet
again later and eventually become lifelong friends. Traddles works hard but faces great
obstacles because of his lack of money and connections. He eventually 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 and foolish gentleman who befriends

David as a young boy. He suffers from much financial difficulty and even has to spend time in
a debtors' prison before moving to Plymouth. As an adult, Copperfield meets him again in
London and gets him a job with Wickfield and Heep. Thinking Micawber is criminally-minded,
Heep forces him to be his accomplice in several of his schemes, but Micawber eventually
turns the tables on his employer and is instrumental in his downfall. Micawber eventually
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, who faced similar financial
problems when Dickens was a child.

Agnes Wickfield, David's second wife.

Emma Micawber Wilkins Micawber's wife and the mother of their children. She comes
from a moneyed 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 is constantly writing a "Memorial" but is unable to finish it. Despite his madness, 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.
He feels guilty that, through his love, he has hurt his daughter by keeping her too close to
himself. This sense of guilt occasionally leads him to drink. His apprentice Uriah Heep learns
of this from David and 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 childhood. 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. She has often been blasted by critics for her seeming lack of
characterization (David often refers to her as an "Angel" and rarely moves beyond that
description except to associate her with a "stained-glass window") but more recent research
has been more favourable to her. She does in fact show the effects of being
aparentified child, which helps explain her selflessness and seeming "perfection". [6]

Uriah Heep The main antagonist of the novel's second half, Heep is a disturbing young
man who serves first as secretary, and then as partner to Mr. Wickfield. The archetypal
hypocrite, he appears to be extremely self-deprecating and talks constantly of being "umble",
but gradually reveals his wicked and twisted character. He gains great power over Wickfield
and several others, but is finally discovered by Wilkins Micawber to be guilty of multiple
acts of fraud. By forging Mr. Wickfield's signature, he has misappropriated the personal
wealth of the Wickfield family, together with portfolios entrusted to them by others, including
5000 belonging to Betsey Trotwood. He has fooled Wickfield into thinking he has himself
committed this act while drunk, and then blackmailed him. Heep is eventually forced to return
the forged documents and stolen capital; he is thus defeated but not prosecuted. He is later
imprisoned for an (unrelated) attempted fraud on the Bank of England. He nurtures a deep
hatred of David Copperfield and of many others.

Mrs. Heep Uriah's mother, who is as sycophantic as her son. She has installed 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 The headmaster of David's Canterbury school, whom he visits on various
occasions. He is many years older than his wife, and Heep exploits this insecurity to gain
power over him.

Anne (Annie) Strong The young wife of Dr. Strong. She is widely suspected of having
an affair with Jack Maldon only her husband suspects nothing of either of them and, when
finally convinced by his friends of the threat represented by Maldon, still refuses to believe
that his wife has succumbed to seduction. It emerges that Dr. Strong's trust in his wife is
justified: she has remained entirely faithful.

Jack Maldon A cousin and childhood sweetheart of Anne Strong. He continues to bear
affection for her and tries to seduce her into leaving Dr. Strong. He is charming but fairly
dissolute.

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. 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 and 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 extremely skinny and
displays a visible scar on her lip caused by Steerforth in one of his violent rages as a child.

Mr. 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.

Dora Spenlow The adorable but foolish daughter of Mr. Spenlow who becomes David's
first wife. She is described as being completely impractical and has many similarities to
David's mother. David's first year of marriage to her is unhappy due to her ineptitude in
managing their household, but after he learns to accept this failing, they grow to be quite
happy. Dora is simple, easily provoked to tears and laughter, and childishly fond of her
annoying lapdog, Jip. She is not unaware of her failings, and asks David, whom she calls
"Doady", to think of her as a "child wife". She suffers a miscarriage, and the experience
sends her into a long illness from which she peacefully dies with Agnes Wickfield at her side.

Littimer Steerforth's obsequious valet, who is instrumental in aiding his seduction of

Emily. Littimer is always polite and correct but his condescending manner intimidates and
infuriates 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 deeply feels the shame associated with her
dwarfism but it leaves her few other career options. 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.

Sophy Crewler One of the daughters of a large family, Sophy runs the household and
takes care of her younger sisters. She and Traddles are engaged to be married, but her
family has made Sophy so indispensable that they resent it when Traddles offers to take her
away. The pair do eventually marry and settle down happily, and Sophy proves to be an
invaluable aid in Traddles's legal career.

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 tack by
blaming his inability to act on Mr. Spenlow.