David Copperfield

Summary

David Copperfield is the first-person autobiography of a novelist looking back on his life. David is born at Blunderstone in Suffolk six months after his father's death, on a night when his formidable great-aunt Betsey Trotwood storms out on learning he is not a girl. His gentle mother Clara and the loyal servant Peggotty raise him happily until his mother marries the harsh Mr Murdstone, who, with his sister, imposes 'firmness'. After David bites Murdstone during a beating, he is sent to Salem House, a cruel school run by Mr Creakle, where he hero-worships the charming James Steerforth and befriends the good-natured Tommy Traddles. His mother dies along with her newborn baby, and Murdstone sends ten-year-old David to work in a London wine warehouse, washing bottles. He lodges with the improvident, ever-hopeful Mr Micawber and his family until Micawber goes to the debtors' prison. David runs away to Dover on foot, is robbed and starved on the way, and is taken in by his aunt Betsey, who renames him Trotwood, defies the Murdstones and gives him a home with her gentle, eccentric lodger Mr Dick, whom she has saved from an asylum. He attends Doctor Strong's school in Canterbury, lodging with the lawyer Mr Wickfield and his daughter Agnes, while Wickfield's clerk, the fawning Uriah Heep, insinuates himself into the business by encouraging Wickfield's drinking. As a young man David trains as a proctor, falls helplessly in love with the childlike Dora Spenlow and marries her. Steerforth seduces Peggotty's niece, Little Em'ly, who is engaged to the fisherman Ham, and takes her abroad; her uncle Daniel Peggotty searches the world for her. Micawber, employed by Heep, exposes Heep's frauds in a grand denunciation, restoring Wickfield and Betsey's lost fortune. Dora sickens and dies. In a great storm at Yarmouth, Ham drowns trying to rescue a shipwrecked man who proves to be Steerforth, whose body washes ashore. Mr Peggotty, Em'ly and the Micawbers emigrate to Australia, where they prosper. Grieving, David travels abroad, recognises that he has always loved Agnes, returns to marry her, and becomes a successful author.

Plot or Argument

• Childhood at Blunderstone (Ch. 1–4)

  David's birth, his mother and Peggotty, the Murdstones' tyranny, and the bite that sends him away.

• Salem House and the warehouse (Ch. 5–12)

  School under Creakle, friendship with Steerforth and Traddles, his mother's death, labour at Murdstone and Grinby's and life with the Micawbers.

• Dover and Canterbury (Ch. 13–19)

  Flight to Aunt Betsey, Mr Dick, school with Doctor Strong, the Wickfields and Uriah Heep.

• Young manhood (Ch. 20–35)

  Steerforth's influence, training as a proctor, love for Dora, Em'ly's elopement, and Betsey's apparent ruin.

• Marriage and exposure (Ch. 36–54)

  David's marriage to Dora, Mr Peggotty's search for Em'ly, and Micawber's unmasking of Uriah Heep.

• Storm, emigration and resolution (Ch. 55–64)

  The deaths of Ham and Steerforth, Dora's death, emigration to Australia, David's grief and his marriage to Agnes.

Characters

• David Copperfield, narrator and protagonist

  Orphaned boy who becomes a successful novelist; a partial self-portrait of Dickens.

• Betsey Trotwood, David's great-aunt

  Gruff, generous woman who adopts David and protects Mr Dick.

• Mr Dick, Betsey's lodger

  Kind, childlike man troubled by King Charles the First's head, whom Betsey saved from confinement.

• Wilkins Micawber, David's landlord and friend

  Debt-ridden optimist always waiting for something to turn up.

• Uriah Heep, villain

  Professedly 'umble clerk who manipulates Wickfield and embezzles his clients' money.

• James Steerforth, David's school hero

  Charming, careless young gentleman who seduces Little Em'ly.

• Agnes Wickfield, David's friend and second wife

  Steady, wise daughter of Mr Wickfield, David's 'good angel'.

• Dora Spenlow, David's first wife

  Childlike, affectionate young woman who dies early in the marriage.

• Clara Peggotty, David's nurse

  Loyal servant who later marries the carrier Barkis.

• Edward Murdstone, David's stepfather

  Cold disciplinarian who crushes David's mother and exiles David.

• Daniel Peggotty, Yarmouth fisherman

  Peggotty's brother, who searches for his niece Em'ly.

• Little Em'ly, Mr Peggotty's niece

  Fisherman's niece seduced and abandoned by Steerforth.

• Tommy Traddles, David's friend

  Loyal, hard-working schoolfellow who becomes a judge.

Lessons

• The undisciplined heart

  David's mistakes in love and friendship come from impulse rather than malice. Dickens traces how maturity means learning to choose wisely without losing warmth.

  • What does Annie Strong's phrase 'the first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart' mean for David?
  • Was David's marriage to Dora a mistake?

• Cruelty and kindness in raising children

  The Murdstones' 'firmness' and Creakle's beatings contrast with Betsey's and Peggotty's care. The novel argues that harsh discipline harms, while affectionate structure heals.

  • How does Betsey's treatment of David and Mr Dick differ from the Murdstones'?
  • What did Dickens's own childhood contribute to these scenes?
  • Does David ever fully recover from the warehouse?

• Money and character

  Micawber's improvidence, Heep's greed and Betsey's apparent ruin show how money tests character. Dickens finds virtue in honesty under financial pressure.

  • Why is Micawber lovable despite his debts?
  • What makes Uriah Heep's humility so sinister?

Context

The novel reflects early Victorian England: debtors' prisons, child labour, harsh private schools, emigration to Australia as a fresh start, and the professionalisation of law and letters. Betsey's protection of Mr Dick reflects the debate over 'moral treatment' and the reform of private madhouses after the Lunacy Acts of 1845.

Composition

Published in nineteen monthly parts from May 1849 to November 1850 with illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz'). Dickens drew on an autobiographical fragment about his blacking-warehouse experience, which he had shown only to his friend John Forster, who revealed it in his Life of Dickens after Dickens's death.

Reception

Dickens called it his 'favourite child'. It was widely admired, and Tolstoy, Freud and others praised it. Micawber and Uriah Heep became proverbial types. It has been adapted many times for film and television.

Comparisons

• a-christmas-carol

  Both draw on Dickens's childhood poverty; Scrooge's lonely school days and David's warehouse labour show how early neglect shapes adulthood.

• little-women

  Both are domestic coming-of-age novels about becoming a writer, with deaths of beloved young women (Dora, Beth) as turning points.

• the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

  Both portray boyhood with humour and nostalgia, though Twain's is adventurous and Dickens's shadowed by cruelty and labour.

• ruth

  Gaskell's Ruth and Dickens's Little Em'ly and Martha are 'fallen women' whose treatment tests Victorian charity.

• the-secret-garden

  Both show a neglected child who finds healing through a guardian and through care for others.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Chapter 1, I Am Born, where the older David opens by wondering whether he will be the hero of his own life, and Betsey Trotwood storms out of the house on learning the baby is a boy.
• The bite in Chapter 4, when David bites Mr Murdstone's hand during a beating, and its consequence: he is sent to Salem House, where he must wear a placard on his back warning that he bites.
• David's walk from London to Dover in Chapter 13, robbed of his box and money and selling his jacket for food, which ends with Betsey's cry against the donkeys on her green and her decision to keep him.
• Mr Micawber's grand denunciation of Uriah Heep in Chapter 52, where the man who has failed at everything finally does one great thing, exposing the frauds that ruined Mr Wickfield.
• The four Retrospect chapters (18, 43, 53, and 64), where the narrator stops telling and looks back over whole years, and Chapter 55, Tempest, where the storm at Yarmouth brings Ham and Steerforth together in death.

Key terms and names

Firmness

The Murdstones' watchword for the cold, unbending discipline they impose on David and his mother. Dickens shows it crushing Clara Copperfield's gentleness and driving David to the bite.

Murdstone and Grinby's

The London wine warehouse where ten-year-old David washes and labels bottles. It draws on Dickens's own months at a blacking warehouse, a secret he told only to John Forster.

Mr Dick's Memorial

The petition Mr Dick is forever writing and can never finish because King Charles the First's head keeps getting into it. Betsey, who rescued him from confinement, treats him as a man of sound judgment, and his simple goodness later heals the Strongs' marriage.

Umble

Uriah Heep's pronunciation of humble, which he uses constantly while scheming to take over Mr Wickfield's firm. His false humility is the novel's sharpest picture of resentment wearing the mask of a virtue.

Micawber's rule

Mr Micawber's formula in Chapter 12 that income slightly above expenditure brings happiness and expenditure slightly above income brings misery. He states it perfectly and never follows it until Australia.

The boat-house at Yarmouth

Mr Peggotty's home, an upturned boat on the sands, where he shelters his orphaned niece and nephew and the widowed Mrs Gummidge. It is the novel's picture of a household made by kindness rather than blood.

Trotwood

The name Betsey gives David when she adopts him, shortened to Trot. Taking a new name marks his rescue and second start in life.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why does Betsey Trotwood leave the night David is born, and what changes her mind when he arrives at Dover years later?
2. Comprehension How does Uriah Heep gain power over Mr Wickfield, and who finally exposes him?
3. Comprehension What happens to Steerforth and Ham in the storm at Yarmouth in Chapter 55?
4. Interpretation David opens by asking whether he will be the hero of his own life. By the last chapter, who seems to deserve that name more: David, or one of the people around him such as Betsey, Mr Peggotty, or Agnes?
5. Interpretation Mr Murdstone claims to stand for firmness and Uriah Heep for humility. How does Dickens show each man twisting a real virtue into a weapon?
6. Interpretation David hero-worships Steerforth from Salem House onward, even after Em'ly's flight. After Annie Strong speaks in Chapter 45 of the mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart, David applies the words to himself. What does his loyalty to Steerforth reveal about that undisciplined heart?
7. Interpretation Betsey treats Mr Dick, whom others called mad, as her wisest counselor. What does the novel suggest about the difference between worldly sense and true judgment?
8. Big Question Mr Peggotty searches the world for Em'ly and takes her back without reproach. Is his forgiveness the novel's highest picture of love, and what does it ask of the people who would rather condemn her?

Faith Connections

• Luke 15:3-7 (Scripture)

  The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one lost sheep and carries it home rejoicing. Mr Peggotty's long journey across Europe to find Em'ly, and his welcome without reproach, is the novel's clearest living image of this parable.

• Ephesians 6:4 (Scripture)

  Paul tells fathers not to provoke their children to wrath but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Mr Murdstone's firmness is the exact opposite, and the bite in Chapter 4 is the wrath it provokes.

• Luke 14:11 (Scripture)

  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Uriah Heep uses the language of humility as a ladder to power, and his fall in Chapter 52 turns the verse's warning on a false humility.

• Augustine, Confessions X (Church Fathers)

  Augustine marvels at the vast halls of memory in which a man finds his past and himself. David Copperfield is also a man's memory of his own life, and its Retrospect chapters pause, as Augustine does, to wonder at how the past is kept and changed in recollection.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A child's character is shaped by those who raise him: cruelty and neglect from the Murdstones and Creakle wound David, while the kindness of Peggotty, Betsey, Mr Dick, and Agnes rescue him. Yet his own undisciplined heart still leads him into a hasty marriage and a misplaced loyalty to Steerforth. Through suffering and loss he learns to discipline his heart. Therefore a good life is won neither by birth nor by fortune but by the help of faithful people and by learning, through sorrow, to love rightly.

Rhetorical device: retrospective first-person narration. The first sentence of Chapter 1 has the grown narrator wonder whether he will turn out to be the hero of his own life, and the Retrospect chapters later stop the story to look back. The double vision of the child who lives the events and the man who remembers them lets Dickens give both the child's fear and the adult's understanding at once.

Debate: Resolved: Agnes Wickfield, not David, is the true hero of David Copperfield.

Memory Work

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery

Writing Prompts

Essay: Compare David's three homes after his mother's death: the Micawbers' lodging in London, Betsey's cottage at Dover, and the Wickfields' house in Canterbury. Argue what each teaches him and which does the most to make him the man who writes the book.

Comparison with Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack: Benjamin Franklin and David Copperfield both tell how a poor boy who ran away from a hard situation became a respected man. Compare Franklin's account of thrift and self-improvement with Dickens's portrait of Micawber's debts and David's industry, and argue whether either book believes a person can truly make himself.

Medical Lens

Mr Dick is one of Victorian fiction's most humane portraits of mental illness: his brother wanted him confined in a private asylum, and Betsey instead takes him in, treats him with respect, gives him occupation (his endless 'Memorial' and kite-flying) and finds him capable of real insight. The episode can be discussed alongside the moral-treatment movement and Victorian lunacy reform. Mr Wickfield's alcohol dependence, deliberately encouraged by Uriah Heep to control him, is a close study of drinking and coercion. The novel opens with Mr Chillip, the timid doctor, at David's birth, and David's mother dies soon after childbirth with her infant. Martha's near-suicide by the polluted Thames, the starvation of David's journey to Dover and Dora's decline and death also carry medical interest. Critics have noted David's lifelong shame over the warehouse as a portrayal of childhood trauma; that reading is interpretive.

• Ch. 1

  David's birth attended by the mild Mr Chillip; Aunt Betsey's interrogation of the doctor.

  Childbirth MaternalPhysicians Doctors
• Ch. 9

  David learns of his mother's death and that of her newborn baby.

  Childbirth MaternalGriefDeath Dying
• Ch. 11–12

  Ten-year-old David's labour at the warehouse and his sense of shame and abandonment.

  Trauma Shell ShockStarvation Nutrition
• Ch. 13

  David's starving, penniless walk from London to Dover.

  Starvation Nutrition
• Ch. 14

  Betsey explains that she rescued Mr Dick from an asylum his brother intended for him, and defends his sanity.

  Asylum InstitutionMadness PsychosisNursing Caregiving
• Ch. 15–16, 25, 39

  Mr Wickfield's increasing reliance on port wine and Heep's exploitation of it.

  Alcohol
• Ch. 47

  David and Mr Peggotty find Martha by the river, on the brink of drowning herself.

  Suicide
• Ch. 48–53

  Dora's illness and death, and David's grief.

  Death DyingGriefNursing Caregiving

Creative Prompts

• Essay

  Trace Mr Wickfield's drinking through the novel. How does Dickens portray alcohol dependence, and how does Heep exploit it?

• Fiction

  Write a chapter of Mr Dick's Memorial.

• Classroom

  Compare the novel's warehouse chapters with Dickens's autobiographical fragment as quoted in Forster's Life.

Further Reading

• The Life of Charles Dickens, John Forster

  Includes Dickens's autobiographical fragment.

• Charles Dickens: A Life, Claire Tomalin

• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

• Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault

  For the history of confinement that frames Mr Dick.