![]() 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. However, she takes it upon herself to raise David, despite Murdstone's attempt to regain custody of him. She had come to Blunderstone at his birth, only to depart in ire upon learning that he was not a girl. 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. ![]() 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 some months, David's friendly but spendthrift landlord, Wilkins Micawber, is arrested for debt and sent to the King's Bench Prison. Murdstone sends David to work for a wine merchant in London – a business of which Murdstone is a joint owner. Peggotty marries the local carrier, Mr Barkis. Shortly after David returns to Salem House, his mother and her baby die, and David returns home immediately. 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.ĭavid goes home for the holidays to learn that his mother has given birth to a baby boy. There he is befriended by an older boy, James Steerforth, and Tommy Traddles. David bites him and soon afterwards is sent away to Salem House, a boarding school, under a ruthless headmaster named Mr Creakle. Between them they tyrannise his poor mother, making her and David's lives miserable, and when, in consequence, David falls behind in his studies, Murdstone attempts to thrash him – partly to further pain his mother. David has similar feelings for Murdstone's sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards. 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, even harsh, methods of parenting, calling it "firmness". "Little Em'ly" is somewhat spoiled by her fond foster father, and David is in love with her. 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. ![]() To get him out of the way, David is sent to visit with Peggotty's family in Yarmouth. When he is seven years old his mother marries Edward Murdstone without having told him they plan to marry. His loving and childish mother and their kindly housekeeper, Clara Peggotty, raise him here, where they call him Davy. David spends his early years residing in a small house called the Rookery. David was born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, England, six months after the death of his father. The story follows the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. Plot summary The England of David Copperfield. 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. The novel has a primary theme of growth and change, but Dickens also satirises many aspects of Victorian life. Some aspects of the story were fixed in his mind from the start, but others were undecided until the serial publications were underway. ĭickens wrote without an outline, unlike his previous novel, Dombey and Son. 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. Īt 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. Called "the triumph of the art of Dickens", it marks a turning point in his work, separating the novels of youth and those of maturity. Of the books he wrote, it was his favourite. It was published as a serial in 18 and then as a book in 1850.ĭavid Copperfield is also an autobiographical novel: "a very complicated weaving of truth and invention", with events following Dickens's own life. ![]() Serialised May 1849 – November 1850 book format 1850ĭavid Copperfield is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity.
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