David Copperfield

Like most of Charles Dickens’s novels, David Copperfield is long. The 2004 Penguin Classics edition of David Copperfield is just shy of 900 pages. The following is a short summary of Dickens’s...

One of the themes of David Copperfield is the way in which the poor suffer but conduct themselves with great honesty and nobility. For example, Ham lives in a house made out of a boat and has...

Because of the complexity and scope of Dickens's bildungsroman, it is difficult to identify a single moral lesson the author worked to impart. It is the story of a boy's journey to manhood and the...

Mr. Micawber went to work for Uriah Heep who had taken over active control of Wickfield's business. After this occurs, Mrs. Micawber sends David a letter saying the Mr. Micawber is not acting like...

It is following his adoption by his long-lost Aunt, Betsey Trotwood, that David is sent to a new and infinitely better school than the one he was sent to in London by the Murdstones. This event...

Poor young David's treated abominably at Salem House. But then, that was always the idea. His wicked stepfather Mr. Murdstone sent him there precisely because he knew it would be a living hell for...

David Copperfield first meets Mr. Murdstone as early as chapter II, "I Observe." He describes him as a large man with black hair and whiskers. From the beginning, David doesn't like him and...

David's mother marries very young, has David when she is young, and is widowed when she hardly more than a girl. She is childlike, gentle, and full of kindness—in other words, ill fitted for the...

David is miserable at Salem House. He describes it as desolate and depressing. When he first arrives, the students are on holiday. He is also forced to wear a sign saying that he bites. The...

It is important to remember that this book is a bildungsroman, or a novel of education, which features a protagonist and his or her journey towards maturity and finding his place in society. As...

Wow! You do realise that this is one of the longest novels by Charles Dickens! Any attempt to summarise it in 150 words is going to miss out a number of details, so I have included a few links...

On the most basic level, Salem's House is a pretty awful school while Dr. Strong's school is a fine school. Salem's House essentially treats its pupils like inmates at a prison. The master takes...

A bildungsroman can actually be called a novel of education. It depicts the struggles and challenges that a protagonist faces and how they develop and mature as a result of those challenges until...

David lost his father before he was even born—six months before, and only a year after his mother had married the man. The rest of the novel David Copperfield deals with the repercussions of the...

In chapter 9, "I Have a Memorable Birthday," David finds out that his mother is dead, and that his baby brother is probably going to die, too. When he's called into the parlor, David thinks that...

Miss Betsey Trotwood shows up in the beginning pages of the novel before David is born, and she doesn't appear again until David runs away to her. David initially learns about her through his...

Although a work of fiction, David Copperfield purports to be a memoir or autobiography penned by Copperfield himself. Therefore, memory is highly important to the book. A clue as to how memory...

When Charles Dickens was a boy he was sent to work in a grotty old blacking factory to help pay off his father's debts. The work was long, hard, and utterly soul-destroying, and marked Dickens for...

Dora represents the idealized figure of female beauty, while Agnes is a practical beauty. David’s first wife, Dora, is angelic. She is young, small, cheerful, helpless, and pretty. She is also...

David Copperfield is realistic fiction, because the events could happen in real life. Fantasy usually involves magic, and science fiction uses technology we do not really have yet. Realistic...

David Copperfield gets the idea that Peggotty, his family’s live-in servant, is “cross” with him when he asks her about marriage (Chapter 2). The boy is trying to find out if a person can remarry...

The climax is the turning point of a story, and the most exciting part. In David Copperfield, the climax occurs when David witnesses the aftermath of a shipwreck and Steerforth’s death. In the...

Peggotty told David that he was going to see her family in Yarmouth and it would be fun, and nothing about his mother's wedding. Peggotty did not tell David that his mother was getting married; she...

Steerforth has treated a friend of David’s terribly, but he wants to be remembered as he was before. He needs people to think well of him. Steerforth is a childhood friend of David’s that he met...

David Copperfield starts in Blunderstone Rookery, a house in Suffolk England, but really is set all over. At different parts during the novel, Copperfield is in London, Yarmouth, Canterbury, and...

Mr. Micawber, as you will have noticed and as David more than once observes, is more than a little dramatic. In this section, Mr. Micawber has just finished conversing (with some effort) with David...

What has always bothered me about David Copperfield is that it is too idealistic. Dickens presents a picture of David marrying a girl who is really all wrong for him, but then David is released...

In David Copperfield, Dickens uses first-person point of view, an autobiographical style, and careful characterization of his protagonist as his key narrative techniques. These techniques are...

Young David is sent by his wicked stepfather, Mr. Murdstone, to school at Salem House. It's a grim-looking place in an advanced stage of decay. There are no boys there; they've all gone home for...

Miss Betsey Trotwood, to give her full name, is David Copperfield's great-aunt. She's one of the most sympathetic characters in the book, and makes a refreshing change from the many cruel,...

David Copperfield, originally titled The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any...

David knows his aunt likes him—especially after she begins calling him Trot—but he wonders about his schooling. Then one night at the beginning of chapter 15, as they are playing backgammon, Miss...

This is an entirely subjective answer, of course, but I would say that Tommy Traddles is easily the more likable of the two. Although he comes across as a bit of a clumsy clodhopper, Tommy has a...

The answer you are looking for can be found in Chapter 17 of this amazing classic Dickens novel. Having shifted educational establishments to Mr. Strong's school, much to his relief, David reports...

David's mother, Clara, marries Mr. Murdstone, who appears handsome and charming at first but proves to be sadistic and hard-hearted. Clara becomes his "victim" in that he is able to dominate her...

Clearly, a work that is as long as this novel is will have a number of themes and will contain a number of different symbols. The answer given above refers to a number of the themes, so I will...

Dora and Emily are both attractive women who have poor judgment; and David Copperfield falls in love with each of them, although Emily is a child crush. Dora's poor judgment comes out in her...

1. Both novels are categorized in Dickens' orphan series. Pip from Great Expectations and David are children who have lost one or both parents and who experience abuse at the hands of someone who...

David Copperfield’s mother is weak. After she has her second child, she marries Mr. Murdstone while David is at the house of Pegotty, David’s nurse. His mother moves in with him. Both of them...

In Charles Dickens's autobiographical novel, David Copperfield, after David's mother dies, he is sent away by his cruel stepfather, Edward Murdstone in an effort to be rid of David. In London...

After Miss Betsey Trotwood decides to take charge of her grand-nephew David's education, she enrolls him at Doctor Strong’s school in Canterbury. She also decides he should be called Trotwood, as...

After David's unfortunate encounter with Mr. Murdstone in Chapter 5 of David Copperfield, he sent away to Salem House where Mr. Creakle is the headmaster. He is a man with a "fiery face" with...

There are many autobiographical elements in David Copperfield. First of all, look at the protagonist's initials: "D.C." They are an inversion of Dickens's own initials. As a small boy, poor David...

It is in Chapter 45 that we find the final answer to all of the suspicion and curiosity concerning the exact nature of the "friendship" between Annie Strong and Jack Maldon, when Annie has a...

Uriah Heep in David Copperfield is one of the least appealing characters that Charles Dickens created. Although he does not, on the outside, seem evil, Uriah’s obsequious personality hides his...

David Copperfield says that his lessons with Mr. Murdstone, his stepfather, were "the death-blow of my peace, and a grievous daily drudgery and misery." He was extremely apprehensive before being...

Betsey Trotwood is David Copperfield’s father’s aunt. This ”formidable person” is a sharp-tongued, rigid widow who thinks highly of her own opinions. Miss Betsey’s strength of character is shown...

When David begins school at Salem House, James Steerforth takes him under his wing (Chapter 7). David is enthralled by Steerforth’s winning ways and cannot see how selfish and manipulative the...

Mr. Micawber eventually becomes a friend to David, but I would describe him as more of a mentor when David first meets him. When David is sent to work in London, he is offered lodging with the...

Salem House is an absolute nightmare for David. It's more like a prison camp than a school, run by the cruel, sadistic Mr. Creakle, who's been instructed by Mr. Murdstone to beat David as often as...