Describe Miss Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield.

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 mother, who seldom speaks of her. David's sweet, young, innocent, recently widowed, and pregnant mother, Clara, is intimidated by Miss Betsey. She calls Miss Betsey a "formidable" person.

Miss Betsey is David's father's aunt, making her David's great aunt. She comes across to David's mother as assertive, bit bossy, and eccentric, and she is also critical of David's mother, calling her a "Baby" and saying the "Rookery" is a ridiculous name for a house. She also insists Clara's baby will be a girl, and when it turns out to be a boy, shedoesn't get involved in David's early childhood.

Later, however, she takes David under her wing and show her true kindness and strength. She welcomes him into her home when he runs away after his mother dies. She becomes a mentor and benefactor to him and helps facilitate his marriage to Agnes. Under her bossy, sharp, and gruff exterior, she is an intelligent, practical, and good-hearted person.

David, on first meeting her, describes her as follows:

My aunt was a tall, hard-featured lady, but by no means ill-looking. There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage, amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though unbending and austere. I particularly noticed that she had a very quick, bright eye.

Who was Miss Betsey in David Copperfield?

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, unscrupulous, and just plain nasty characters around. This is a lady who really is full of the milk of human kindness. She takes in David after he runs away from his unhappy home; she takes good care of him, providing her great-nephew with a good education, and a warm, loving home. But her kindness doesn't stop at David; Betsey also opens her modest home to the poor, unfortunate Mr. Dick, a man who's seriously down on his luck. She also gives money to her estranged husband, a degenerate gambler who turns up on her doorstep every now and again, looking for hand-outs.

Miss Betsey is by no means perfect; she wouldn't be half as interesting a character if she were. For one thing, she's rather quick to judge other people. This leads her to refuse to become David's godmother because she disapproves of David Copperfield Sr.'s wife. Yet the most important thing about Betsey is that she always learns from her mistakes, and it's this wisdom, combined with her great kindness and generosity, that makes her the perfect surrogate mother for young David.