Analysis of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 1, 2025

In his novel David Copperfield, Charles Dickens produced his own favorite work and the favorite of many of his readers. He had honed his style through previous novels, and David Copperfield reflects his mature skill, partially accounting for the novel’s enduring popularity. In addition, the main character breathes a special life into the novel through first-person point-of-view narration, thanks to a suggestion by Dickens’s friend and biographer John Forster. David’s perspective delivers naive honesty to the novel’s early narrative, something lacking in Dickens’s previous books. The novel’s autobiographical aspects also add a sincerity and emotional strength to the narrative, which endears its main character to readers.

Dickens based Mr. and Mrs. Micawber on his own parents, with Micawber’s stint in debtors’ prison mirroring that of John Dickens. The Micawbers are generally considered the epitome of Dickens’s comic characters by virtue of their vitality, seen in Mr. Micawber’s imagination and Mrs. Micawber’s awareness of her life’s tragic-comedic dimensions. Through the novel, Dickens adopts an ironic attitude toward his parents, who, although unable to make a stable life for their family, remained interesting figures for whom he had more compassion as he matured.

David’s experience in the wine warehouse exactly matches Dickens’s in a blacking warehouse pasting labels on bottles, in an attempt to support his family. David works as a court reporter for a time, as did Dickens, who, like David, also served as a clerk in a law office. Dickens’s first love has been described as a frivolous girl, much like David’s first wife, the beautiful but simple Dora Spenlow.

The story appeared in installments between May of 1849 and November of 1850 as The Personal History, Experience and Observations of David Copperfield the Younger, of Blunderstone Rookery, Which He Never Meant to Be Published on Any Account. It received immediate positive criticism. William Makepeace Thackeray famously declared on May 4, 1849, after reading the first installment, “Bravo, Dickens,” and a piece in the June 1870 edition of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine declared David Copperfield the Dickens novel in which readers would take the most satisfaction. The novel never lost its popular status both as a novel read for pleasure and studied academically, and in multiple theatrical and screen versions. In the 20th century, it became available in electronic text.

The story begins with David’s statement, “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life [. . .] these pages must show.” His desire to tell the truth and reflect the life he considers lived in accordance with an ethical code immediately commends him to the reader. What follows is the typical parade of Dickensian characters, all of whom have an effect on the narrator/protagonist. Prior to David’s birth, his mother was visited by his eccentric Great Aunt Betsey Trotwood, who had loved David’s father but refused to see him following his marriage to David’s mother, a woman she labeled “a wax doll.” She declares that she expects the baby will be a girl, and when David is born, she becomes disgusted and stomps out of the house, “like a discontented fairy,” never to return.

Raised for his first few years by his widowed mother with the help of his loving nurse, Peggotty, David enjoys a happy childhood. One important episode in that early contentment involves David’s visit to the home of Peggotty and her brother, Mr. Peggotty, who live in the hulk of an old ship near the ocean. The family also includes Ham and Little Em’ly, both orphans and relatives that the Peggotts take in to raise. David falls in love with Em’ly, although it soon becomes clear that Ham intends to marry her. When Em’ly plays a risky stunt, balancing on a timber over the ocean and commenting on the death of her family members at sea, Dickens warns the reader through foreshadowing that death at sea for someone looms in Em’ly’s future.

David’s brief period of happiness concludes when his mother marries his cruel stepfather, Mr. Murdstone, his symbolic name suggesting a combination of murder and stone, who brings his equally cruel sister to live at David’s house. After abusing David, Murdstone decides to send him to Salem House Academy, operated by another bully, headmaster Creakle. David’s experiences there are not all negative, as he becomes friends with the older James Steerforth, a young man whose spirit David finds alluring. He also finds a friend in the less colorful but steady student, Tommy Traddles. David’s mother dies, her spirit murdered by her husband and sister-in-law, causing David profound grief when he receives the news on his 10th birthday. Murdstone has him dismissed from school and sent to work in a wine warehouse. The Micawber family with whom he boards provides the only light in his dark existence. Profligate to a fault, Mr. Wilkins Micawber nevertheless cheers David with his kind nature, and David becomes a favorite. Micawber’s financial situation becomes so grave that he faces debtors’ prison.

Even the cheer of the Micawbers cannot improve the horrible work conditions of the warehouse, and in desperation, David sets out to Dover to find his Aunt Betsey. After several adventures, he arrives at Betsey’s house and soon convinces her to allow him to stay. She contacts Mr. Murdstone against David’s wishes, and he arrives to testify against David’s character, but angers Aunt Betsey by driving his donkey across her front yard. She astounds him by delivering a sermon against his mistreatment of David’s mother, and then asks David whether he wants to return home. He chooses to remain with her, and she fondly refers to him as “Trot,” short for her own surname, and his life greatly improves as his aunt formally adopts him. He enjoys school at Dr. Strong’s in Canterbury, living there with his aunt’s lawyer, Mr. Wickfield, who consumes what seems to David an excess of wine. He meets Wickfield’s daughter, Agnes, and one of the most famous fictional villains, Wickfield’s sickly, pale law clerk, Uriah Heep. Ingratiating and pandering, Uriah constantly declares himself “too umble” (meaning “humble”) to participate in activities with those better than he, a declaration that serves as part of his manipulating front. He horrifies David with a clammy handshake David describes as “as ghostly to the touch as to the sight,” adding that he had to rub his hand “to warm it, and to rub his off.” The scene foreshadows Uriah’s “touching” all those important to David with financial and emotional ruin.

David develops an easy friendship with Agnes, admitting to himself that although he loves Em’ly, Agnes provides a peace for which he longs. Wickfield gradually seems to lose control of his law practice and his life, and Agnes eventually turns to David for help. Steerforth resurfaces and joins David in a visit to the Pegottys, where he meets and decides he must possess Em’ly, although she has officially become engaged to Ham. David also learns that a mysterious man has been bothering Aunt Betsey, and that Micawber had made the acquaintance of Heep, who favorably impressed Micawber.

David decides to serve as a proctor in Doctor’s Commons for the law firm of Spenlow and Jorkins. He enjoys the post, but is lonely and wants to see Steerforth again. He enjoys a night out with friends, but embarrasses himself before Agnes by making a drunken public appearance. This humorous scene helps to round David’s character, exposing a weakness, but making light of an incident that caused no one any damage. Embarrassed the next day, David wonders how to repair his reputation with Agnes. He understands that she does not bear a grudge when he receives her note, asking him to visit. Grateful for her forgiveness, David refers to Agnes as his “good angel.” That imagery promotes Agnes as a figure who will always serve David in a protective manner, regardless of his actions.

Agnes expresses concern about her father and Heep’s manipulative ways, and the news that he will soon become a partner in the firm shocks David. However, even more shocking to him is Agnes’s warning that Steerforth is David’s “bad angel.” She knows of his reputation for promoting a false sense of goodwill. David does not believe her, but remains troubled by the warning. Dickens increases foreshadowing of a dark end for Steerforth when his image in David’s mind “darkens.” When David attends a party the next day, Heep haunts the room. Dickens’s choice of terms, such as “writhe” and “snaky undulations” to describe Heep’s movements, leave no doubt as to his suspicious character. However, David is distracted when he meets his old classmate, Traddles. Traddles becomes the focus of one of the many subplots that Dickens weaves into the main story. His engagement to marry delights David, as does David’s discovery that he works at a publishing firm and boards with Micawber, who is at work in the “corn business” while waiting for something to “turn up.” David also continues contact with Steerforth, whose mysterious behavior heightens David’s suspicions about his one-time mentor. David learns that Steerforth has been secretly courting Em’ly, and when they run away, devastating the Peggotts and especially breaking the kind Ham’s heart, David feels guilty for having introduced Steerforth to the family.

As David continues to work hard, he falls in love with Spenlow’s pretty but nonintellectual daughter Dora. Agnes tries gently to reveal Dora’s shortcomings to David, as does his Aunt Betsey, who, due to the loss of her income, which she blames on Wickfield, has moved in with David. David also discovers from Traddles that Micawber has changed his name to Mortimer and assumed a disguise in order to escape his creditors. In the middle of trying to help others with their problems, David marries Dora following her father’s death. Too late, he discovers he has a child bride, one incapable of caring for either herself or her household. Despite her helplessness and tendency to overspend David’s small income, David remains devoted to Dora, who seems to hold her dog Jip in higher esteem than her husband. Aunt Betsey refuses to explain housekeeping responsibilities to Dora, gently explaining to David that she lacks the capacity to understand. David embarks on a writing career, with which Dora helps by holding the pen for him. During this time, Wickfield appears to sink into madness, as Heep begins to take control of his practice and makes clear his intention to marry Agnes, who has become close friends with Aunt Betsey.

As the rising action advances, Aunt Betsey stuns David by revealing her mysterious visitor is her husband, a man she has not lived with for some years due to his gambling. Even Aunt Betsey has her faults, as she continues to support her immoral husband. A year and a half after his marriage, David enjoys the positive reception of his first novel, and delights in the news of Dora’s pregnancy. He hopes the child will bring stability to a marriage that has remained rocky, not due to a lack of love, but to the constant household disorganization. David thinks of Dora and her nickname, used even by Aunt Betsey, of “Blossom,” and admits that his blossom seems to have “withered in its bloom upon the tree!” This foreshadows the deaths of both the baby and Dora. David takes comfort in his love for his aunt and his friendship with Agnes. He becomes immediately involved with Micawber, who now works for Heep and has discovered his villainous qualities; he feels that he can reveal Heep’s fraudulent activity and asks for David’s and Tommy Traddles’s help. In addition, Em’ly is discovered in London and reunited with her aunt and uncle. A comic scene follows in Wickfield’s office, now Heep’s, when Micawber reveals the truth about him. He will go to prison, and his victims, including Aunt Betsey, will receive refunds of a portion of their losses, and Agnes no longer has to worry about marrying the despicable Heep. Micawber sees an opportunity to begin a new life in Australia, where Mr. Peggotty intends to move with the disgraced Em’ly, and Aunt Betsey’s wayward husband dies, freeing her of that burden.

More tragedy must strike before Dickens can conclude his plot. In a storm at seaside, Ham dies in an effort to rescue Steerforth, and David realizes he still loved his friend, despite his weaknesses. He decides to go abroad in an attempt to begin a new life. Gone for several years as he works through his guilt, he publishes and becomes a well-known fiction writer. Agnes continues a correspondence with David, and the two at last marry. In a final statement 10 years following his marriage, David fills in details of the surviving characters for readers and declares himself nothing without the presence of Agnes, whom he compares to “a heavenly light.”

David Copperfield did not crusade against as many issues or with the ferocity that Dickens’s previous novels had. Rather, Dickens focuses on social prejudice and opportunism, two factors that his own family had confronted, mirrored particularly in the situation of Micawber, whose able mind, crippled by a lack of practicality, dooms him. Dickens writes in his preface to later editions of David Copperfield that the novel so interested him that he regretted at its conclusion “separation from many companions.” When he confesses his sorrow at having to lay down his pen “at the close of a two-years’ imaginative task,” and describes his feeling of “dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world,” readers centuries later can relate to the regret of concluding the reading of a near-perfect novel, which likely represented Dickens’s own life history.

Analysis of Charles Dickens’s Novels

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bush, Douglas. “A Note on Dickens’ Humor.” From Jane Austen to Joseph Conrad. Edited by Robert C. Rathburn and Martin Steinmann, Jr. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1958, 82–91.