Publication 624
By Liadan on
Friday, April 23, 2004
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"It's in vain... to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present." In 1850, Victorian writer Charles Dickens finished his eighth novel, David Copperfield. The novel was based loosely on Dickens' own life. It is the story of a young man's life and the people he meets along the way. Dickens used David's narration as an elucidation of Dickens' own life and trials. Notice the first two initials of David Copperfield. Do they look familiar? They are the initials for Charles Dickens backward. The author confessed that he made no intention of giving his character such initials when it was pointed out to him later. Nevertheless, it is an indication of the correlation between David Copperfield and Charles Dickens. It is loosely autobiographical because David Copperfield's life was a veiled image of the author's life, though the novel still maintains the potent themes that made Dickens famous.
Dickens portrayed his parents and his attitude towards them in many of the characters in David Copperfield. Dickens' parents were high-spirited, airy people who were not, in Dickens' eyes, good parents. In David Copperfield, Dickens' mother, Elizabeth Dickens, was portrayed as the lovely widow, Clara Copperfield. Clara was the naive and girlish mother of David. Behind David's back, she married Edward Murdstone, a cruel, heartless man. Thus, Clara Copperfield became a "...most unhappy, most unfortunate baby." David felt betrayed by his mother, just as Dickens felt betrayed by his own mother. After Dickens' father was arrested because of his debts, his mother sent Charles to work at the terrible Warren's Blacking Factory, a shoe-making factory. This experience scarred and alienated Dickens for life and was a theme in many of his books. Dickens never forgave his mother for sending him away and displayed his disaffection in Clara Copperfield's death.
Dora Spenlow, David's first wife, was also another image of Elizabeth Dickens, Charles' mother. Like Mrs. Copperfield, Dora had a blithe personality and was beautiful, angelic but naïve. She enchanted David and he instantaneously loved her. "I was a captive and a slave. I loved Dora Spenlow to distraction! She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph...I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant." David becomes obsessed upon knowing her and was even jealous when he saw her speaking to an elderly gentleman. When they got married, however, Dora was always preoccupied with her dog, Jip, and insisted upon spending her time with him, rather than helping David. She was a disaster when it came to house cleaning and cooking. Often, she would cry like a child until David could comfort her. When she died, David realized how childish she was. Both his mother and his wife's death left David with memories of their fatal innocence.
Although David's father died before the novel began, this did not mean Dickens' forget about his own father. John Dickens' personality was echoed in many of the characters in David Copperfield, all showing Dickens' various feelings towards his father. Mr. Edward Murdstone was the first incarnation of John to be met in the novel. Murdstone was considered one of the important 'villains' of the novel because of his cruel and vindictive manner towards the other characters. He, along with his equally wicked sister Jane, first enchanted and then ruined Mrs. Copperfield. She died while young David was at Salem House, the ghastly school to which Murdstone had sent him. As David's aunt Miss Betsy says, "...[Clara] was a loving baby...and through the best part of her weakness, you [Mr. Murdstone] gave her the wounds she died of." Miss Betsy had politely implied that Mr. Murdstone, along with his sister, broke David's mother's spirit and thereby killed her.
Interestingly, Mr. Murdstone could be broken down to Mr. 'murder' 'stone.' Both words capture his character perfectly. While John Dickens was never so harsh or callous, Murdstone represents Charles' hate for his father's failure and his financial incompetence. "Chief among [David's companions was] the startling figure... of [Mr.] Macawber..." Mr. Wilkins Macawber was the second character that was portrayed, though far less evilly, as Dickens' father. Mr. Macawber was a friend of David's who had a delightful personality and a devoted wife. Macawber, like John, was imprisoned in the Marshalsea jail, due to debt issues. Macawber, which sounds like 'macabre,' may have been the well intentioned but negligent side Dickens saw in his father.
Dickens now had both his mother and father in key positions in his novel. Dickens did not stop there. His first love, Maria Beadnell, has an incredible resemblance to the pretty Dora Spenlow in David Copperfield. Beadnell and Dickens fell in love, but Maria's father disapproved, just as Mr. Spenlow disapproved of David and Dora's courtship. Each father threatened to send his daughter away in order to keep the young suitor from courting her. Mr. Spenlow simply threatened David, but died before he could make good on it. Maria's father, however, did send her to France. When she returned, Dickens found that she was not the same pretty woman he had loved. David's failed marriage to the silly but inefficient Dora Spenlow was Dickens' idea of what might have happened to him, had he married Maria.
Dickens was now molding his novel and adorning it with the themes he was famous for. Two significant ones were innocence and ignorance. Both Clara Copperfield and Dora were the ultimate illustration of Dickens' innocent ignorance. They were pretty, naïve and, for the most part, incompetent. Clara, however, was ignorant of Murdstone and his 'evil' intentions. Dora was simply innocently ignorant towards life.
Another example of innocent ignorance was David's attitude towards James Steerforth, David's devious 'friend' that he meets at the Salem House. Steerforth called David 'Daisy' because the younger was unaware of his friend's plot against Em'ly. Em'ly was a dear childhood friend, to whom David proclaimed his love, when they were young. Steerforth seduced Em'ly later, unbeknownst to David. David finds out only when she sends a letter explaining her situation. This trickery emphasizes David's youthful naïveté and his willingness to believe that his new friend was truly his friend. Another example would be the lawyer Mr. Wickfield, with whom David lodges in Canterbury. Wickfield was ignorant of the two faced Uriah Heep's malevolent plot to steal his money and home. Heep was Wickfield's assistant and, despite Heep's assertion of being 'umble' to a fault, he had evil intentions. Mr. Wickfield remained blind to his assistant's vice until David and Mr. Macawber revealed Heep's true intentions.
Another theme Dickens used was having one character mimic another. An example of this would be the cruel Mr. Creakle and the oily Uriah Heep emulating Mr. Murdstone's evilness. The headmaster of the Salem House, Mr. Creakle, was a terrible man and highly abusive to the boys, just as Murdstone had been to David. Even his name implies that he was old and raspy. Uriah Heep, who constantly proclaimed his 'umbleness,' was Wickfield's assistant and David's enemy. Heep tried to scheme Wickfield out of his house and home, but was exposed by Macawber and David. Heep also held a personal vendetta against David and attempts to woo and possibly marry Agnes, daughter of Mr. Wickfield, in order to spite David.
Again, Dickens uses the names to give the characters personality. An example is Dora's name, which could indicate something sweet and simple to be adored. Heep and his equally 'umble' mother could be symbolic for a 'heap of villainy.' "He had a way of writhing when he wanted to express enthusiasm, which was very ugly..." Steerforth could be the force that 'steers' David forward. This assertion is because David does not realize his 'friend' was using him. David wanted to be like Steerforth because he saw the latter as a mentor and an idol. Another example of personality through names is Steerforth's nurse Rosa Dartle who was often described as having cold, darting eyes. "Her thinness seemed to be the effect of some wasting fire within her, which found a vent in her gaunt eyes." Rosa blames the weakened Em'ly for 'seducing' Steerforth and making him leave because Rosa herself was in love with him. She verbally abuses Em'ly, despite the other woman's pleas for mercy. As her name implies, she is a stiff, unpleasant character who 'darts' around like a snake. Personality through names can also be seen with Dr. Strong, David's teacher, who was a man of depth and the opposite of Creakle. The latter was weak and abused his students, while the former wanted to teach his pupils.
This use of opposites made it possible for Dickens to employ his 'evil' characters to show his hero's true virtues. For Uriah Heep, who served to thwart David, his bitterness and corruption was contrary to David's honorable kindness. Both were brought up in a harsh environment, but, unlike the innocence and compassion David showed, Heep was bitter and vengeful. Even Dickens' description of Heep made him appear demonic. "[He was a]...red haired person...whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble...and eyes of red-brown...he was high shouldered and bony." Heep and Copperfield not only had contrasting characteristics, but they had antonymous functions in the novel. Uriah wished to marry Agnes in order to hurt David, while both of David's marriages were stimulated by love. Uriah's character development ensued as he became more obsessed with power as his master, Mr. Wickfield, grew weaker and succumbed to his assistant's malevolence. David's character development juxtaposed this because his was a process of self-knowledge and understanding.
Through this examination of Steerforth, it can be seen that he used duplicity to deceive David. Like Uriah Heep, Steerforth was two faced and he kept David unaware, which was why his betrayal was a surprise to David. However, unlike the bitter Uriah, who is an obvious enemy from the start, Steerforth was polished, charming and egotistical. He tricked David into believing that the two were great friends, when Steerforth was only trying to use David to gain status.
Mr. Murdstone is another villain who could be contrasted to the hero David and benevolent Dr. Strong. Dickens employed the vivid use of description, just as he did for Uriah, to give this character an evil appearance. "He had that kind of shallow black eye – I want a better word to express an eye that has no depth in it..." Dickens gave Edward and Jane Murdstone the stereotypical villainous appearance. Black hair and eyes, a stern dark face, and brutal attitude. The treatment of David under Mr. Murdstone was abusive and cruel. When Murdstone tried to beat David with a cane for being a 'bad boy,' the child bit his stepfather in self-defense. Murdstone, enraged, sent David away to the terrible Salem House, where David was made to wear a sign that said, "Take care of him. He bites." This meant, plainly, to stay away. The theme of alienation was one that Dickens drew from his own experience at the Factory.
There was also a theme of balance in marriage that Dickens supported. This is evident in the comparison between Murdstone and Dr. Strong as husbands. Unlike Dr. Strong, Mr. Murdstone attempted to improve Clara Copperfield's character, but left her crushed. He forced Clara into submission because he wanted to make her strict like him. He believed that he was improving her, but it only left her weak and voiceless against him and his cruel ways. The kind and elderly Dr. Strong also tried to improve his pretty wife Annie's character. He did not do so out of a desire to show his moral dominance, as Murdstone did, but out of love and respect for Annie. Dr. Strong was kind and gentle to his young wife, disparate to Murdstone, who was harsh and abrasive.
Dickens combined his vivid imagination and the people he knew, and drew from his own life to complete David Copperfield. He used various images of those he knew to give his characters specific traits and meaning. He also retained the themes that made him a popular author, which included innocence and ignorance, mirroring of characters and the development of personality through the character's names. Although Dickens never acknowledged David Copperfield as an autobiography, it was the only novel he wrote that came close to emulating his own life. "And now, as I close my task, subduing my desire to linger yet, theses faces fade away..."
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