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SEBASTIAN LEHNER
David Copperfield as an example of the Victorian socio-critical novel

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Page 24

One day, however, David brings Steeforth for a visit to the Peggoties and Em’ly sees her chance of getting married to the aristocratic Steerforth and thus becoming a real lady in the end. So they secretly plan their common escape at night and the only thing she leaves for Mr Peggotty is a letter reading: “it is never to come back, unless he brings me back a lady”[30], which clearly shows her determination to break out of her social bonds. But on the other hand also her internal conflict becomes evident, as she is worried about Ham: “Love some good girl that will (…) be true to you, and worthy of you.”[31]

To sum it, up, in this passage Dickens shows the clash of the classes: the desire to break out of this desperate situation on the one hand, and on the other hand the realization that it can never work out. The plot continues with Mr Peggotty going on a fruitless search to find Em’ly: “I’m a going to seek her fur and wide. (…) My unchanged love is with my darling child and I forgive her.”[32] Here Dickens demonstrates his belief that family-bonds can be stronger than social conventions. Finally Em’ly comes back by herself and it is learned that she travelled with Steerforth through Europe, but in the end he lost interest in this affair and let her down, which can be considered as another hint of the author at the coldness of the higher classes.

[30] Dickens, Charles, David Copperfield, p.419     [31] Dickens, Charles, David Copperfield, p.419
[32] Dickens, Chrales, David Copperfield, p.438

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