III. The Socio- Critical Elements in “David Copperfield” – An Analysis
After that short prelude about Dickens’ personal background and the various
aspects of the Victorian Social Novel, one work shall be picked out to directly
demonstrate, what the author critizised, how he criticized it and what his main
objectives were, when he wrote a a certain story in a certain way.
This example
for the Victorian socio-critical novel shall be “David Copperfield”. Finished in
1850 it is not quite clear if it should be counted to the Early or Middle
Victorian Social Novel, however, as can be seen later on in the text, this book
is so many-facetted that it combines elements from all Victorian ages. And
furthermore it is not the task of this research paper to assign this book to a
certain literary age, but to give an example of what was criticized in
socio-critical novels in the 19th century and by which means this was done.
Finally this paper does not claim full completeness, as this would go beyond its
scope. It shall only give an excerpt of various socio-critical components that
can be found in the book and provide an insight into the different elements that
make up a novel criticizing state and system in the 19th century.
