Young David is forced to wear a sign on his back that warns other students and teachers he is a biter. He is met on the road by Mr Mell, one of the teachers, who accompanies him to the school. His mother is strongly discouraged from giving David any form of affection, and he is forbidden to consort with Peggotty or other children.Īfter a particularly brutal beating, David is sent off to Salem House school for biting Murdstone. The pet of his mother Clara Copperfield and faithful housekeeper Peggotty, David lives an idyllic life for the first few years, even though he is fatherless-his father, David Copperfield Sr., died 6 months before his son's birth.ĭavid's happy childhood is eventually marred by the arrival of his tyrannical stepfather, Edward Murdstone, and David suffers both physical and mental abuse from his new guardian. He is first introduced in the novel when he is born on a Friday in March in the early 19th century. Novel in the first person, in the form of autobiography ĭavid Copperfield is the pivotal character of the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

David Copperfield's birth name comes from Dickens' inverted initials. Murdstone) instead, he is called alternately Davy, Trot, Trotwood, Copperfield, Daisy and Doady. Throughout the novel, David is rarely called by his birth name (except by Mr. Also there were never any wicked stepfather or any great aunt. Unlike Dickens, David grew up in the country as an only child Dickens was a city boy with several brothers and sisters. However, there are many differences in the lives of the two.

Dickens keenly felt his deprived education during his time at the blacking factory, and according to the authoritative biography by his lifelong friend and literary advisor John Forster, it was from these times that he drew David's working period.Ĭharles Dickens working at Warren Blacking Factory

David's friend since boyhood and his second wife, Agnes Wickfield, the real heroine of the novel, is based on Dickens' sisters-in-law Mary and Georgina Hogarth both of whom were very close to Dickens. David's first wife, Dora Spenlow, is believed to be based upon Maria Beadnell, whom Dickens loved in his early youth. Many of David's acquaintances are based on people Dickens actually knew. David's involvement with the law profession and later his career as a writer mirror the experiences of Dickens. Scholars believe that David Copperfield's childhood, career, friendships and love life were influenced by Dickens's experiences, especially his time working in a factory as a child. The character is widely thought to be based on Dickens himself, incorporating many elements of his own life. David introduces himself to his aunt (Drawing by Hablot Knight Browne)ĭavid Copperfield is the protagonist after which the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield was named.

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