An Analysis of Image in David CopperfieldChapter 1Introduction"David Copperfield", the masterpiece of Dickens, was a semi-autobiographical work. In May 1849 to November 1850, the installment was published. In the preface, Dickens said: “It is my favorite child.”The novel depicted David's experiences which were filled with sufferings and laughters. Dickens portrayed the colorful picture of British society, the typical image of different social classes, especially the endless struggle of David in the face of adversity which left a deep impression on us. David was unable to endure the abuse of his stepfather, biting the fingers of his stepfather, savagely beaten. As a result, he was locked in a boarding school. After his mother died, he was sent to the factory as a child by his stepfather. From then on, he lived a hard life, without enough to eat or wear and suffered all kinds of abuse and torture. However, David did not succumb to the mercy of fate, painstakingly, and finally found his aunt Betsey. The kind-hearted aunt shelter adopted him and let him go to a better school. When he knew that Aunt Betsey was bankrupted, but instead, he studied diligently with perseverance all kinds of abuse and torture. Finally, after making efforts, he became a writer and achieved success. At the same time, other characters were clear and vivid. Peggotty was a nurse who took care of David and David’s mother carefully, she was remarkably loyal. Outwardly, aunt Betsey appeared a severe woman, but she showed that she was kind by loving David and others. In addition, Ham was noble, brave and honest. Mr.Murdstones was fierce and cruel. Steerforth was selfish and arrogant.1.1 Introduction to the AuthorDickens was the main representative of realism literature in the 19th century. The art of witty words, nuanced psychological analysis and realism were combined together closely in his works. He was particularly famous for his vivid comic characterizations and social criticism. He was the first author who had written of the poor with fidelity and sympathy. His works were famous during novels of the Victorian age and among the great classics in all fiction.Dickens was born in February, 1812, at Landport, Portsmouth. He was the second of eight children. His father was a clerk, hardworking but imprudent, later caricatured as Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield.In 1822, the family moved to London, where Charles had to leave school to support his impoverished family. In 1824, his father was put into prison for debt. At the age of 12, Dickens was sent to going to work at a factory. He wrapped and labeled for 6 shillings a week. After work, he wandered through the streets of London, enthralled by the sight of the dockyards, the files of convicts, and vast sections of the city inhabited by the poor. These bitter days remained in his memory and later found expression in his works.Dickens was able to return to school because a small legacy helped release his father from prison. He was an avid reader and spent much time in the reading room of the British Museum. Although he later returned to school for a time, these experiences left a permanent imprint on the soul of Charles Dickens. Even many years later, he had become a successful author, he could not bear t o talk about it, or be reminded of his family’s ignominy.At the age of fifteen, Dickens began working as an office boy for a law firm. He taught himself and he became a reporter for courts of Doctors’ Common in 1828. The dull routine of the legal profession never interested him, so he became a newspaper reporter for the Mirror ofparliament, the True Sun, and finally for the Morning Chronicle. (John Forster, were later his closest friend and biographer, was also employed at the True Sun.) By the age of twenty, Dickens was one of the best parliamentary reporters all the England.By this time, Dickens was enjoying the luxurious life he had dreamed of as a child. In 1850, he published the last installments of David Copperfield, a partly autobiographical novel that was his favorite.1.2 The Introduction to the Background1.2.1 Social background“Like so many parents I hav e a favorite child in my heart,” wrote Charles Dickens. "And his name is David Copperfield." Here, Dickens made good use of his own life experience to expose the social evils that were prevalent in Victorian England and were the miseries of child-labor, the tyranny in schools, the debtors’ prison, as well as the cruelty and immortality and the treachery. Thus the novel was not merely a personal record, but a broad picture of the society of the author’s day.David Copperfield was a novel written in first-person point of view. It was sometimes referred to as an apprenticeship novel because it centered on the period in which a young person grew up. The type of novels was pioneered by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship). Dickens based the book in part on the difficult early years of his own life. The narration changed n ames, locales, and other details of Dickens’s life. For example, when Dickens was only a child, he had to leave school to work in a factory. In the novel, David Copperfield had to leave school to work in a warehouse washing and labeling bottles used in the wine trade. David’s initials (D.C.) were, of course, the reverse of Dickens’s (C.D.).Dickens was a master at drawing memorable characters. Some were simple and uncomplicated, like Barkis, Creakle, Murdstone, and Clara Peggotty. Others were complex, like David Copperfield. Throughout the novel, he befriended the wealthy and charming James Steerforth, ignoring his devious and malevolent side. At the same time, he befriended the good-hearted Tommy Traddles and the humble Peggottys. These two worlds, the world of Steerforth and the world of Steerforth and his family, both attracted David, and his immaturity decided what should constitute his own world. To bring his characters to life, Dickens invested them with clearly defining virtues or vices and described the characters in a way that enabled the readers to picture them at the scenes in which they appeared.1.2.2 Novel’s backgroundOf all the Dickens’ novels, David Copperfield reflected the events of Dickens own life the most. As for David, suffering in the past was adequately made up for a rich, happy marriage and a successful literary career, just like Dickens himself, and the world was still full of hope and sunshine. The plot construction was rather loose, but it also excelled in its vivid image. The narration of novel in detail was also worth mentioning, which gave the work truthfulness to the real life.What we could add to was the way in which Dickens time and time again dealt with the progress of a male hero who, as with David in David Copperfield (1849-50) and Pip in Great Expectations (1860-1), came to terms with world as the middle-class values. At the same time, however, Dickens’ heroes often have uncomfortable doubles: David Copperfield was shadowed by Heep and Steerforth, both of whom revealed the kind of dark sexual urge that David attempted to conceal or deny in his own life. It was as if, in a new middle-class code, Dickens was equally aware of the precariousness or vulnerability of the new respectable social conceptionof the self, of the buried life that was hidden beneath the veneer of polite manners.Due to the early success, the public not only gave Dickens an assurance that made sure increasing powers of poetic expression and narrative technique, but also the confidence to demonstrate his priorities to a point where they contradicted the social assumptions of many of his readers. All his later novels, except A Tale of Two Citie s, presented a criticism of the most fundamental institutions of the Victorian England.Although David was ignorant of Steerforth’s treachery, we were aware from the moment we met Steerforth that he didn’t deserve of praise which David felt toward him. David didn’t know why he hated Heep or why he trusted a boy with a donkey cart who stole his money and left him in the road, but it was possible for him to realize Heep’s inherent evil and the boy’s real intention. In David’s first-person narration, Dickens conveyed the wisdom of the older man implicitly, through the eyes of a child.Chapter 2Literature Review of the Novel2.1 Some Scholars’ Views on the NovelScholars believed that David Copperfield's careers, friendships, love and life, were most highly influenced by Dickens' experiences, as well as his time working as a child. David's involvement with the law profession and later his career as a writer mirror the experiences of Dickens. Many of David's friends were based on people who Dickens actually knew, and David's wives, Agnes Wickfield and Dora, were believed to be based upon Dickens' attachment to Mary Hogarth. Dickens keenly felt his lack of education during his time at that factory, and according to the Forster biography, it was from these times that he drew David's working period.British writer Somerset Maugham regarded the book as "truly a masterpiece of literary works".One of American literature connoisseurs recommended the novel as one hundreds of the 20th century, distinguishing English novel.The famous Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, said that the book was the best one among all the English novels and it could help people to build a perfect personality.“David Copperfield was filled with characters of the most astonishing variety, vividness, and originality,” noted SomersetMaugham. “They are not realistic and yet they abound with li fe. There never were such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother.” The story was told almost entirely from the point view of the first person narrator, David Copperfield himself, and was the first Dickens novel to do so. Dickens based the book in part on the difficult early years of his own life.2.2 Main Views of Dickens’ IdeaInfluenced by Carlyle, Dickens learned to direct his novel to a questioning of social priorities and inequalities, to a distrust of institutions, particularly defunct or malfunctioning ones, and to a pressure for action and earnestness He was prone to take up issues, and to campaign against what he saw as injustice or desuetude, using fiction in his novel. He was not alone in his own time, but his name continued to be popularly associated with good causes and with remedies because he was quite the wittiest and he has had the most persuasive, and the most influential voice.Dickens was faithful to the teaching, and to the general framework, his thought, his action and above all, for his writing, nevertheless. A critical awareness that there was something deeply wrong with the society in which he lived disclosed the nature of a novel and gave its distinct political edge. Dickens’ novels were multifarious, digressive and humorous.In an important way, they reflected the nature of Victorian urban society with all its conflicts and disharmonies, its eccentricities and its constrictions, its energy and its fertility, both physical and intellectual. But the standard pattern in his novels was the basic conflict between money on the one hand, and loves on the other hand. What this conflict usually revealed was that the people who have greatest lovefor their fellow humans were also the ones who were most hurt by the world of money, simply because money was power.In his novels, the people who possessed most money and most power seemed incapable of love, whereas the people who were capable of love were remarkably often both poor and powerless. And yet, this gloomy view was emerged by Dickens’ comic way of dealing with his characters.Chapter 3The Image of main character in David Copperfield3.1 The Image of David3.1.1 Unyielding and diligence of David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield was a kind-hearted, honest, and hard working, pragmatic and progressive intellectual typically. Since Dav id’s childhood, his father died. Although his mother remarried, she died before long with his stepfather abuse. At that time, he was sent to boarding school, ravaged, and then was sent to the factory as an apprentice humiliation position. He left the factory to the home of aunt Betsey who adopted him and let him study law. Then, he tried his best to learn day after day. At the same time, his character matured in suffering, frustration, and ultimately on the right path in life. Later he became a writer, and married with his girlfriend. For him, he had acquired much knowledge in life through the wrong ideas, funny habits, sad moment and the depressing day, and remembered his aunt's words in heart, “whatever you do and whenever you do it, you can never be humble, never be hypocritical or cruel.”He thought of this sentence, which always encouraged himself to be strong and seize the hard-on opportunity to struggle in life.Both the hardships and bitterness in his orphan’s times or always struggle in his adult time, having experienced calamities and misfortunes, David tasted the joy and warmth of the earth. By his own sincerity, forthright personality, positive spirit, as well as the purity of love to people in his heart, he persisted and finally succeeded.3.1.2 Innocence and kindness of David Copperfield.David began to love Emily when they accompanied each other in the days in Yarmouth. As for a child, the affection was a more feelings. Neither of them worried about the future or any other troubles at that time. The best was love in that they were innocent. On the way to Salen House, the writer mentioned an interested incident. With the “simple confidence and natural reliance of a child upon superior years”, David was used byServant William. David was bound to lack of some worldly wisdom and was only an innocent child.When David worked at Murdestone and Grinby, he met Mr.Micawber whose clothes were shabby, and had only a shirt collar. However, David did not laugh at him. On the contrary, when he learned about the tragedy and realized Micawber’s financial difficulties, he intended to offer some money to Mr.Micawber in order to help him tide over the difficulties, though he himself was poor at that moment. Innocence was the most valuable and shinning characteristic of David Copperfield.In David’s life, although he met some wicked people like Mr. and Miss Murdestone, Mr. Creakle and Uriah Heep, he also gained a lot of friends and helpers who made him kind-hearted. That was to say, though he had known some bad qualities of the people, David remained what he used to be. In Mr. Murdestone’s house, except his mother, Peggotty w as the only one who loved David, and different from his mother, she was able to protect David. When David was treated badly by Mr. and Miss Murdestone, Peggotty tried to comfort him at night secretly. And when David was sent away from home, Peggotty wrote letters so as to encourage him.As we all know, Peggotty was a servant in David’s family, but what she did was far more than a servant. What important was when David’s mother misunderstood her, Peggotty still took it for granted that she should protect and help David and David's poor mother. It was her loyalty and kindness that was a great help to the development of David. And David was grateful to her, so he permitted the carrier Barkis to marry her, giving happiness to Peggotty.3.1.3 Cruelty and tenderness of David CopperfieldDavid’s compl icated image accounted for the contradiction of the plot of the novel and which existed over the development of it. For David, when he realized his love for Agnes for the first time, he also showed greattenderness at the moment. David, especially as a young man in love, could be foolish and romantic. As he grew up, however, he developed a more mature point of view and searched for a lover who would change and help him grow. David fully matured as an adult when he expressed the sentiment that he valued Agnes’s gentleness and quietness over all else in his life. 3.1.4 Stability and maturity of David CopperfieldAfter experiencing many difficulties and sufferings, David had become Stability in his adulthood. As for his profession, David went on along a right road. He engaged in literature and was interested in what he did. David felt more and more confident in the success of his career. David knew that his dream came true by his years of hard work.And when his wife died, David decided to give his most sincere love to Agnes who was his good angel. However, he was hesitant before Agnes. He dared not to tell her "I love you". Because he knew what the three words meant, he did not want to hurt Agnes. As for David, there was no doubt that Agnes was his best choice. For all the efforts David took, he deserved the love of Agnes. With Agnes' love and guidance, David would make his life more comfortable and he himself became mature and steady.David also found true friendship in his life. His old classmate, Tradle, who at school was the merriest friend of all his classmates, appeared at the end of the novel as a helper of David Copperfield. He was what we called a true friend David needed.3.2 The Image of other Characters3.2.1 Coldness and cruelty of Miss .MurdstonesThe bane of the childhood of David, stepfather and Sister Miss Murdstone's character was extremely cold and cruel. In David's memory, when he met Miss Murdstone in the first time, she was a gloomy-looking lady; dark, like her brother, whom she greatly resembled in face and voice; and with very heavy eyebrows, nearly meeting over her large nose, as if,being disabled by the wrongs of her sex from wearing whiskers, she had carried them to that account. When she paid for the coachman, she took her money out of a hard steel purse, and she kept the purse in a very jail of bag which hung upon her arm by a heavy chain, and shut up like a bite. As for David, he had never, at that time, seen such a lady altogether as Miss Murdstone was.She was almost tomboy, she hated men, but with the man's face, feminine, love and compassion, she and her brother has been tortured poor Clara and David as a thorn in the side and used various means to torture David, resulting in the suffering of David's childhood.3.2.2 Humanity and charity of aunt BetseyAlthough there were similarities in some respects between Aunt Betsey Trotwood and Murdstone, they were quite different in essence. Aunt Betsey was quite independent, bold, manly, and rational. She did not care about the secular vision, and she was kind, merciful and fraternal. She was full of emotion. Although she hated boy, David went to her for shelter, she not only adopted him, but also taught David: we should never be mean, hypocritical and cruel person. What she taught was a foundation of the motto to David’s act, David healthy growth, and became a famous writer. Aunt Betsey had mercy on Dick, received him, and appreciated him, to give him a comfortable and easy life. She was the guardian of Jenny, still monitoring some of the other people, education, and let them learn to protect themselves. Dora then pampered and petted, she didn’t do anything against aunt Betsey, and she got the lovely name: flowers.Her husband, aunt Betsey still did not forget, even if he abandoned her, and found a new lover, became a nothing scandalous. It was also said that aunt Betsey was a symbol of friendship and loyalty. Aunt Betsey was an intensely capable woman with a great mind in business, and grasped many commercial activities, concealed the 2000 pounds of property inbankruptcy. She did it in order to exercise David, let him learn to adapt to the plight of getting of the difficulties so that he would be able to assume the responsibilities of life. That time gave David a good exercise, and by his efforts he confirmed his ability to live. That was aunt Betsey's thought. Even though aunt Betsey was eccentric, and she had strange temperament, her character was respected and trusted.3.2.3 Senses and intelligence of AgnesAgnes, a virtuous and agreeable girl, became a dear and loyal friend of David. In terms of appearance, moral character, knowledge, thoughts, she was almost impeccable. She was beautiful and dignified, generous and gentle, quiet and stable, thoughtful. She has a keen insight, she was of strong will, with a heart of love, and she was the spiritual support of David. Anyone would be proud of an intimate friend of her. In Agnes’ childhood, she was his father's butler and spiritual comfort. Her father's love was critically good for her to become prematurely mature, and to assume responsibility. Caring for his father, to his father, she had to please Heep, but she never would succumb to the Heep, not let Heep sinister purpose to succeed. Her love for David was deep and long, and she has been quietly in love with David. After Dora was died, experiencing many difficulties at overseas several years, David finally realized that he loved Agnes, and then they got married. In terms of career and life, Agnes was David’s ide al partner.3.2.4 Vanity and unreality of Mr.MicawberMr.Micawber was the landlord of David when David was a child-labor. Later he became David’s best friends. He was unable to repay the debt, so he was in jail several times. He was a person who often dealt with things out of vanity, and refused to put his feet on the ground. He was often heavily in debt. After he was put into prison for debt, he warned David: “If a person had an annual income of twenty pounds, and spent nineteenpounds nineteen shillings, the person would be exceedingly happy”. Nevertheless, if the person spent twenty pounds one shilling, the person was right in the shittier.No sooner had he been a painful confession than he took a shilling from David for beer right away, and then be happy. He was such a real optimist.In addition, he was integrating. When he was secretary to Heep, through a fierce struggle in his mind, he exposed a conspiracy that Mr.Heep framed Wickfield and Heep wanted to lead to the bankruptcy of Miss. Betsey. Miss. Betsey thanked him, and funded him to Australia where he achieved career success. Finally, he has a good outcome. Micawber characters were extremely vivid, so he became a classic image in literature and was regarded as a representative.3.2.5 Duplicity and selfishness of SteerforthSteerforth was a young millionaire. He was arrogant, callous, selfish, and completely self-centered; he didn’t consider the feelings of other.In school, he used to drive a teacher who was from humble origins. Later, he got to know the kind-hearted and innocent girl Emily, and lured Emily to elope with him successfully through small talk tease. In the end, he abandoned Emily. When he made friends with David, David depended on Steerforth’s kindness for granted, without analyzing his motives or detecting his duplicity. When Steerforth befriended David at Salem House, David didn’t suspect that Steerforth was simply trying to use David to make friends and gain the status. Finally, Steerforth betrayed David.3.2.6 The Abjection and impudicity of Uriah HeepHeep was once a copyist. He used to pretend to be humble, and afterwards, he succeeded in manipulating the firm by cunning way. Mr. Wickfield was forced to almost no retreat, which led to Miss. Betsey bankruptcy. Later, due to Mr. Micawber stood up in time and revealed hisconspiracy that framed Mr. Wickfield and led to the bankruptcy of Miss. Betsey. Though Heep was raised in a cruel environment which was similar to David’s, his upbringing caused him to become bitter and vengeful rather than honest and hopeful. Dickens’ described Heep as a demonic character. He referred to Heep’s movements as snakelike and gave Heep red hair and red eyes. Heep and David not only had opposite characteristics but also manipulated at cross-purposes. For example, Heep wished to marry Agnes only in order to hurt David. Nevertheless, for David, he was both motivated by love. The frequent contrast between Heep’s and David’s sentiments showed Heep’s mean.While David’s character develo pment was a process of increased self-understanding, Heep grew in his desire to exercise control over himself and other characters. As Heep gained more power over Mr. Wickfield, his sense of entitlement grew and he became more and more power-hungry. But imprisonment didn’t make a dif ference to atone for his crime. Because he deployed his strategies to selfish purposes that gave others a hand in time, he stood out as the novel’s greatest villain.3.3 The Similarity between Charles Dickens and David Copperfield“Novel” was defined as th e description of the typical character in the typical environment (especially the social environment). According to the above words, the influence of Charles Dickens on this novel should be taken into consideration in the analysis of the characteristics of David Copperfield. For David Copperfield was one semi-autobiography, and it would be a wise way to analyze the characteristics of the boy hero through the study of the writer himself, including his background, his experiences, his individuality and his attitude. As a result, David Copperfield was Dickens' David Copperfield and there was a degree of resemblance between Dickens and David.Firstly, both of them had suffered a difficult time when they were only a child and the experiences as a child-labor had a great impact on their life. Secondly, both of them ended up with good results. Especially Dora, who won the heart of David Copperfield in this novel, and had the same name with one of Dickens' children who died, Agnes Wickfield, the lover of David Copperfield was much like one of Dickens' love, Georgina, a friend and helper to Dickens. Thirdly, both of them engaged in literature and made a great success in their career.Actually, in writing this novel, Dickens made good use of his own experiences. Thus the readers may have a further understanding about the great writer by reading this work. At the same time, when we are analyzing the characteristics of David Copperfield, it would be useful to refer to the study of the writer himself.Chapter 4ConclusionThe paper began with a brief introduction of the author and the social background, and then it tried to analyze the novel. The story was told almost entirely from the point of view of the first person, David Copperfield, and was the first Dickens’ novel to do so.Dickens’ books were based partly on the difficulties in his earlier life. Thus the authorpaved the way for the following analysis, including David, Dora, Aunt betsey, Mr.Micawber, and Steerforth. The Mr. Murdstones, Heep, Steer forth and David. As for many characters, the paper divided them into two different images that have great differences. For example, the kind-hearted fisherman Peggotty and David, from a poor family, they hadn’t receiv ed education, but they could hold an honest and good heart, while by contrast, Steerforth was an invalid character.At the same time, it reflected Dickens' own morality: "What goes around comes around". For example, a symbol of evil Heap and Steerforth has been duly punished; kind-hearted people have found a popular destination that they dreamed to go all the time.Through analyzing these images, we could know truths, no matter how difficult the situation we were in or how bitter life was, we should have a good heart, and fight against destiny positively.Finally, the author attempted to analyze different people’s images and show people’s different destinies. The paper intended to tell people that maybe fate was unfair to you, maybe you had been suffering from human disasters, you couldn’t do anything without the goodness of heart and you must fight against your own destiny,and it stressed that only love could give us courage to face the misery and suffering.On the other hand, despite the inconstancy of human relationships, life was a main background in this novel, and love was very important among people. In the end, David gained great success, and the reason was that a lot of people gave him much love which gave him courage to face the misery and sufferings.At the same time, it encouraged people to maintain confidence and enthusiasm in life.。
