Published in the year 1850, “David Copperfield” is a novel written by Charles Dickens, who was famous for creating iconic characters. Known for depicting many portions of Dickens’ life, “David Copperfield” is considered to be the most autobiographical of all Charles Dickens novels. In its preface, Dickens famously wrote, “…like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child. And his name is David Copperfield.”
“David Copperfield” is a story about a boy of the same name; about how he grows from being a small child to a mature adult. He is born in England in the year 1820 and loses his father at the tender age of six. Seven years after the tragedy, his mother marries another gentleman named Mr. Edward Murdstone. Murdstone and his sister, Jane move into David’s house and this displeases David. He loathes his stepfather and his sister and as a result, he is thrashed mercilessly. Following the thrashing on one such instance, David bites his stepfather and is sent to a boarding school as a punishment. In the boarding school, David makes 2 good friends, Tommy Traddles and James Steerforth.
Later, David walks all the way from London to Dover to find his Aunt Betsey. She agrees to bring him up and renames him “Trotwood Copperfield” shortened to “Trot” for convenience. The rest of the story follows David and portrays how everyone gets exactly what they deserve. David, being the protagonist, marries a beautiful but immature girl by the name of Dora Spenlow. Early in the marriage, Dora suffers a miscarriage and passes away. David is devastated and does a bit of soul-searching for some time. He then marries his landlord’s daughter, Agnes and has many children with her. One of their daughters was named Betsey in order to honor David’s aunt while another daughter is named Dora after David’s first wife.
“David Copperfield” is a great book indeed and therefore is bound to feature amongst the ten greatest all-time classics.
