David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)
by Charles Dickens
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charles DickensEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-02-24
ISBN: 0140620265
Number of pages: 720
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Reviews of David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)
Book Review: Charles Dickens's Favorite Cretion.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book never became quite as popular as "Oliver Twist," "A Christmas Carol," or "A Tale of Two Cities." Nevertheless, it is easy to see why Charles Dickens felt that this was his best creation. David Copperfield is born. His widowed mother is nice enough, but she becomes involved with the cruel Murderstone. (Murderstone feels that beatings are acceptable if David does not learn his lessons well enough.) David's mother dies, and Murderstone sends David off to work where he encounters the eccentric but benevolent Mr. Micawber. (Mr. Micawber is somewhat of a combination of Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Brownlow. And he is largely based on Charles Dickens's father.) David and Mr. Micawber become fast friends, but Mr. Micawber is arrested for debt. David (for obvious reasons) does not want to return to his wicked stepfather Mr. Murderstone. So he runs away to his Aunt Betsey. The eccentric but kind Aunt Betsey takes David in, and he soon meets Mr. Wickfield, his daughter Agnes, and the diabolical Uriah Heep. It is not long before we realize that as kind as Mr. Wickfield is, he is an alcoholic. And the evil Uriah Heep will use that to his advantage. Up until now, David Copperfield has been kind of an Oliver Twist. But David Copperfield (unlike Oliver) reaches adult hood in the story. We then come to the matter of marriage. Even before David meets his eventual wife Dora, he is preoccupied with Agnes. Interestingly, Aunt Betsey loses her property and David must take her in as she took him in some time ago. Well, Dora and David get married, but the relationship is more of a father-daughter relationship. If we wish to partially excuse Dora, we can argue that her father and aunts kind of sheltered her too much. (While Dora's father was not so happy about the thought of them getting married, we may argue that it is not going to be a good marriage.) Moving on, Mr. Micawber starts to work for Uriah Heep. He speaks well of Uriah, but of course, Dickens is preparing a big reversal. Uriah Heep continues to increase his power as he manipulates Agnes's father worse and worse. However, Uriah crosses the line when he expresses a desire for Agnes, and both Agnes's father and David fly into a rage. In a comical (but somewhat disturbing scene), Dora shows herself incapable of even preparing a dinner. While David knows he should not have married Dora, he stays with her, even though Dora is getting ill. In a dramtic, but really comical scene, Mr. Micawber exposes HEEP and Agnes's father is freed from the corrupt hold Uriah Heep has over him. Sadly, Dora dies leaving David a widower. But all is not lost. Agnes's father overcomes his alcoholism, and David and Agnes marry. Overall, this is a great book that shows the world through the eyes of a child and then a man. If you like this book, be sure to see the excellent 1935 movie where Frank Lawton does the grown up David, Edna May Oliver does Aunt Betsey, and W.C. Fields does Mr. Micawber.
Summary of David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)
"David Copperfield" is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; his nemesis, the eternally humble Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In "David Copperfield" - the novel he described as his 'favourite child' - Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure.Classics Books
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