The Adventures and Autobiographical Elements in Charles
Dickens' David Copperfield
S. Radhakrishna
M.A (English) litt., A.P.SET., B.Ed.,
Lecturer in English (GMR JUNIOR AND VIJETHA DEGREE
COLLEGES)
India
Abstract
Charles Dickens has been one of the big names among the renowned novelists. Oliver Twist
and A Christmas Carol are two big names of his creation. Hard Times, A tale of two cities
and many more are there, where his pen has gifted excellent novels to the English literature.
David Copperfield is one such novel, which has been appreciated for over a century, although
a debate always adjoins the novel. The debate says that this one is not a novel from the
famous author – it is an autobiography.
The full story of the novel narrates the life of Charles’ himself. Beginning from the
childhood, his father’s imprisonment and step-father’s wickedness, all has been inserted in
the novel. All of them indicates that the novel is an autobiography. The claim is not limited to
the childhood days only. The path from childhood to manhood, including the incidences and
love relations that the hero of the novel, David, suffers are all the representation of Charles’
own life and its story. This again points out that the novel is basically an autobiography.
"SparkNotes: David Copperfield: Plot Overview", 2016 states that not only the incidences
have similarity with author’s personal life, but all the characters, including his mother, aunt,
step-father, wife and first love are the characters that has been prominently there in his own
life. Leaving a few alterations, that has been intentionally done, and changes in the names of
the characters, the entire novel is just the reflection of Charles’ own life. Debate points out
why then it is called a novel. Why have Charles renamed the characters?
Is it to suppress that it is his own life biography or is it to make a sense that this is a novel.
The time, when Charles wrote the novel was not such where society was so much aware
about what can be called a novel and which one cannot be called a novel. Thus, thinking in
www.ijellh.com
435
that way, really does not make the sense. There can be one more reason, for which Charles
established David Copperfield as a novel.
Charles has initiated his full emotions in the novel. Since the novel is a life story of his own,
he narrated all the emotions of his own through it. The reason to declare it to be a novel might
be to suppress his own emotions and feels. His feelings towards the school headmaster and
his step-father and other characters has been stated in the novel in such details, that he might
have tried to keep that in secret. Might be for that reason, he concealed his own life in this
novel. Now, when all the things as been understood and made clear, can it be stated as a
novel? Since, the names of characters are fictitious, it cannot even be referred as an
autobiography. A brief of the story and adventure in the story, along with a comparative
analysis of Charles’ own life and in the life of David Copperfield has been conducted to find
a detailed analysis of the novel.
1
CONTENTS
2
Introduction ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3
Title Discussion .............................................................................................................. 437
4
Review of literature ........................................................................................................ 437
5
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 439
6
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 440
2. Introduction
Charles Dickens has been one of the most eminent novelist, with lots ow works. His life has
never been smooth and it has got so much ups and downs, that it can easily be a story of its
own. It is often assumed among the literature experts that David Copperfield is the novel,
which represents complete life of Charles. This is a matter of discussion, but has never been
declared. A critical review on the literature and a comparison of the novel story with the life
of Charles will show, how much It is a novel and how much it is an autobiography. A novel
is essentially a story, where all or most characters are fictitious and the incidences has no
connection with any of real life incidences. Whether that has been maintained in the novel or
not needs a thorough review, which has been conducted in this essay. ("Charles Dickens
Biography - A Life of Dickens", 2016)
www.ijellh.com
436
7
TITLE DISCUSSION
David Copperfield is often debated to be the autobiography of Charles Dickens. Numerous
similarities are there between the life and philosophy of the author and the hero of Novel. If
the novel is an autobiography, incidences along with feelings and emotions will all be nonfictitious. A detailed review of the literature will reveal few things. Some of the elements that
can be considered as the proof for the noble to be an autobiography are the characters and the
incidences, used in the noble. A review of the literature will show whether all the characters
are some or other relations in Charles own life. It will also show, whether the incidences of
the novel happened in Charles’s life or not. If both the statements are proved, then the novel
is surely an autobiography hidden in its novel form. ("Charles Dickens Biography | List of
Works, Study Guides & Essays", 2016)
8
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Adventure in David Copperfield – a representation of Charles Dicken’s Own life
David Copperfield is the novel that describes the full life of Mr. Copperfield that starts from
his birth and ends with his manhood. The full story is an adventure, where the childhood of
David passes with lots of love. Days of David was passing with absolute joy, till his mother
decides to marry again. Life of his became miserable, which found a turn after he met his
fellow friend, James Steerforth. He passes the school life, and soon after the death of his
mother he was sent to work by his step-father. The work seemed to be interesting for him, but
the associates there were intolerable. He left everything and went to his aunt in Dover.
Lybyer, 2001 states that Charles was sent to a good school and get in touch with Mr.
Wickfield. David’s affection for Agnes was sisterly till the end and even when he joins a law
office. While working there, David falls on Dora, the daughter of Spenlow. (LaFarge, L.,
2009)
According to Houghton Mifflin, 2016, the adventure takes a great turn here, when David
marries Dora, but finds her to be weaker in housekeeping. Here David’s friend, Micawber
exposes Heep, whom David never liked, for the fraud activities and saves Mr. Wickfield.
Aunt Betsey also finds her financial resources to be restored, by that act. The next part of the
story is full of adventures, where David losses his wife, Dora and even Steerforth, Em’ly’s
husband dies in a shipwreck. Disturbed by the total calamity, David decides to go abroad for
three years. After his return a dramatic turn comes out, where he discovers that Agnes has
been his true love. The story has a happy ending, where David marries Agnes. (Ward, 2011)
www.ijellh.com
437
Adventure in the story has been in different colours, but mostly the colours of sadness tells
the proper words in the storyline. The entire novel is meant to narrate the experience of
David, in his full life. As life moves on, numerous things goes on happening. Charles
Dickens shows that those happenings cover the truth of life but the truth resides at the bottom
of everything. After passing through so many obligations and adventures in life, the truth
ultimately comes forward, showing its real bloom. (Houghton Mifflin, H., 2016)
Autobiography of Charles Dickens in the form of David Copperfield
This novel of Charles Dickens has been thoroughly autobiographical, where David
Copperfield is the resemble of the author. Basically, David is Dickens himself, manifested in
the form of hero of the novel. All the emotions that Charles had in his mind and felt in his life
are explained through David. However, it is not that only the thoughts and feelings are shared
in this novel, the life that David leads is so similar to that of Charles’ own, that he can be said
to be the replica of the author himself in the novel. The experience of David in childhood,
that Charles shared are all his own and even the bitterness in life that David faced, after his
mother decided to re-marry, is also the resemblance of Charles’ alone. All the emotions,
sentiments and even the feelings are Charles’ own, all of whom are derived from his own life.
(Dickens, 2016)
All the struggles that David faces in his life, starting from childhood to manhood are the
resemblance of his own life instances. Even the school, where David was sent by his stepfather resembled the Willington House academy of Dickens. It was that school, which
Charles stated to be cruel and the same thing has been illustrated in David’s life. Thus the
novel can be stated to be an autobiography of Dickens. (SparkNotes: David Copperfield: Plot
Overview. 2016)
The personalization of the characters in his own life was not confined to David alone. Other
important characters like Dora, Agnes are all his life incidences. Agnes seemed to be an
amalgamated character of Mary Hogarth and Gerogry, sister of Dickens. The character of Mr.
and Mrs. Micawber seems to be accurate with that of Dicken’s parents. His father, John, was
a financially weak but arrogant enough. For the arrogant nature, John suffered imprisonment
and that is represented accurately in the character of Mr. Micawber. Thus, the story-line of
the novel is just the mix of what happened in Charles’ life and what he thought and perceived
about his own life. (Lybyer, J., 2001)
The childhood story of David has been the full narration of Charles’ childhood. P.K. Verma,
2016 states that Dickens’ step-father has been represented by Mr. Murdstone. The character
www.ijellh.com
438
and the incidences of childhood has been a replica of Dicken’s childhood. Not a single
incidence is fictitious in that incidence. Even the school life, where Charles faces degradation
is totally what happened with him. Dickens has to earn his own livelihood, when he was
eleven. The same incidence has been casted here in the story of David. Dickens had to earn
his living at that age, by blackening pots. (P.K. Verma,., 2016)
In the later part of Dicken’s life, his mother supports him for shorthand writing. This has been
represented in the novel. The same intentions of Dicken’s mother to establish a school for
girls was represented as the ideas of Aunt Betsey. The autobiography is not completed here.
David faces two phases of love, one with Dora and other with Agnes. The love with Dora is
same as that of Dickens’ Maria. Even the struggles that has been shown in the struggles of his
own life. The imaginations of infatuations and love for Dora, according to P.K. Verma, 2016
has been exactly the representation of Dicken’s infatuation for Maria. Sufferings of heart and
emotions attached in this part are entirely Dicken’s stories in the cover of David Copperfield.
The rest charms and fictitious imaginations are the fairy touch of a novelist. With a novelist’s
approach, the entire autobiography has been enclosed in a story format.
The entire novel, if judged and compared with the life of Charles Dickens’ life will seem that
they are identical. However, Charles has written several novels and he knows what the
difference between an autobiography and a novel is. That has been mounted with the pen of
novelist and that is why the novel is not identified to be an autobiography, but actually
Charles has covered a major portion of his own life through this novel. Not a single character
of the novel is fictitious, and not even the incidences are fabricated. A simple imagination of
a novelist has turned the non-fictitious characters to fictitious.
9
CONCLUSION
David Copperfield, whether is a novel or an autobiography, is a matter of debate. Different
lecturers and researchers claimed that this novel is not at all a novel, it is an autobiography.
The details of the novel, when summarised and compared with personal life of Charles
Dickens showed that the characters and the incidences are not fictitious. Almost all the
characters are renamed features of Charles’ real life and the incidences are exactly same as
that of Charles’ own life. So much similarity of the characters and incidences with personal
life of Charles, cannot be stated to be a full-fledged novel, although author tried his best to
establish the same as a novel. It is rightly regarded as an autobiography of Charles in the
cover of a novel. (Hawes, 2007)
www.ijellh.com
439
10. References:
Charles Dickens Biography - A Life of Dickens. (2016). Dickenslondontours.co.uk. Retrieved
22 March 2016, from http://www.dickenslondontours.co.uk/dickens-biography.htm
Charles Dickens Biography | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays. (2016). Gradesaver.com.
Retrieved 22 March 2016, from http://www.gradesaver.com/author/charles-dickens
Dickens,
S.
(2016).
Biography.com.
Retrieved
22
March
2016,
from
http://www.biography.com/people/charles-dickens-9274087
Hawes, D. (2007). Charles Dickens. London: Continuum.
Houghton Mifflin, H. (2016). Book Summary. Cliffsnotes.com. Retrieved 22 March 2016,
from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/david-copperfield/book-summary
Le David Copperfield de Charles Dickens?. (2011). Le Coq-Héron, 207(4), 67.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/cohe.207.0067
Lybyer, J. (2001). Dickens' David Copperfield. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
P.K. Verma,. (2016). Dr. P.K. Verma: Dickens’ Autobiographical Elements in ‘David
Copperfield’.
Lipikapramod.blogspot.in.
Retrieved
22
March
2016,
from
http://lipikapramod.blogspot.in/2012/09/dickens-autobiographical-elements-in.html
SparkNotes: David Copperfield: Plot Overview. (2016). Sparknotes.com. Retrieved 22 March
2016, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/copperfield/summary.html
Ward, A. (2011). Dickens. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Digital Library.
www.ijellh.com
440