"David Copperfield" is a biographical novel by Charles Dickens. Reviews and reviews of the book "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens

"The Life of David Copperfield" is the eighth novel by the famous English writer Charles Dickens. At the time of publication of the work, Dickens's star was already shining brightly in the firmament of world literature. The public read his “Posthumous Notes” Pickwick Club", "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby", "Barnaby Rudge" and "Martin Chuzzlewit", "Dombey and Son", and also "The Antiquities Shop".

The first chapters of the life story of David Copperfield began to be published in 1849. The last, fifth, publication was made in 1850. Main character, who is also the narrator, begins the story from the moment of his own birth, and we are parting with a mature man, successful, in demand in his business, a loving and beloved family man.

Knowing Dickens' biography, you can find many autobiographical moments in the novel. This is also indicated by the form of the narration - the story is told in the first person. Of course, you shouldn’t completely identify the author and the main character. David Copperfield - first of all artistic image, inspired by the author’s memories and the uncontrollable imagination of the great prose writer.

Let's remember how David Copperfield's life turned out.

David Copperfield was born on Friday at twelve o'clock at night. The baby's first cry coincided with the first strike of the clock. The nurse and some experienced neighbors saw in this a number of mystical omens. Firstly, the boy was promised a difficult fate, full of trials and suffering, and, secondly, they assured the mother in labor that her son would see spirits and ghosts.

Years later, Copperfield analyzes that the first part of the dubious “inheritance” went to him in full, but the second has not yet passed into his possession, which, by the way, he does not regret at all.

David's young mother was little concerned about the neighbors' predictions. At that moment, she was occupied with absolutely uninteresting everyday problems. For example, how to feed your son and yourself. The thing is that David's father died suddenly four months before his birth, and the young Mrs. Copperfield, who was not adapted to life, absolutely did not know what to do next.

Just before the birth, the sister of her late husband, Miss Betsy Trotwood, came to her house. This bossy one Strong woman volunteered to help my daughter-in-law and her girl. For some reason Miss Betsy was convinced that Mrs. Copperfield would certainly have a daughter. With his birth, David upset his aunt so much that without saying goodbye, she ran out of her daughter-in-law’s house and never appeared there again.

Meanwhile, young David Copperfield was growing up. She took care of him loving mother and the caring maid Peggotty. But soon the happy times in David’s life came to an end - his mother remarried. Her chosen one, Mr. Murdstone, turned out to be a most disgusting person. He controlled absolutely everything, not excluding the relationship between mother and son. Any manifestation of affection and tenderness towards a boy was considered unacceptable.

Soon Mr. Murdstone's sister joined the family. David remembers very well the day when a stroller stopped at the threshold of their house, from which a prim lady with hair the same black as her brother stepped out. She had thick dark eyebrows that looked like a man's sideburns. Miss Murdstone brought two black chests, a copper purse and her icy voice. She was truly a “metal lady” who, from the very first day, began to rule the house as a mistress.

Little David's life was becoming a living hell. The main torture in the domestic underworld was the lessons taught by Mr. Murdstone himself. For any offense, the teacher severely punished the student. David was literally dumb with fear, every moment expecting another slap on the head. Once, during a pedagogical spanking, David bit his “tormentor.” For such inappropriate behavior the boy was sent to private school Salem House.

Luckily, the link turned out to be quite nice. Young Copperfield made friends he had never had before and unexpectedly showed himself to be a capable student. And most importantly, there were no hated Murdstones and their iron views at school.

David Copperfield's short-lived happiness ended on the day of his mother's death. Mr. Murdstone no longer saw the point in paying for the boy's education, informing him that he was old enough to earn his own living. At that time, David Copperfield was ten years old.

The stepfather assigns his stepson to the Murdstone and Greenby trading house, of which he is a co-owner. Peggotty's favorite maid is being counted on. She leaves for her native Yarmouth, having persuaded Murdstone to let David go stay with her.

Work in London trading house left the most terrible memories in David's memory. Always hungry and cold, he collapsed after grueling work shifts. The only consolation is the Micawber family, from whom he rents an apartment. These good-natured losers surround him with warmth and care, which is so necessary for someone thrown into the world. adult life boy.

When Micawber is imprisoned as a debtor, David decides to flee London. The only hope for salvation is his grandmother, Miss Betsy Trotwood, who was once so disappointed by the fact that David was not born a girl.

Hungry, dirty, exhausted, the boy barely makes it to Miss Trotwood's house. He is ready for any twists and turns of fate, but his grandmother, surprisingly, greets her grandson very cordially. He is immediately fed, bathed and put into a clean, warm bed. For the first time in many months, David Copperfield slept peacefully.

Ten-year-old Charles Dickens, like his hero, was forced to leave school and go to work in a blacking factory. This happened because his father (a kind but extremely impractical man) ended up in debtor's prison. During the months of working in the factory, Dickens tried to forget how horrible dream. Since his dismissal, he never appeared at the factory again and always avoided the ill-fated street.

Finally, David Copperfield's life began to resemble that of children his age. He goes to school, eats home-cooked meals from his loving grandmother, who has become his full-time guardian, and even has a best friend- this is Agness Wickfield, the daughter of a local lawyer.

Agnes's father was once a successful lawyer. After the death of his wife, he seriously lost his temper, began to abuse alcohol, after which his affairs rapidly began to decline. Now he barely maintains his office, which is run by the vile swindler Uriah Heep. This adventurer carried out many vile machinations that almost ruined many of David’s loved ones, including his grandmother. Over time, Hip was bred to clean water, and his victims' fortunes were returned.

Meanwhile, young David Copperfield grew into a grown man. On the advice of his grandmother, he entered the Faculty of Law, but did not achieve much success in this field. But while practicing in Mr. Spenlow's office, he met Dora, the owner's daughter. David immediately fell in love with the pretty Dora and, despite the obstacles that arose in the path of the young people, he won the hand of his chosen one.

Unfortunately, the first years life together proved that there is nothing worthwhile behind Dora's beautiful appearance. She never became David’s comrade-in-arms, like-minded person, friend, or soul mate.

Things didn’t work out with jurisprudence either. David begins to realize that this is not the occupation to which he would like to devote his life.

Unsuccessful marriage

The marriage of Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine was unsuccessful, despite the fact that at first future wife also captivated the young Dickens with her beauty. Already in the first years of marriage, Charles clearly sympathized with her sister Mary, whose unexpected death became a severe blow for him.

A happy ending

Life, however, put everything in its place. Silly Dora died suddenly, freeing David from the marriage that was weighing him down. He met his fate in the person of his childhood friend Agnes.

The novel “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens

The work of Charles Dickens "David Copperfield"

Dickens critical realism Copperfield

Of all the books I read, I chose a work from Dickens’s third period - the novel “David Copperfield” (1850). The work is among the masterpieces of world literature. Dickens loved this novel more than his other works. The novel is written in the form of a biography and is largely autobiographical. It is very harmonious both in composition and in the manner of writing. The pages devoted to the hero's childhood and youth remain the best in world literature, because they give a true picture inner world child and youth. Dickens turns to the world of childhood for the first time. But his images of children, deeply unhappy, deprived of care and warmth, are drawn with varying degrees of convincingness. However, the depth psychological characteristics in Dombey and Son led Dickens to create spiritual world child and youth are already on a different, more complex level in the novel “David Copperfield”.

So this is a piece critical realism, because:

1. As mentioned above, the typification of realism uses psychologism, that is, the disclosure of a complex spiritual world - the world of the character’s thoughts and feelings. Dickens showed the hero in development, depicting the evolution of David's character, which was determined by the complex interaction of his personality and society. David Copperfield sees injustice and fights against it, gaining friends and allies. Exploring Life and other people, David opens himself, not at all hiding from the reader the contradictions of his nature. The main thing in David's character is his inexhaustible faith in people, in goodness, and justice. This trait was also inherent in the author, having experienced adversity in life (at the age of ten, having left school, Charles had to earn his own living and help his family, who ended up in London's Marshalsea prison due to unpaid bills), Dickens invariably believed in democratic ideals and humanism . “My faith in the people is limitless,” he said.

2. In the connection of the work with events that actually took place, we see the second feature of realism - this work reflects the essence of socio-historical phenomena, the characters of the work bear the typical, collective features of a particular social stratum or class, and the conditions in which they operate are not a random figment of the writer’s imagination, but a reflection of the laws of socio-economic and political life era. Dickens objectively described the existing aspects of life, remaining true high ideals. Dickens biographer Hescote Pearson writes: “...here, in the London slums, he, without knowing it, received his true education... wandering around the city and its gloomy outskirts, he unnoticedly obtained the raw materials from which he was to create his heroes. Unconsciously he accumulated a rich store of observations. All these places were subsequently described by him, and many of their inhabitants later became heroes of his novels.”1

3. The novel is dominated by interest in the problem of “personality and society”, in the problem of education. Several methods of education are shown here: the system of David's stepfather Mr. Murdstone, the system of Creakle - a former hop merchant turned headmaster of a boys' school, and the system of Betsy Trotwood. Problems of upbringing and education occupy a significant place in this novel. They are associated with the process of personality formation, its moral qualities. David's story is directed to the past, to his childhood, and the pictures of his childhood are drawn using imaginative child thinking. That's why visual, picturesque portraits predominate here - Peggotty's red cheeks amaze David so much that he wonders why birds didn't peck at them instead of apples. White-black-brown face and empty eyes Murdstone is a brief description of a hero hated by David because he is cruel and heartless and considers the child a burden.

Crickle's system is very peculiar, although it differs little from Squeers' system. Creakle himself "knows nothing but the art of spanking, and is more ignorant than the lowest student in school." Both Murdstone and Creakle evoke hostility and disgust in David. Their methods of education are inhumane and inhumane. Betsy Trotwood wants to make David a good man and useful to society. David sees in her the embodiment of goodness and justice, although this is hidden under the mask of external severity.

In "David Copperfield" Dickens analyzes the reasons for the moral imperfection of people, their moral ugliness. Two images - Uriah Heap and Steerforth, belonging to various types social structure, turn out to be living illustrations of Dickens’s judgment about the imperfection of the education system and social relations. Both fail, the fates of both are crippled, although for different reasons. Steerforth is an aristocrat who was allowed everything back at Crickle’s school, where he enjoyed freedom and independence; in life he is a snob who considers his origin to be an excuse for the most unseemly actions. Uriah Heap, educated at a school for the poor, is also a victim of his upbringing. He is servile, servile and sycophantic; by nature he is disgusting, vindictive, cruel, and base.

1. Pearson Hescote. Dickens. M: 1963, pp. 10-11.

Dickens in his novels, in particular in the novel “David Copperfield,” writes about social injustice and class contradictions. The writer was not a supporter of the revolutionary struggle, but he deeply sympathized with the situation working people England and his work reflected the sentiments of broad masses during the period of intensification of social and class struggle in England in the 19th century. Dickens was a contemporary of the Chartist movement, whose rise dates back to 1830-1840. The Chartist movement determined the humanistic pathos, the distinctive power of the works of Dickens and his contemporaries - realist writers W. Thackeray, the Bronte sisters, E. Gaskell.

Charles Dickens

The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself

DAVID COPPERFIELD: THE PERSONAL HISTORY, ADVENTURES, EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATION OF DAVID COPPERFIELD THE YOUNGER OF BLUNDERSTONE ROOKERY

Translation from English A.V. Krivtsova

Serial design A.A. Kudryavtseva

Computer design V.A. Voronina

In the preface to the first edition of this book, I said that the feelings I experience after finishing a work prevent me from retreating from it long enough. long distance and treat your work with the composure that such official preparations require. My interest in her was so fresh and strong, and my heart was so torn between joy and sorrow - the joy of achieving a long-planned goal, the sorrow of separation from many companions and comrades - that I was afraid of burdening the reader with messages that were too confidential and related only to me one emotion.

Everything that I could say about this narrative besides this, I tried to say in it.

Perhaps the reader will not be too curious to know how sad it is to lay down the pen when two years' work of imagination is completed; or that it seems to the author that he is releasing a piece of himself into the gloomy world, when the crowd of living beings created by the power of his mind goes away forever. And yet I have nothing to add to this; unless it would also be necessary to admit (although, perhaps, this is not so significant) that not a single person is able, reading this story, to believe in it more than I believed when I wrote it.

What has been said above remains valid today to such an extent that it remains for me to give the reader only one more confidential message. Of all my books, I love this one the most. They will easily believe me if I say that I treat all the children of my fantasy like a tender father and that no one has ever loved this family as dearly as I love them. But there is one child who is especially dear to me, and, like many tender fathers, I cherish him in the deepest recesses of my heart. His name is "David Copperfield".

I am born

Will I become the hero of a story about my own life, or someone else will take this place - the following pages should show. I’ll start the story about my life from the very beginning and say that I was born on Friday at twelve o’clock at night (that’s what I was told, and I believe it). It was noted that my first cry coincided with the first strike of the clock.

Taking into account the day and hour of my birth, my mother’s nurse and some experienced neighbors, who had a keen interest in me many months before our personal acquaintance, announced, firstly, that I was destined to experience misfortunes in life and, secondly, that I have been given the privilege of seeing ghosts and spirits; in their opinion, all ill-fated male and female babies born on Friday around midnight inevitably receive both these gifts.

There is no need for me to dwell here on the first prediction, for the history of my life itself will best show whether it came true or not. Regarding the second prediction, I can only declare that if I did not squander this part of my inheritance in infancy, then, therefore, I have not yet come into possession of it. However, having lost my property, I do not complain at all, and if it is currently in other hands, I sincerely wish the owner to keep it.

I was born wearing a shirt, and an advertisement appeared in the newspapers about its sale at a cheap price - for fifteen guineas. But either at that time the sailors had little money, or little faith and they preferred cork belts - I don’t know; I only know that there was only one offer from a certain solicitor connected with stockbrokers, who offered two pounds in cash (intending to make up the rest in sherry), but did not want to give more, and thereby protect himself from the danger of drowning. Following this, advertisements were no longer given, being considered a waste of money - as for the sherry, my poor mother was then selling her own sherry - and ten years later the shirt was drawn in our area in a lottery between fifty participants who contributed half a crown, and the winner had to pay an additional five shillings. I myself was present at this and, I remember, felt some awkwardness and embarrassment, seeing how a part of myself was being disposed of. I remember the shirt was won by an old lady with a small basket, from which she very reluctantly took out the required five shillings in halfpenny pieces, without paying two and a half pence; a lot of time was spent in unsuccessful attempts to prove this to her arithmetic. In our area they will remember for a long time remarkable fact that she really did not drown, but solemnly rested for ninety-two years in her own bed. As I was told, she last days She was especially proud and boasted that she had never been on the water, except when crossing a bridge, and over a cup of tea (to which she had a passion) until her last breath she reviled the wicked sailors and all people in general who arrogantly travel around the world. In vain they explained to her that we owe many pleasant things to this reprehensible custom, including, perhaps, drinking tea. She answered even more energetically and with full faith in the strength of her objection:

- Let's not drive around!

So that I don’t have to travel around, I’m going back to my birth.

I was born in Suffolk, in Blunderstone or "around there" as they say in Scotland. I was born after my father's death. My father's eyes closed six months before the day mine opened and saw the light. Even now it’s strange to me that he never saw me, and what seems even stranger to me is the vague memory that I have with him. early childhood, about his white tombstone in the cemetery and about the feeling of inexpressible pity that I used to feel at the thought of this slab lying there alone on dark evenings, when in our small living room the fireplace was blazing and candles were burning, and the doors of our house were locked. and on the bolt - sometimes it seemed to me that there was something cruel in this.

My father’s aunt, and therefore my great-aunt, who will be discussed later, was the most significant person in our family. Miss Trotwood, or Miss Betsy, as my poor mother called her, when she happened to overcome her fear of this formidable person and mention her (this happened rarely), Miss Betsy married a man younger than herself, who was very handsome, although It was by no means possible to apply to him the simple saying “He who is good is beautiful.” It was not without reason suspected that he beat Miss Betsy and even once, during an argument about household expenses, took urgent and decisive measures to throw her out of a second-story window. Such signs of an uncooperative character prompted Miss Betsy to buy him off and part by mutual agreement. He went with his capital to India, where (if we believe our amazing family legend) he was seen riding an elephant in the company of a baboon; I think that it was probably a babu or a begum. Be that as it may, ten years later news came from India of his death. No one knew how it affected my grandmother: immediately after separation from him she again began to wear her maiden name, bought a cottage far from our place, in a village on the sea coast, settled there with a single maid and, according to rumors, lived in complete solitude.

It seems that my father was once her favorite, but his marriage mortally insulted her, because my mother was a “wax doll.” She had never seen my mother, but she knew that she was not yet twenty years old. My father and Miss Betsy never met again. He was twice my mother's age when he married her, and was not very strong. A year later he died - as I already said, six months before I was born.

This was the state of affairs on Friday evening, which I may perhaps be allowed to call significant and fraught with events. However, I have no right to assert that these affairs were known to me at the time, or that I retained any recollection, based on the evidence of my own senses, of what followed.

My mother, feeling unwell, sat in deep despondency by the fireplace, looking at the fire through tears and sadly thinking about herself and about the little stranger who had lost his father, whose birth, very indifferent to his arrival, was already ready to greet several gross of prophetic pins in the upstairs dresser drawer. So, on that windy March day, my mother sat by the fireplace, quiet and sad, and thought with sadness that she was unlikely to successfully endure the test ahead of her; Raising her eyes to dry her tears, she looked out the window and saw an unfamiliar lady walking through the garden.

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

Chapter I

I AM BORN

At the very beginning of my life story, I must mention that I was born on Friday, at midnight. It was noticed that my first cry came when the clock began to strike. Taking into account the day and hour of my birth, the nurse and several wise neighbors, who were keenly interested in my person many months before possible personal acquaintance with me, announced that I was destined to be unhappy in life. They were convinced that this was the inevitable fate of all unfortunate babies of both sexes born on Friday at midnight.

There is no need for me to say anything about this here, for the history of my life itself will best show whether this prediction was justified or whether it was false.

I was born at Blonderstone, in Suffolk, after the death of my father, whose eyes were closed to earthly light six months before mine were opened. And now, even when I think about it, it seems strange to me that my father never saw me. And even stranger are my vague memories of early childhood associated with my father’s white gravestone in our village cemetery: I always felt some kind of inexpressible pity for this stone, lying alone in the darkness of the night, while in our small living room it was so light and warm from the lit candles and the burning fireplace. At times it even seemed cruel to me that the doors of our house were tightly locked, as if from this very stone.

The most important person in our family was my father's aunt, therefore my great-aunt, about whom I will soon have to talk a lot here. My aunt, Miss Trotwood, or Miss Betsy (as my mother called her in those rare moments when she managed, overcoming her fear, to mention this formidable person), married a man younger than herself, a handsome man, who, however, did not live up to the saying: “Beautiful is he who acts beautifully.” He was strongly suspected of sometimes beating Miss Betsy, and once, in the heat of an argument over money matters, he suddenly went so far as to almost throw her out of a second-story window. Such eloquent proof of the dissimilarity of characters prompted Miss Betsy to pay off her husband and obtain a divorce by mutual agreement. With the capital thus obtained, Miss Betsy's ex-husband went to India, and there, according to an absurd family legend, he was once seen riding an elephant in the company of a baboon. Be that as it may, ten years later rumors of his death came from India.

What impression these rumors made on the aunt remained a secret to everyone, for immediately after the divorce she again took her maiden name, bought herself a house somewhere far away, in a village on the seashore, settled there alone with a maid, and from then on led a real life. hermits.

It seems to me that my father was once my aunt’s favorite, but he mortally insulted her by marrying a “wax doll,” as Miss Betsy called my mother. She had never seen my mother, but knew that she was not even twenty years old. After getting married, my father never met my aunt again. He was twice as old as his mother and was far from in good health. My father died a year after the wedding and, as I already mentioned, six months before I was born.

This was the state of affairs on an important and fraught Friday afternoon for me. Mother was sitting by the fireplace; she was not feeling well and was in a very depressed mood. Looking through her tears at the fire, she thought in deep despondency about herself and about the tiny unknown orphan, whom the world, apparently, was not going to greet very hospitably.

So, on a clear, windy March day, mother was sitting by the fireplace, thinking with fear and anguish about whether she would be able to get out of the upcoming ordeal alive, when suddenly, wiping away her tears, she saw through the window an unfamiliar lady walking through the garden.

Mother looked at the lady again, and a sure premonition told her that it was Miss Betsy. The setting sun from behind the garden fence illuminated the stranger as she walked towards the door of the house, and she walked with such a self-confident air, with such stern determination in her gaze, which could not have been possessed by anyone except Miss Betsy. Approaching the house, my aunt presented further evidence that it was she: my father often said that his aunt rarely acted like ordinary mortals. And this time, instead of calling, she went to the window and began to look out of it, pressing her nose so hard against the glass that, according to my poor mother, it instantly flattened and turned completely white.

Her appearance frightened my mother extremely, and I was always convinced that it was Miss Betsy who was responsible for my being born on a Friday. The excited mother jumped up from her chair and hid in the corner behind him. Miss Betsy, slowly and inquiringly rolling her eyes, like a Turk on a Dutch clock, looked around the room with them; Finally her gaze settled on her mother, and she, frowning, ordered her to open the door with an imperious gesture. She obeyed.

You are Mrs. Copperfield, I suppose? - asked Miss Betsy.

Yes,” muttered my mother.

Miss Trotwood,” the guest introduced herself. - I hope you have heard of her?

Mother replied that she had this pleasure. But she had the unpleasant consciousness that this “great” pleasure was not at all reflected on her face.

So, now you see her in front of you,” said Miss Betsy.

Mother bowed and asked her to enter. They went into the small living room from which mother had just come out, for the fireplace in the front living room had not been lit, or rather, it had not been lit since the funeral of their father.

When they both sat down, and Miss Betsy still did not begin to speak, mother, after a vain effort to pull herself together, burst into tears.

Well, well, well,” said Miss Betsy hastily. - Leave it! Completeness! Come on!

However, mother could not control herself, and the tears continued to flow until she cried out.

Take off your cap, my child,” Miss Betsy suddenly said, “let me look at you.”

Mother was too frightened not to obey this strange demand, and immediately took off her cap, and at the same time she was so nervous that her thick, wonderful hair completely fell out.

My God! - exclaimed Miss Betsy. - Yes, you are just a child!

Undoubtedly, even for her age, mother was unusually youthful. The poor thing hung her head as if it were her fault, and, sobbing, she admitted that perhaps she was too young both to be a widow and to be a mother, if only, after becoming a mother, she remained alive.

There was another silence, during which it seemed to my mother that Miss Betsy touched her hair, and the touch seemed gentle. Mother looked at her husband’s aunt with timid hope, but she, lifting her dress a little, put her feet on the fireplace grate, wrapped her hands around her knee and, frowning, stared at the blazing fire...

THE LIFE OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, AS TELL BY HIMSELF Novel (1850) David Copperfield was born half an orphan - six months after the death of his father. It so happened that his father's aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood, was present at his birth - her marriage was so unsuccessful that she became a man-hater, returned her maiden name and settled in the wilderness. Before her nephew’s marriage, she loved him very much, but she came to terms with his choice and came to meet his wife only six months after his death. Miss Betsy expressed a desire to become the godmother of the newborn (she definitely wanted a girl to be born), asked to name her Betsy Trotwood Copperfield and intended to “raise her properly,” protecting her from everyone possible errors. Having learned that a boy was born, she was so disappointed that, without saying goodbye, she left her nephew’s house forever.

As a child, David is surrounded by the care and love of his mother and nanny Peggotty. But his mother is getting married for the second time.

During their honeymoon, David and his nanny are sent to Yarmouth to stay with his brother Peggotty. This is how he first finds himself in a hospitable longboat house and meets its inhabitants: Mr. Peggotty, his nephew Ham, his niece Emlie (David falls in love with her as a child) and the widow of his companion Mrs. Gummidge.

Returning home, David finds there a “new dad” - Mr. Mardston and a completely changed mother: now she is afraid to caress him and obeys her husband in everything. When Mr. Mardston's sister also moves in with them, the boy's life becomes completely unbearable.

The Mardstons are very proud of their firmness, meaning by it “the tyrannical, gloomy, arrogant, devilish disposition inherent in both of them.” The boy is taught at home; under the ferocious gaze of his stepfather and his sister, he becomes dumb with fear and cannot answer the lesson. The only joy in his life is his father's books, which, fortunately, were in his room. For poor studies, he is deprived of lunch and slapped on the head; Finally, Mr. Mardstone decides to resort to flogging. As soon as the first blow hit David, he bit his stepfather's hand.

For this he is sent to Salem House School - right in the middle of the holidays. His mother bade him a cold farewell under the watchful eye of Miss Mardstone, and only when the carriage had pulled away from the house did the faithful Peggotty stealthily jump into it and, showering “her Davy” with kisses, provided him with a basket of delicacies and a purse, which, among other money, contained two half-crowns from mother, wrapped in a piece of paper with the inscription: "For Davy. With love." At school, his back was immediately decorated with a poster: "Beware! It bites!" The holidays are over, its inhabitants return to school, and David meets new friends - the recognized leader among the students, James Steerford, six years older than him, and Tommy Traddles - “the most cheerful and the most unfortunate.” The school is run by Mr. Creakle, whose teaching method is bullying and spanking; not only his students, but also his family are mortally afraid of him. Steerford, whom Mr. Creakle fawns over, takes Copperfield under his protection because he, like Scheherazade, tells him at night the contents of books from his father's library.

The Christmas holidays come, and David goes home, not yet knowing that this meeting with his mother is destined to be his last: she will soon die, and David’s newborn brother will also die. After the death of his mother, David no longer returns to school: Mr. Mardstone explains to him that education costs money and people like David Copperfield will not need it, because it is time for them to earn a living. The boy acutely feels his abandonment: the Mardstons have calculated Peggotty, and the kind nanny is the only person in the world who loves him. Pegot-ty returns to Yarmouth and marries the carter Barkis; but before parting, she begged the Mardstons to let David stay in Yarmouth, and he again ends up in a longboat house on the seashore, where everyone sympathizes with him and everyone is kind to him - the last breath of love before difficult trials.

Mardstone sends David to London to work at the Mardston and Grinby trading house. So at the age of ten, David enters into an independent life - that is, he becomes a slave of the company.

Together with other boys, always hungry, he washes bottles all day long, feeling how he is gradually forgetting the wisdom of school, and horrified at the thought that someone from his former life might see him. His suffering is strong and deep, but he does not complain.

David becomes very attached to the family of his landlord, Mr. Micawber, a frivolous loser, constantly besieged by creditors and living in the eternal hope that someday “fortune will smile on us.” Mrs. Micawber, easily hysterical and just as easily consoled, continually asks David to pawn either a silver spoon or sugar tweezers. But they also have to part with the Micawbers: they end up in a debtor’s prison, and after their release they go to seek their fortune in Plymouth. David, who doesn't have a single one left in this city loved one, firmly decides to run to Grandma Trotwood. In the letter, he asks Peggotty where his grandmother lives and asks him to send him half a guinea as a loan. Having received the money and a very vague answer that Miss Trotwood lives “somewhere near Dover,” David collects his things in a chest and goes to the mail coach station; On the way he is robbed, and, already without a chest and without money, he makes his way on foot. He sleeps under open air and sells his jacket and vest to buy bread, he is exposed to many dangers and on the sixth day, hungry and dirty, with broken legs, he comes to Dover.

Having finally found his grandmother’s house, sobbing, he tells his story and asks for protection.

Grandma writes to the Mardstons and promises to give a final answer after talking with them, but in the meantime David is washed, fed dinner and put into a real, clean bed.

After talking with the Mardstons and understanding the extent of their rudeness and greed, the grandmother decides to become David's official guardian.

Finally David returns to normal life. Although his grandmother is eccentric, she is very, very kind, and not only to her great-nephew. In her house lives the quiet, crazy Mr. Dick, whom she saved from Bedlam. David begins studying at Dr. Strong's school in Canterbury; Since there are no more places in the boarding school at the school, the grandmother gratefully accepts the offer of her lawyer Mr. Wickfield to place the boy with him. After the death of his wife, Mr. Wickfield, drowning in grief, began to have an immoderate passion for port wine; the only light of his life was his daughter Agnes, the same age as David. For David, she also became a good angel. Uriah Heep works in Mr. Wickfield's law office - a disgusting type, red-haired, writhing with his whole body, with unclosing red eyes without eyelashes, with eternally cold and damp hands, obsequiously adding to each of his phrases: “we are small, humble people.”

Dr. Strong's school turns out to be the exact opposite of Mr. Creakle's school. David is a successful student and happy school years, warmed by the love of grandmother, Mr. Dick, good angel Agnes, fly by instantly.

After finishing school, his grandmother invites David to go to London. There he meets Steerford, with whom he studied at Salem House. Steerford invites him to stay with his mother, and David accepts the invitation. In turn, David invites Steerford to go with him to Yarmouth.

They come to the longboat house at the moment of Emly and Ham's engagement. Emly has grown and blossomed, women all over the area hate her for her beauty and ability to dress with taste; she works as a seamstress.

David lives in his nanny's house, Steerford in an inn; David spends his days wandering around the cemetery, around his family’s graves, Steerford goes to sea, arranges feasts for sailors and charms the entire population of the coast, “impelled by an unconscious desire to rule, an unconscious need to conquer, to conquer even that which has no value for him.” How David will regret bringing him here! Steerford seduces Emly, and on the eve of the wedding she runs away with him, "to return as a lady or not to return at all." Ham's heart is broken, he longs to lose himself in work, Mr. Peggotty goes to look for Emly around the world, and only Mrs. Gummidge remains in the longboat house - so that the light is always on in the window, in case Emly returns. Long years There is no news about her, finally David learns that in Italy Emly ran away from Steerford when he, bored with her, invited her to marry his servant.

Grandma suggests that David choose a career as a lawyer - a proctor at Doctor Commons. David agrees, his grandmother pays a thousand pounds for his education, arranges his life and returns to Dover.

Begins independent life David in London. He is in love with Dora, the daughter of Mr. Spenlow, the owner of the company where he is studying. David is glad to renew his acquaintance with the Micawbers; “luck has smiled on them”: Mr. Micawber got a job in the Wickfield and Heap office.

Uriah Heap, skillfully playing on Mr. Wickfield's weakness, became his partner and is gradually taking over the office. He deliberately confuses the accounts and shamelessly robs the firm and its clients, getting Mr. Wickfield drunk and convincing him that the reason for the disastrous state of affairs is his drunkenness. He takes up residence in Mr. Wickfield's house and sexually harasses Agnes. And Micawber, wholly dependent on him, is hired to help him in his dirty business.

One of Uriah Heep's victims is David's grandmother. She is ruined; with Mr. Dick and all her belongings, she comes to London, renting out her house in Dover in order to feed herself. David is not at all discouraged by this news; he goes to work as a secretary for Dr. Strong, who retired and settled in London (the good angel Agnes recommended this place to him); In addition, he studies shorthand. The grandmother manages their household in such a way that it seems to David that he has become richer, not poorer; Mr. Dick earns money by copying papers. Having mastered shorthand, David begins to make very good money as a parliamentary reporter.