Theme Of Women In David Copperfield

In his novels, Charles Dickens depicted a wide range of female characters, both in terms of their social class and their various moral strengths and weaknesses. He wrote during the Victorian era when women were expected to be wives and mothers whose primary duty was to manage the household and perform domestic tasks. The ideal Victorian woman was also admired as having pure values and capable of self-sacrifice. In David Copperfield, the main protagonist suffers a lot during his childhood, but is able to obtain comfort through his interpersonal relationships with different women, two of whom are Dora Spenlow and Agnes Wickfield. David marries both of these women, and ironically, they are complete opposites of one another. Dora is David’s first

Within these marriages, readers get a sense of how education plays an important role in a successful marriage, as this fulfills both of their dreams of personal identity. Although women in the nineteenth century were viewed to be superior wives and mothers, manage the household, and perform domestic tasks, it was important for women to become educated as “an education was supposed to enable these girls to become successful women in society” (Leigh 117). Women were not meant to be “trained” in some way to become good wives, but needed to be formally educated in order to be a successful wife and

I loved Dora Spenlow to distraction! She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don’t know what she was—any thing that no one ever saw, and every thing that every body ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her. (Dickens 397)

This is simply a strong physical attraction that David has for Dora, and he “was gone” and “swallowed” up in an instant by her beauty. David idolizes Dora from the beginning with the thought that she is perfect and isn’t capable of any wrongdoing. From the start, Dora’s strength is beauty and youthfulness, but being young and beautiful only goes so far and lasts so long. David’s love affair begins the moment he sees Dora and he quickly develops an obsession for her: “How many cups of tea I drank, because Dora made it, I don’t know” (Dickens 404). David goes on “loving Dora, harder than ever,” and confesses his love for her, and they are soon engaged (Dickens