David Copperfield Analysis

David Copperfield AnalysisIntroduction to the background, Charles ogre and his meet- David CopperfieldCharles daemon, the well-nigh popular writer of the Victorian suppurate, was born near Portsmouth, England, in 1812 and he died in Kent in 1870. When his stupefy was thrown into debtors prison, newfangled Charles was taken out of school and forced to work in a shoe-polish factory, which may fri fire explain the presence of so many abanthroughd and victimized children in his novels. As a young man, he worked as a reporter before starting his c atomic number 18er as a fictional writer in 1833. In his novels, short stories and essays, ogre combined hilarious comedy with a scathing criticism of the inhuman features of Victorian industrial society. Many of his novels Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, etc., let been do into prototypic-rate TV and film versions. David Copperfield is the tosh of the narrators invigoration from early puerility to adulthood. In it, David describes solely the obstacles he had to overcome in order to acquire peace of mind and economic stability.Review of the literature David CopperfieldPlotsThe story begins with the widowed Clara Copperfield awaiting the birth of her maiden child. She receives a surprise visit from her maintains auntieie, Betsey Trotwood, who insists the child give be a girl, and should be chance upond later(prenominal) her. The child is, in fact, a boy, and she leaves, greatly disappointed. The boy who is born is David Copperfield, the protagonist. His early years are knowing, as he lives with his bewilder and her housekeeper Peggotty, but when Clara f alones in love with Edward Murdstone, Davids flavor takes a eject for the worse. When David is sent off with Peggotty to Yarmouth to spend a few weeks with her brother, he meets Emily, his first love, and her cousin-german Ham, twain(prenominal) of whom are under Mr. Peggottys care. When he returns, he finds that his moth er has married Murdstone. Murdstone is a approximate, cruel man who trounce David and browbeats Clara into submission with the help of his sister Jane. After David resists Murdstones harsh treatment, he is sent off to Salem House, a miserable school under the oversight of Mr. Creakle, a brutal and incompetent master. There he meets Steerforth and Traddles the first a hero to the youthful David, though totally unworthy of his admiration, and the second a freehearted and chipper boy who will become a lifelong friend. After a semester at Salem House, David receives tidings that his mother and her newborn son had died, and he returns home. It is axiomatic that the Murdstones want nonhing to do with him. Peggotty is fired as housekeeper, and she marries the coach-driver Barkis and moves back to Yarmouth.David, meanwhile, is sent to work in a factory in London at the period of ten. He hates his job and feels that the men and boys around him are beneath him, though he gains some solace from the Micawber family, with whom he lodges. Micawber is an incompetent optimist, totally in unresolved of handling money, but constantly certain that something will turn up. When the Micawbers leave London, David runs a sort from the factory and walks across the country to Dover, seeking shelter from his eccentric great aunt Betsey Trotwood. She takes him in and adopts him, refusing the claim that the Murdstones stake to him, and he lives gayly with her and her feeble-minded friend Mr. Dick. She so sends him to Canterbury to the school of Dr. Strong, a capable and kindly instructor. While in Canterbury, he lodges with Mr. Wickfield, who is Betseys lawyer, and meets his lady friend Agnes, who becomes his dea reprieve friend. He also encounters Wickfields clerk, the simpering and hypocritical Uriah Heep, who hides posterior a mask of humility. Potential trouble looms on the horizon as we observe that Wickfield drinks excessively much, and that Dr. Strongs genuinely you ng wife Annie may be too fond of her cousin Jack Maldon. When David completes school, he over again encounters Steerforth. The two of them visit Yarmouth, where David introduces Steerforth to his friends the Peggottys. By this time, Ham and Emily are engaged, but Steerforth notices the lovely Emily. He acts in a friendly manner toward the Peggottys and becomes popular among the townsfolk, but inwardly despises them as his inferiors.When David returns to London, he pursues a career as a law clerk, and becomes reacquainted with his old friend Traddles, who is presently studying to become a lawyer. David accepts employment a Spenlow and Jorkins, and soon falls in love with Spenlows daughter, the lovely but weak Dora. He courts her secretly, but when he declares his intentions, Spenlow denies his permission. Shortly on that point by and by, Spenlow dies and Dora is given into the care of her elderly maiden aunts. Meanwhile, David hears that Barkis is dying and returns to Yarmouth. W hile he is there, Barkis dies, but the greater tragedy is that Emily, despite being engaged to Ham, has run away with Steerforth to become a lady. Daniel Peggotty vows to spend the rest of his life, if necessary, to find her. When David calls on Mrs. Steerforth, she insists that she will never allow her son to marry Emily, and will disown him if he tries. To her way of gaugeing, the whole thing is Emilys fault for seeking to rise above her status in society. Her companion, genus Rosa Dartle, who has long been in love with Steerforth, flies into a jealous rage.David, no longer able to work at Spenlow and Jorkins, takes a job as secretary to Dr. Strong, while Micawber has become a clerk at Wickfield and Heep (Uriah has insinuated himself into the business by blackmailing Wickfield, and has been named a partner). David soon marries Dora. Though they love each other dearly, it soon becomes obvious that she is totally helpless as a homemaker, and is intellectually unsuited to her husban d. David, meanwhile, becomes a newspaper reporter, pen close to the debates in Parliament, and ultimately a famous novelist. Meanwhile, Steerforth has cast Emily aside and essay to give her to his manservant Littimer. Emily runs away and finds her way to London, where she encounters Martha Endell, a fallen woman whom she had helped many years before. Martha tips off David and Mr. Peggotty, and Emily is reunited with her foster baffle, who plans to take her to Australia, where her shame is unknown.With the help of Micawber, Traddles, Betsey, Mr. Dick, and David, Uriahs perfidy is exposed and his attempt to marry Agnes is pr pull downted. In gratitude, Betsey offers to finance a trip to Australia for the Micawbers, who decide to migrate along with Daniel Peggotty, Emily, Daniels boarder Mrs. Gummidge, and Martha Endell. Betsey also regains her home in Dover, which was thought to hold up been lost through the machinations of Heep. Ultimately, both Heep and Littimer wind up in jai l because of fraud and theft, respectively.Following a miscarriage, Dora dies. Meanwhile, Ham is killed in a terrible storm off the Yarmouth shore ironically, the man he dies trying to merely is Steerforth, who is also killed. Peggotty, now leave alone, becomes the housekeeper for Betsey, while David travels abroad for three years to assuage his grief. When he returns, he inquires nearly Agnes, and his aunt leads him to believe she has an attachment. David is convinced that he has ruined any chance he had of gaining Agnes love by treating her desire a sister for all these years and seeking her advice when courting the objects of his many romantic attachments. When questioning Agnes about herattachment, it soon becomes obvious that he is the object of it. The two profess their love and soon marry, living happily ever after.main charactersDavid Copperfield The protagonist of the novel, Davids fuss dies before his birth, and his mother follows when he is heretofore quite young. He is treated badly by his stepfather Mr. Murdstone and her sister. They send him to work in a factory at the age of ten. He later runs away to live with his great-aunt, from whence he goes to school, becomes a law clerk, then a court reporter, and in the end a famous novelist. Among the many loves of his life, he marries Dora Spenlow, who dies a few years later, then Agnes Wickfield.Clara Copperfield Davids mother, a kind but weak-willed woman who is dominated by her second husband and dies shortly after the birth of her second child.Clara Peggotty The Copperfields housekeeper, she is unfailingly kind and loyal to David. She marries Barkis, lives for a while in Yarmouth, and later becomes Betsey Trotwoods housekeeper after Barkis dies.Edward Murdstone Clara Copperfields second husband, he is cruel and harsh to both David and his mother. He beats David after he resists his harsh treatment, sends him off to a pitiful school, then makes him work in a factory.Jane Murdstone Edward s sister, she assists her brother in completely breaking the will of Clara Copperfield. She later becomes the hired companion of Dora Spenlow.Mr. Barkis A kind cart-driver who transports David on many of his childhood journeys, he uses David to communicate his marriage proposal to Peggotty, who finally accepts him.Daniel Peggotty Peggottys brother, he is fisherman in Yarmouth. He is a widower who adopts his niece Emily and his nephew Ham after their parents die, and takes Mrs. Gummidge, a widow, into his home. He gives up everything to search for Emily after she goes astray, and, after he finds her, immigrates to Australia with her and Mrs. Gummidge.Emily Peggotty Little Emily, a beautiful young girl, is Davids first love. Because of her desire to rise above her station in life and become a lady, she runs off with Steerforth instead of going through with her planned marriage to her cousin Ham. After years of disgrace living abroad, she returns to London, where her uncle finds her and takes her off to Australia.Ham Peggotty Daniels nephew and Emilys cousin, he is a fine, simple young man who wants nothing more(prenominal) than to marry Emily and live the life of the sea. When Emily runs off with Steerforth, he recklessly throws himself into every rescue party that is required at Yarmouth, and finally dies in a horrendous storm. Ironically, the man he swims out to save is Steerforth, who also dies in the tempest.Martha Endell A young Yarmouth woman who has fallen into immorality, she is treated kindly by Emily, and plays a key role in helping Daniel to find Emily after her own fall. She, too, emigrates to Australia, where she later marries.themesDavid Copperfield, probably because it is partly autobiographical, was Dickens own favorite among his novels. Whereas he usually concentrates on a special(prenominal) brotherly problem, which becomes his main theme, here the theme is soulfulnessal. In David Copperfield he attempted to come to terms with the tria ls and humiliations of his childhood and youth, writing as a man who had overcome his humble beginnings and become the most successful novelist of his time. Davids life does not directly reflect Dickens life, but important incidents that had left a braveing sup federal agency on him are reproduced with unforesightful alteration. Dickens was taken from school at the age of 12 when his father was committed to the debtors prison, and put to work in a relatives factory, like David (p.20). Shortly afterwards, when his father received a legacy that set him free, this also allowed the boy to resume his education. Dickens pictures his father in David Copperfield as the constantly optimistic, improvident Mr. Micawber, but he told his biographer, Forster, that he had never forget the humiliation of working in the factory, or forgiven his mother, who thought he should go on working. In the novel, the angelic mother of Davids early childhood is replaced by the harsh, cold Miss Murdstone. T he second main theme of the novel is that trustworthyness has nothing to do with social position, and social position is too often equated with wealth. Here again, Dickens personal dwell was relevant. As a poor young shorthand writer, he had fallen in love with the daughter of a banker, whose father sent her abroad to keep her out of Dickens way, as Mr Spenlow plans to do with Dora. Spenlows posture towards David changes when Davids aunt loses her money. When he says I thought you were a gentleman he implies that being a gentleman is a head of money, not of being a gentle man, as David is.This tendency to equate money and social position with virtue corrupts characters judgment and behaviors. The proud rich boy, Steerforth, could shed been a advanced man but has been fail by an indulgent mother. Consequently, he looks down on poor fishermen, ignoring their human qualities, and takes advantage of Emily (ruins her in the spoken communication of the time) but will not marry her. In contrast, Ham, the humble fisherman who loved Emily, dies trying to save him. At the other end of the social scale, envy of others social position leads Uriah Heep, who always emphasizes that he is humble, to maneuver Mr Wickfield and dream of marrying Agnes. David himself is not corrupted. From the beginning, he judges everyone on their merits, refusing to accept that people are inferior because they are poor.3. Definition a semi-biographical novelA semi-autobiographical novel is loosely based on the experiences of the authors own life. A semi-autobiographical novel may be written to protect the privacy of the authors family, friends, and loved ones to achieve emotional outperform from the subject or for artistic reasons, much(prenominal) as simplification of plot lines, themes, and other details.Charles Dickens and David CopperfieldA lot of critics think of David Copperfield as Dickenss autobiographical novel. To memorize David Copperfield is to understand Dickens, which w ill further deepen the discretion of Dickenss other works. David Copperfield is regarded by many as the authors masterpiece. Dickens began to write David Copperfield in l849. David Copperfield was thus produced under much(prenominal) constructed and well planned writing, which, added special dramatic affect to the stories. Autobiographical elements in David Copperfield include Dickens experience working in a factory as a child, reflections on his fathers influence in his life (Micawber is largely based on Dickens father), his work as a newspaper reporter writing on the debates in Parliament, his development as a novelist (the book is written in the first person by a writer looking back on his formative years), and his experiences in matters of the heart. Near the end of his career, Dickens admitted that, of all the children he had produced, he loved David Copperfield the most.4.1 similar life experiences between David and DickensDavid Copperfield is presented more formally as a se mi-autobiography, beginning with the protagonists birth. Like Dickens, David was born on a Friday, Because of illness. Little Dickens could not take part in boys game. He liked to read books while other boys were playacting outsideDickens always read books in his fathers libraryIn his novel, 1ittle David also liked to read books in Davids fathers library. Dickens worked as a child labor pasting labels onto bottles. David had the same experience after his mother was dead. In Dickenss career, he had to be first a law clerk, then a reporter and finally a successful novelist. In the book of David Copperfield David had carried the same career, hitherto the same order. Davids complex character allows for contradiction and development over the course of the novelDavid also demonstrations great tenderness, as in the moment he realize his love for Agnes for the first time. David, especially, as a young man in love, could be cockamamy and romantic. This is very same to Dickens himself. A s he grew up, he developed a more advanced point of view and searched for a love who will challenge him and help his growDavid fully maturate as an adult when he uttered the sentiment that he valued Agness calm tranquility over all else in his life.Any sense of self-importance is immediately deflated however by the digressively apologetic humor of the opening (which recalls Tristram Shandy at times) and by the narrators desire for his life to speak for itself (which recalls chapter one of Roderick Random). throughout this novel we sense Dickenss delight in experimenting with what was for him a new narrative method, and in the opening chapter he demonstrates that working within established literary conventions he can produce a more sound alter of humor and pathos than any of his predecessors. The first touch of pathos is when David shifting briefly forrard in time recalls the indefinable compassion he felt for his fathers grave in the churchyard when our minute parlor was war m and bright with fire and candle, and the doors of our house were almost cruelly, it seemed to me sometimes bolted and locked against it. This is typical of the novel in that the narrator recalls the ingenuousness of his younger self with a gentle irony that only if serves to highlight the sensibility of the child. In chapter two this effect is reinforced by the often startling immediacy of the present puree (also adopted in four subsequent retrospective chapters). Here Dickens reveals the radical otherness of the childs acquaintance of the world (in the added alertness of certain senses and different awareness of the emotional and physical proportions of things) the anxieties that accompany that perspective (David is as yet afraid that Mr Chillip must feel un riant about a church tablet precept that physicians were in vain, and the underlying buoyancy of youth that reduces the duration of any painful thoughts (almost Immediately afterwards he thinks what a good place the p ulpit would be to play in). Dickens is particularly subtle in his mingling and contrasting of the points of view of the youthful protagonist and mature narrator.4.2 Similar sexy passion between David Copperfield and Charles Dickens4.2.1 David Copperfields Flirtatious DispositionDavid Copperfield, articled to the proctors office of Spenlow and Jorkins in London, sink in love with Mr. Francis Spenlows only daughter Dora at first sight, and got engaged to her. He wrote to Agnes, the lawyer Mr. Wickfields only daughter and Davids adopted sister in Canterbury (Ch. 39), informing her that Dora was such a darling and was very blest but he, while writing so, remembered Agness legislate calm eyes and gentle face (Ch. 34). He, it may be considered, is neither devoted to Dora nor single-minded in his affections.When David suddenly learned that that his great-aunt Miss Betsy Trotwood, who was his guardian, was ruined, he told Dora that he was a beggar, asking her if her heart was still his. Oh, yes, its all yours, cried Dora, though in a boyish way (Ch. 37). She, it could be said, was simple-hearted, generous and gentle. Mr. Spenlow, when told by David of his action with Dora, would never accept it but he was to die soon. David visited Agnes and told her of his troubles, kissing her hand, which she had given him looking up with such a Heavenly face After discussing their worries, David said, Much more than sister and Agnes parted by the name of Brother (Ch. 39).David and Agnes, it could be considered, trust each other affectionately. How would Dora feel, we interrogate, if she looked on this sight? Dora, introduced by David to Agnes, found her too clever and was afraid of her. She asked David, what relation is Agnes to you? No blood-relation, but we were brought up together, like brother and sister, replied he. Dora said, I wonder why you ever fell in love with me? (Ch. 42). Dora, surely, did know of his flirtatious disposition and she could have left him forever, but she did not. As for David, he himself chose and married Dora, who was a ordinaryy, a Sylph (Ch. 26), not Agnes, who had a very soundless and sweet expression and was her widower fathers little housekeeper (Ch. 15). Soon David often quarreled with Dora over trifles. He said, Dora, my darling No, I am not your darling. Because you must be sorry that you married me, or else you wouldnt reason with me returned she. Dora, it is clear, was seeing a shadow of Agnes behind him.However, after such altercations, Dora reflectively told him she would be a wonderful housekeeper, polishing the tablets, pointing the pencil, buying an immense account-book, etc., though the figures would not add up. Now David was beginning to be known as a writer, and his child-wife, as she asked him to call her, was trying to be good (Ch. 44). It might be considered that at this moment David should have said, Dora, my darling, I love you cordially and am very happy even if you are not good at housekeeping an d figures, you should not mind it at all because you are earnestly endeavoring to be good as you know, I too am a boyish husband as to years (Ch. 44). David, without saying such things, tried to form Doras mind, but in vain, remembering the contented days with Agnes (Ch. 48), he even considered that his own heart was undisciplined when it first loved Dora, and that there could be no disparity in marriage, like unsuitability of mind and purpose. His own heart, it can be suspected, was even now undisciplined because he would have been attracted by Agness clear calm eyes and gentle face more than by Doras efforts to be good he can be regarded as flirtatious, not as devoted. Such being the case, he was much happier in the second year, the year that Dora fell ill (Ch. 48). She, with nothing left to wish for, valued very much to see Agnes, not her two spinster aunts, adding that she always was a silly little thing and too young not merely in years but in experience, and thoughts, and eve rything, and that she had begun to think herself not belong to be a wife to her very clever husband. She died leaving Agnes a last charge that only Agnes would occupy this vacant place (Chs. 53 and 62).Was Dora silly or not fit to be a wife? By no means Though she might have been childish and poor at housekeeping and figures, she was blessed with many respectable and lovable virtues for example, she did not abandon David as a beggar, nor desert him despite her fathers will and Davids suspicious relationship with Agnes. She tried earnestly to be a good wife, accepted Agnes and Davids cleverness without defying them, looked down humbly on herself as silly and immature, and left her husband with Agnes foreseeing her death. How serious, benign, gentle and sympathetic On the other hand, David, even though very clever, was obviously flirtatious, intolerant, and cold-hearted. He should not have introduced Dora to Agnes far from it he should have broken off his relation with Agnes in choos ing Dora, should have expressed his gratitude to her for her not abandoning him and for her trying to be good, should have been generous to her faults as Dora had been to his. He should have known that he had much of the responsibility for her feelings of insecurity when she said, I was too young and you are very clever and I never was (Ch. 53). After Doras death, David set out to travel to Europe, and mourned for his child-wife, taken from her blooming world, so young. He tried to be a better man, thinking that he might possibly hope to cancel the faux past, and to be so blessed as to marry Agnes (Ch. 58). Whether or not he marries her, it can be said, depends on him, but he would have to humble himself and repent, not merely cancel, the mistaken past or his flirtatious mind.He returned home after three years, and confided to Agnes, I went away, dear Agnes, sweet you. I stayed away, loving you. I returned home, loving you. How inconsistent He had said that he mourned for Dora whe n going away As for Agnes, she replied, I have loved you all my life (Ch. 62). How would Dora feel if she lived to hear the conversation? Dora, it may be considered, should have left David when she first met Agnes it might have been because of Agness covert love for him that Dora was afraid of her Within a fortnight David married Agnes, after which she confided to him Doras last request and last charge as mentioned above, and they wept together but they would not imagine with what feelings Dora had died also, David did not utter any words of remorse and repentance for having been unable to make Dora happy (Ch. 62). Ten years after the marriage, they had three children, and David had high income and renown as an eminent author. At this happy home, Dora was not talked of at all (Ch. 63).It can be concluded that David was a man of a flirtatious disposition for which reason he lacked complete devotion to Dora. As will be discussed, that very disposition was also Dickenss at that time.4. 2.2 Dickenss Flirtatious DispositionDickens had been looked upon as a very Joseph in all that regards morality, chastity, and decorum as Reynoldss Weekly News wrote on 13 June 1858 ( garner 8 745n.). He had been accepted as such a man publicly but was preferably flirtatious-minded in his private life in this section it will be revealed how flirtatious Dickens was. Dickens was a serious Christian-minded man, but by nature he was a man in the sense that there is no man that sinneth not (1 Kings 8 46 2 Chron. 6 36 see also tail end 8 37, etc.). He was rather flirtatious as he said, not so long after his marriage, to his wife Catherine, if either of us fell in love with anybody else, we were to tell one another (Storey 96), and he did show an archly flirtatious attitude towards congenial girls and women of his acquaintance (Slater, D W 122). Six of the girls and women are taken up below. First, there was Mrs. David Colden, daughter of a banker of New York, wife of a lawyer and phila nthropist of New York, and fourteen years Dickenss senior, with whom Dickens became acquainted during his first visit to America in 1842. Dickens was deeply in love with her, and wrote a love-letter to her (Slater, D W 122 Letters 3 30n., 160, and also 242 and n, 219-20). Second, there was Eleanor Emma Picken, a lithographer and a winner of the Societyof humanities silver Isis medal in 1837, by whom Dickens was attracted. He flirted with her on the pier at Broadstairs on an evening in September 1841Dickens seemed suddenly to be possessed with the demon of mischief he threw his arm around me and ran me down the inclined plane to the end of the jetty till we reached the tall post. He put his other arm around this, and exclaimed in theatrical tones that he intended to hold me there till the sad sea waves should submerge us.I implored him to let me go, and struggled hard to release myself. (Slater, D W 115)Third, there was Christiana Jane Weller, a beautiful eighteen-year-old concert pianist in Liverpool, for whom Dickens conceived an incredible feeling in 1844 (Slater, D W 88-89 Letters 4 53n., 55, etc.). Fourth, there was Madame Emile de la Rue, wife of a Swiss banker, nonmigratory in Genoa, whose nervous disorder Dickens began to treat with his mesmerism from 23December 1844 with so much fascination as to make Catherine very unhappy. This continued for a period of years afterwards (Schlicke 375 Letters 4 243 and n, 534n. Letters 5 11n. Letters 7 224 and n).Fifth, there was Miss Anne Romer, actress and singer. Dickens performed with her, on 20 July 1848, the farce of use Up, in which Dickens played the bored hero Sir Charles Coldstream, and she played his rooter bloody shame. In exertion II, Sir Charles, who is in distress, asks her to say, you love me. She replies, Love you Then he seizes her in his arms, and kisses her they marry at the plays end (Thomson 46-49 Letters 5 362n.).Two days after the play, Dickens wrote a letter to Mrs. Cowden Clarke, membe r of his Amateur TheatricalsI have no energy whateverI am very miserable. I loathe domestic hearths. I yearn to be a Vagabond (i.e. as Coldstream, disguised as a ploughboy, is called by Farmer Wurzel in Act II).Why cant I marry Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I am deeply miserableA real house like this, is insupportable after that canvass farm wherein I was so happy (i.e. Wurzels farm). What is a humdrum dinner at half past five, with nobody (but John i.e. CDs servant John Thompson) to see me eat it, compared with that soup i.e. the pea-soup that Coldstream is given by Mary in Act II, and the hundreds of pairs of eyes that watched its disappearance(Letters 5 374 and n emphases added)In this quotation there can be read not only Dickenss flirtatious mind but also his loathing for domesticity. In the letter of 13 January 1849 quoted below, he even shows his dislike for CatherineMy Dear Mrs. Clarke.I am afraid that Young Gas i.e. Dickenss name as coach-and-four of the Amateur The atricals Company in 1848 is forever dimmed, and that the breath of calumny will blow henceforth on his stage management, by reason of his enormous delay in returning you the two pounds non forwarded by Mrs. G. i.e. Catherine. The proposed implication on account of which you sent it, was never made.But had you seen him in Used up,His eye so beam and so clear,When on his stool he sat to sup,The oxtaillittle Romer nearc cyou would have forgotten and forgiven all.(Letters 5 476 and n emphases added)Sixth, there was Miss Mary Boyle, daughter of Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir Courtenay Boyle, second son of the 7th Earl of dock and Orrery she was a distant cousin of Mrs. Watsons and a miscellaneous writer and renowned amateur actress, whom Dickens first met at the Watsons Rockingham Castle on 27 November 1849. On the 29th he and Boyle played, as part of the house-party entertainments in the Hall, Sir Peter Teazle and Lady Teazle from Sheridans The School for Scandal, and also acted, from cha pter 41 of Nicholas Nickleby, some scenes of the mad neighbours i.e. Dickenss throwing a shower of vegetables to Mrs. Nickleby i.e. Boyle to display his affection (Letters 5 662 and n Boyle 231-32 Ackroyd 606).On November 30 Dickens wrote a letter to Mrs. Watson Plunged in the deepest gloom, I write these few words to let you know that, just now, when the bell was striking ten, I drank to H.E.R. i.e., Mary Boyle adding a picture of a heart shot through by Cupids arrow (Letters 5 663). collar days later he sent to Miss Mary Boyle a parody by him of Grays lament in a Country Churchyard, inspired by Mary Boyles graces in the Rockingham Castle Amateur Theatricals (Letters 5 665 and n, 708-09), part of which is as followsNo more the host, as if he dealt at cards,Smiling deals lighted candles all aboutNo more the Fair (inclusive of the Bards)Persist in blowing all the candles out.______No more the Fair prolong the cheerful treadOf dancing feet until the lights low burnNo more the host, when they are gone(a) to bed,Quickly retreats, foreboding their return. (Letters 5 708)Mary Boyle joined in his theatricals on 15 January 1851 at Rockingham Castle, where she acted Mary, the lover of Sir Charles Coldstream, again played by Dickens in Used Up (Letters 6 163n., 225 and n, 261n. Slater, D W 404).Dickens wrote a joking, flirtatious letter, based on the play in which he disguised himself as a ploughman, to her on 25 December 1852My own darling Mary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . you ant no cause to be jealous for all that I am certain beforehand as I shall a adit her O Mary when you come to read the last chapter of the next number of Bleak House I think my ever dear as you will say as him what we knows on as done a pretty womanly thing as the sex will like and as will make a sweet pin