Class Structure in
David Copperfield
David Copperfield, is one of
Charles Dickens’s many famous literary works.
Considered a fictional-autobiography by the many comparisons found to his
true life, this bildungsroman follows the life of a young middle class boy named
David. This novel, like many of
Dickens’s works, focuses on the one primary character; a Victorian novel written
during Britain’s industrial revolution,
David Copperfield covers a slew of then contemporary social issues ranging
from the suppression of women and the abuse of children, to the undisciplined
heart and good vs. evil. This
analysis of David Copperfield
however, will focus on the social class structure in the novel; how
David Copperfield questions the idea
that one’s class status is inevitable from birth, that the class structure is a
necessity for order, and that the people of the lower classes predominantly come
off as better people, in a moral context, which may allow some characters to
transcend their class.