Editing David Copperfield (section)

====A series of male models for David====
David Copperfield is a [[Posthumous birth|posthumous child]], that is, he was born after his father died.<ref>{{harvnb|Dickens|1999|p=6}}</ref> From birth, his aunt is the authority who stands in for the deceased father, and she decides Copperfield's identity by abandoning him because he is not female. His first years are spent with women, two Claras,<ref group="N">The connotations of the first name "Clara" are clarity, transparency, brightness.</ref> his mother and Peggotty, which, according to Paul Davis, "undermines his sense of masculinity".<ref name=Davis1999p90 /> Hence a sensitivity that the same critic calls "feminine", made-up of a lack of confidence, naive innocence and anxiety, like that of his mother, who was herself an orphan. Steerforth is not mistaken, when from the outset he calls Copperfield "Daisy"–a flower of spring, symbol of innocent youth. To forge an identity as a man and learn how to survive in a world governed by masculine values, instinctively, he looks for a father figure who can replace that of the father he did not have.

Several male models will successively offer themselves to him: the adults Mr Murdstone, Mr Micawber and Uriah Heep, his comrades Steerforth and Traddles.

=====Mr Murdstone=====
[[File:David Copperfield (1850) (14777068141).jpg|thumb|Aunt Betsey & Mr Dick say no to Mr Murdstone and his sister, by [[Hablot Knight Browne|Phiz]].]]

Mr Murdstone darkens Copperfield's life instead of enlightening him, because the principle of firmness which he champions, absolute novelty for the initial family unit, if he instills order and discipline, kills spontaneity and love. The resistance that Copperfield offers him is symbolic: opposing a usurper without effective legitimacy, he fails to protect his mother but escapes the straitjacket and achieves his independence. Mr Murdstone thus represents the anti-father, double negative of the one of which David was deprived, model ''a contrario'' of what it is not necessary to be.

=====Mr Micawber=====
[[File:Traddles, Micawber and David from David Copperfield art by Frank Reynolds.jpg|thumb|Traddles, Micawber and David from ''David Copperfield'', by Frank Reynolds]]
The second surrogate father is just as ineffective, although of a diametrically opposed personality: it is Mr Micawber who, for his part, lacks firmness to the point of sinking into irresponsibility. Overflowing with imagination and love, in every way faithful and devoted, inveterate optimist, he eventually becomes, in a way, the child of David who helps him to alleviate his financial difficulties. The roles are reversed and, by the absurdity, David is forced to act as a man and to exercise adult responsibilities towards him. However, the Micawbers are not lacking in charm, the round Wilkins, of course, but also his dry wife, whose music helps her to live. Mrs Micawber has, since childhood, two songs in her repertoire, the Scottish "The dashing white sergeant"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishdance.net/ceilidh/dances.html#DashingWhite |work=Scottish Dance |title=Dances |access-date=19 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806160908/http://www.scottishdance.net/ceilidh/dances.html#DashingWhite |archive-date=6 August 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the American lament "The little Tafflin with the Silken Sash",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/studies-folksong/studies-folksong%20-%200112.htm |work=Traditional Music (.co.uk) |title=American Sea-Songs |access-date=19 July 2012}}</ref> whose attraction has decided her husband to "win that woman or perish in the attempt"<ref>{{harvnb|Dickens|1999|p=342}}</ref> In addition to the melodies that soothe and embellish, the words of the second, with her dream "Should e'er the fortune be my lot to be made a wealthy bride!" and her [[aphorism]] "Like attracts like" have become emblematic of the couple, one is the opposite of reality and the other the very definition of its harmony.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dickens-theme.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/davidcopperfield.html |work=dickens-theme.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk |title=The themes at Dickens |access-date=19 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510193044/http://www.dickens-theme.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/davidcopperfield.html |archive-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=====Uriah Heep=====
New avatar of this quest, Uriah Heep is "a kind of negative mirror to David".<ref name=Davis1999p91 /> Heep is clever at enlarging the pathos of his humble origins, for example, which ability he exploits shamelessly to attract sympathy and mask an unscrupulous ambition; while David, on the other hand, tends to suppress his modest past and camouflage his social ambitions under a veneer of worldly mistrust, prompting Paul Davis to conclude that, just as Mr Murdstone is adept at firmness, Heep, in addition to being a rascal, lacks the so-called feminine qualities of sensitivity which David does not lose.<ref name=Davis1999p91 />

=====Steerforth=====
[[File:Steerforth from David Copperfield art by Frank Reynolds.jpg|thumb|upright|Steerforth from ''David Copperfield'', by Frank Reynolds]]
For David, Steerforth represents all that Heep is not: born a gentleman, with no stated ambition or defined life plan, he has a natural presence and charisma that immediately give him scope and power.  However, his failure as a model is announced well before the episode at Yarmouth where he seizes, like a thief, Little Emily before causing her loss in Italy. He already shows himself as he is, brutal, condescending, selfish and sufficient, towards Rosa Dartle, bruised by him for life, and Mr Mell who undergoes the assaults of his cruelty. The paradox is that even as he gauges his infamy, David remains from start to finish dazzled by Steerforth's aristocratic ascendancy, even as he contemplates him drowning on Yarmouth Beach, "lying with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him at school".<ref>{{harvnb|Dickens|1999|p=640}}</ref>

=====Traddles=====
Now consider Traddles, the anti-Steerforth, the same age as the hero, not very brilliant at school, but wise enough to avoid the manipulations to which David succumbs. His attraction for moderation and reserve assures him the strength of character that David struggles to forge. Neither rich nor poor, he must also make a place for himself in the world, at which he succeeds by putting love and patience at the center of his priorities, the love that tempers the ambition and the patience that moderates the passion. His ideal is to achieve justice in his actions, which he ends up implementing in his profession practically. In the end, Traddles, in his supreme modesty, represents the best male model available to David.<ref name=Davis1999p90 />

There are others, Daniel Peggotty for example, all love and dedication, who goes in search of his lost niece and persists in mountains and valleys, beyond the seas and continents, to find her trace. Mr Peggotty is the anti-Murdstone par excellence, but his influence is rather marginal on David, as his absolute excellence, like the maternal perfection embodied by his sister Peggotty, makes him a character type more than an individual to refer to. There is also the carter Barkis, original, laconic and not without defects, but a man of heart. He too plays a role in the personal history of the hero, but in a fashion too episodic to be significant, especially since he dies well before the end of the story.