Abstract

By way of presenting their personalities through a child’s eyes, Charles Dickens describes his own ideas towards what virtues a person should possess; at the mean time, the characters are the carrier which powerfully embodies Dickens’ humanitarian spirit, which fuses good nature with experiences, beliefs and zeitgeist. The book, David Copperfield, is the quintessence of his moral ideals. Our former researchers, both domestic and oversea, all have touched upon the moral ideals of Charles Dickens, but few have made an in-depth research on this field. Standing on the shoulders of our former giants, in my essay, I will bring forth new categorization and give a multi-dimensional analysis on Charles Dickens’ moral ideals with adequate evidences from both inside and outside the book in two perspectives. The two perspectives are moral ideals embodied in the protagonists and the ones embodied in the supporting roles, which respectively present the virtues that is reflected in children, love relationship and normal people as follows: to be grateful, benevolent, rational, compassionate and sincere. The moral ideals that dissolve out of the contents tell us the innermost thoughts and feelings of those people; it will maintain its fragrance and becomes the moral pursuit of human beings. To have a comprehensive comprehension of David Copperfield, of Charles Dickens, of people in that era, of the development of human beings, and of our true self, and to provide practical materials for further research, there is the need to study this topic.

Keywords: Moral ideals; David Copperfield; benevolence; sincerity; rationality

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Background Information-1

1.2 Studies on David Copperfield at Home and Abroad-2

1.2.1 Domestic Studies-2

1.2.1.1 Female images in David Copperfield-2

1.2.1.2 Study on the Fairy-tale Patterns-2

1.2.1.3 Humanism in David Copperfield-2

1.2.1.4 Study on the Criticisms of Contemporary Society in David Copperfield-3

1.2.2 Oversea Studies-3

1.2.2.1 The Working of Forgiveness-3

1.2.2.2 An Insight into the Diversity of Mr. Dick’s Roles in David Copperfield-3

1.2.2.3 The Maturity of David Copperfield-4

1.2.2.4 Charles Dickens: Child Psychologist and Sociologist-4

1.2.3 Research Problem-4

1.3 Contents and Significance-5

2. Moral Ideals in Two Persepectives-6

2.1 Moral Ideals Embodied in Protagonists: to be grateful, virtuous and rational-6

2.1.1 Gratefulness and Virtuousness – Moral Ideals Learnt from Children-6

2.1.1.1 To Be Grateful: Maintain the Love for the World-7

2.1.1.2 To be Virtuous: Maintain Positive Even in Adversity-7

2.1.2 Rational Love – Moral Ideals Learnt in Love And Marriage-7

2.1.2.1 Dora: being blinded by love will result in unstable marriage-8

2.1.2.2 Agnes Wickfield: rational love is the necessary basis for a stable marriage-8

2.2 Moral Ideals Embodied in Supporting Roles: to be lenient, compassionate, sincere and self-controlled-9

2.2.1 Positive Characters: Virtuousness, Compassion and Benevolence-9

2.2.1.1 Peggotty: being virtuous, hardworking and caring-9

2.2.1.2 Aunt Betsey: being generous and compassionate-9

2.2.2 Negative Characters: Irresponsibility, Hypocrite and Dissipater-10

2.2.2.1 The Murdstones: shedding lights on being responsible, lenient and compassionate-10

2.2.2.2 Uriah Heep: contrasts with being sincere and benevolent-10

2.2.2.3 Steerforth: foils being virtuous and self-controlled-10

3. Conclusion-12

References-14