Charles Dickens

David Copperfield, one of Dickens’s most popular novels, is the story of a boy from his birth to maturity.
 The narrator is David himself who, in a vivid, imaginative style full of humour and irony, tells about the many adventures and misadventures of his life, managing to amuse and move the reader in turn. David’s world is peopled by a myriad of characters, some of whom are funny caricatures, while others have a tragic dignity; some are good, and others are real villains. Many of them also become the protagonists of several subplots which help to create an ironic but very realistic portrait of the Victorian Age and enable Dickens to criticise its many evils.
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Key to Summing-up Activities.
 
 David Copperfield, uno dei romanzi più conosciuti e amati di Dickens, è la storia di un ragazzo, dalla nascita fino alla maturità.
 Il narratore è lo stesso David, il quale, in uno stile vivido e ricco di humour, racconta le molte avventure e disavventure della sua vita riuscendo a coinvolgere il lettore, a divertirlo o commuoverlo a seconda delle situazioni.
 Il mondo di David è popolato da una miriade di personaggi, alcuni dei quali sono delle vere e proprie caricature, mentre altri hanno una dignità tragica; alcuni sono buoni e altri sono dei malvagi furfanti. Molti di loro sono anche protagonisti di diverse trame secondarie che contribuiscono a creare un ritratto ironico, ma realistico, dell’età vittoriana, i cui molti problemi furono sempre oggetto di critica da parte di Dickens.

Chapter 1 – My first years

Chapter 2 – I grow up

Extension: The Victorian Age (1837–1901)

Chapter 3 – I fall in love

Chapter 4 – Sorrows and joys

Extension: The Victorian compromise

Chapter 5 – Death, despair, putting things right and a happy ending

Summing-up activities

Glossary

  The Old Curiosity Shop (1841): a very sentimental story about the maltreatment of children;   David Copperfield (1849-50);   Great Expectations9 (1860-61): about the experiences of a young boy who gradually grows up through hopes, expectations and disappointments until he becomes a better person. Dickens was an immensely popular author who gave his large, simple, mostly middle-class audience what they wanted to read about. They wanted to be entertained, to be amused10 and moved11 in turn. Therefore, all his stories are characterised by humour but also by pathos12. His audience also wanted to identify themselves with the characters, so he created heroes which were generally middle or working class, and, especially in the first part of his career, stories which had a happy ending. In all of them, there is an enormous number of characters, who, and whose environment, are described in great detail, with a rich language and a large use of irony13. Almost all his novels are set in his own time or the recent past, and mostly in London. Dickens described his contemporary society and used fiction to show its social diseases such as the misery of poor London areas, the many criminals, the exploitation14 of children, brutality in schools, and injustice in the Courts of Law15. 9. expectation: the feeling that good things are going to happen in the future. 10. to amuse: to entertain someone by making them laugh or smile. 11. to move: to make someone have strong feelings such as sadness. 12. pathos: the power to make people feel strong feelings such as sadness because they understand other people s sufferings. 13. irony: the use of words to express something different from or the opposite of the literal meaning. 14. exploitation: the act of using someone for your own advantage. 15. Court of Law: the place where crimes are judged. From the BBC miniseries  Great Expectations  (2023) 6 

My first years 1 BEFORE READING Chapter 1 David Copperfield is the story of a boy who grows up to become a successful adult and a father of many children. Look at this picture which presents a 1999 BBC series about David Copperfield. Describe the picture and say when you think the story takes place. Can you guess who the people might be? Poster for the 1999 BBC miniseries David Copperfield 2 David Copperfield (1850) is set mostly in London. Go online to look for the following information. a. Why was London an important city in the middle of the nineteenth century? b. How many people lived there? 1 3 Listen to the beginning of the story which is told by David Copperfield in first person   and say whether the following statements are true or false. Then correct the false ones. T F a. David was born in London. b. Peggotty was David s mother. c. Miss Betsey Trotwood was David s father s aunt. d. David s mother liked her. e. When she learnt the baby was a boy, Miss Betsey Trotwood went away and did not come back. f. David s mother was young and pretty. g. Mr Murdstone was handsome and blond. h. He was always dressed in black. 7 

David Copperfield, capolavoro di Dickens, narra la vita del protagonista tra avventure, personaggi vividi e critica all'età vittoriana.

David Copperfield

Level B1+ • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

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