DICKENS AND HIS OLDER PEOPLE: Transitional, Middle and Later Novels ( 1842-1870)

                   The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and                                                      Observations of

                     DAVID COPPERFIELD

                                                              The Younger 

                     of  Blunderstone Rookery, which he never

                 meant to be published on any account ( 1849/50)

                              PART ONE: Contextual Overview

                            

Arguably, to understand David Copperfield, it is essential to understand Charles Dickens. Several intersections need to be explored in this, his eighth major novel. Herein lies the challenge before we examine the fourteen older characters I will feature. In total, there are some one hundred and fourteen players throughout the book and, surprisingly, older adults only comprise just over twelve per cent. The significant intersections relate to David's coming of age and the semi-autobiographical aspect of him being a proxy for the child Dickens himself. The challenge is to avoid over focusing. Though, as you will see, they cannot be ignored in literary criticism terms, but neither can the link to both the child and the thirty-seven-year-old Dickens' reflection of his own childhood.

Some of the intersections have been discussed previously ( Eastman 2026), but they and others come significantly into play throughout David Copperfield. This somewhat lengthy contextual overview will therefore touch upon a broad range, thus allowing us to better understand, in Part Two, the older character portrayals and of Dickens himself 

• The eighteenth-century influence
• Childhood emotional development and trauma in Dickens's own life course
• Symbolism associated with Dickens and false memories
• Victorian sensibilities and the use of humour
• The 'Autobiographical Fragment' 
• Concealment of social class, gender, and age bias, sexuality and the 'undisciplined heart', erotics, masculinity, and homophobic anxiety.
• Dickens's misogyny?

                      The Eighteenth Century influence

                               

                       Figure 1. An Eighteenth Century Literary Influence on Dickens

It is said that Dickens's novels reflect eighteenth-century literary traditions and were especially influenced by the Scottish writer and surgeon Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) and, in particular, the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).  Dickens took 'many devices of characterisation' from Smollett, especially 'tagging' portrayals of physical peculiarities, speech, mannerisms, compulsive gestures, and eccentric names (Ochojski, 1964). This was evident in David Copperfield, following the 18th-century picaresque approach, in that many characters are rogues, serving as the glue binding 'unconnected episodes' together. As a young author, in his first two novels (Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist), he used this technique to great effect. He also draws upon the Century's theatrical practice, which  'sharply defined villains, it's involved melodramatic plots, and farcical humour, also suggesting ideas for Dickens own plots and character portrayals ( Bright Notes Study Guide 1964). Older people in both theatre and literature did not fare well, nor did the Society figures of the Establishment, who were especially satirised. This remained the staple diet throughout Dickens' writing career and was used devastatingly if viewed through our modern-day gerontological perspective. 

                                       

                        Figure 2. Another eighteenth-century influencer on Dickens

                                      www.beam-shop.de

                  

What was perhaps sacrificed on the altar of this picaresque tradition was the ability to analyse motivation and character development. The portrayals in Copperfield are initially seen through the eyes of the child, David. Behaviours become eccentricities, and wrongdoing becomes wickedness of monstrous proportions. In the preceding novel, Dombey and Son, the monstrous and wicked were moved from the personal to society's institutions. But as George Orwell pointed out, Dickens, whilst condemning society's ills and abuses, were niether political nor economic, but moral ones. Dickens seldom, if ever, provided substitutions for the systems he attacked. That said, it could equally be argued that his charitable initiatives and support did.

         Dickens' Childhood Emotional Development  and Trauma

Dickens was in his mid to late thirties when he wrote Copperfield and reflected the world of his childhood as he recalled it. From the outset, his proxy, David, is expected to be what he is not, even down to Betsy Trotwood's shock and dismay at his birth for not being a girl. He laments that part of him  - his caul - was sold. His stepfather, Murdstone, considered him to be spiteful, non-compliant and ungrateful. He was easily manipulated and struggled to assert himself or form his own character, but eventually, in his young adulthood and as a famous writer, David finds himself confident, self-assured, educated and nostalgic ( Bradly, S., undated). 'Educating Dickens' is reflected in David's own precarious experience,  where, by and large, he educates himself from his deceased father's library, and has an anxious and fearful childhood. He lives in fear at the Salam House School, especially after the sacking of Mr Mell, one of the masters, because he came from a lower-class background. Dickens uses David and Mell's experiences to demonstrate that education was for the upper-middle class and that society was too restricted regarding formal learning to what today we term the "poverty of opportunity". David was abused, and here Dickens emphasises that physical and emotional punishment is certainly not an aid to positive learning and childhood development. Dickens was himself a child of close observation, a secret history of 'rags to riches' and later of resilience with a strong will. His coming of age and early adulthood created a man of self-assurance and success. He was a respected and manly Victorian gentleman - indeed, a hero of his own life. ( Dunn, R (2004). real 

The childhood experiences of David and Dickens, real or imagined, are marked by trauma. The fictional abuse and neglect of David is best illustrated by quoting from Dickens's working plans -

 

' What I know well. 

 I became neglected and am provided for 

 I begin life on my (account) own account 

                               I go on with life, rather uncomfortably 

                                              on my own account and don't like it

                                         I make a resolution. ' 

                                                                                     BUTT & TILLOTSON (1957)

This is powerful in the context of Dickens's childhood employment in the Blackening Factory (Warrens), which, together with David's Salem House experience and his treatment by Murdstone, casts a long shadow, shaping the lives of both boys long after the events themselves have passed.  Childhood neglect, abandonment, abuse, and fear take a lifelong toll, even into later years and old age. Dickens/David became successful, if defined as financial security, a successful career,  providing for a family, (on their own account) and being regarded by the outside world as successful in being respected and admired with a generous social consciousness  ( in its account). Yet, these can mask significant emotional and mental health vulnerabilites. What we know today about 'childhood trauma is not the nature of the event(s) itself, but the profound and lasting impact it has on a child's development, brain, emotions and sense of self ( Copley, 2023). Look again at Dickens's working notes quoted above above.

                   Figure 3.  An illustrator's vision of Dickens working in Warren's                                             Blackening Factory ( 1832, at the age of twelve). Pinerest.com.

                       Figure 4. 'Mr Mell is Dismissed from Salem House', by Harry Furniss

                     (1910). 6th Illustration of David Copperfield. Vol 10. in Charles Dickens                                    Library edition. Caption:" once more Mr Mell laid a hand on                                     my shoulder, and then, taking his flute and a few books from his desk, he                                                              went out of the school...."

                                                           Victorian Web.org

  Childhood trauma, therefore, can lead well into adulthood and later life to multiple health and well-being issues. In terms of number and severity, they include low self-esteem, depression, shame, guilt, poor interpersonal relationships, attachment difficulties, mood swings, intense emotional reactions, controlling behaviour and feelings of betrayal. My social work experience in the fields of children and safeguarding, ageing and supporting older people in terms of social care practice and policy evidence this fact. Dickens, as we have previously discussed, exhibited a number of these personality and behavioural traits throughout his life. Whilst he never reached sixty plus years, his view of his own ageing, certainly in his fifties, trauma had led him to fear the very notion of ageing and old age. In the words of Fred Kaplan (1988) "at the heart of David Copperfield was a partly mediated version of himself that represented his effort to claim that he had come through, that all is well with him as he approached forty," - uncomfortably on his own account. That mediation did not lead to being at ease with his later years, but rather reinforced it.  Kaplan again writes of Dickens at this time, "Over the next ten years, the youthful, handsome Dickens became, to his shock, prematurely old. He grew painfully aware that the prices of hard work, success, and fatherhood were the unwanted assumption of middle age while inwardly feeling young, romantic, and unfulfilled"    

                                      Symbolism

It could be argued that most of the primary characters portrayed are symbols that represent ideas and concepts, for example, the sea ( the conflicts in the novel reach an uncontrollable level and are beyond human control). Flowers: ( representing images of rebirth and fresh perspectives), and Mr Dick's kite, ( the innocence of childhood and childishness ). (Spark Notes Study Guide (2026)

Yet more importantly, the very characters of David/Dickens are metaphors of childhood, social evils, and Victorian notions of masculinity and identity. It can also be argued that his older people equally reflect age stereotypes and discrimination, positive and negative prejudices and beliefs. 

                         Victorian Sensibility and the Use of Humour

Whilst David Copperfield could be seen as a cheerless work, it is, not surprisingly, without the humour of its older characters. The Micawbers, Mr Dick, Betsey Trotwood, Miss Mowcher  ( though aged forty-five) and possibly Dr Chillip. To be fair, however,  the humour applies intergenerationally and is a reflection of Victorian sensibilities. Those sensibilities were mirrored in all of Dickens's works, reflecting flaws, hypocrisy and injustices, imprisonment and much else besides. He became, even through his humorous commentary and portrayals, 'one of the era's greatest commentators, using both journalism and fiction as a repository of Victorian social conscience'. ( Diniejko, 2012). Nevertheless, the question is whether Dickens, the performer and comic, through his symbolism, portrayed images that reinforced sexism, racism, capitalism, and ageism. In rightly emphasising the numerous examples of his exposing social ills and injustice throughout his novels, Diniejko makes no reference to David Copperfield. Stanley Friedman (1978), in exploring mid-Victorian theodicy, calls attention to its "striking contradiction in that the narrator is ostensibly presenting a record of triumphant survival, but he (David) is obsessed with death", and whilst "self reliance is preached in times of crisis, the protagonist depends heavily on others for financial and emotional support." The 'novel's entire narrative, continued Friedman, " can be regarded as an attempt to determine whether effort or providence or chance is the decisive factor in the world, whether suffering can be redeemed, whether belief in divine justice can be reaffirmed" (p.128). Was Dickens hoisted on his own moral, philosophical and reformist petard?  

The farcical situations are designed to amuse, and the older characters of Micawber, Trotwood and even Mr Dick are clear examples. Sandip Agrawal (2019) posits that Dickens's portrayals are sympathetic and satirical, absurd even, yet never intended to mock, ridicule or demean but rather that the humour and pathos remain homely. It is important to acknowledge that humour and pathos apply to several characters, not just the older ones. For me, however, this perspective does not detract from the proposition that the very portrayals are evidence of unconscious and normalised institutionalised social and cultural ageism. They were, and remain, pathways through which Victorian and 21st-century ageism acts. The humour of Birthday Cards and media portrayals view older people as one homogeneous group, seen as a drain on both civic and civil society alike, perpetrating stereotypes or simply do not represent older people at all. ( Bailiss & Grisham, 2026).

                                The "Autobiographical Fragment"

Typically, John Forster reviewed David Copperfield during its serialisation, but made no reference to the abandoned autobiography (known now as the Fragment) having been entrusted by Dickens to him. The extracts provide evidence of Dickens's childhood labour, his sense of abandonment, and the 'secret agony of my soul being utterly neglected and hopeless'. The Fragment not only references the blackening factory, but also a childhood of financial precarity, his father's imprisonment, the upheavals of his repeatedly moving accommodation and the loss of his friendship networks. He escaped into the world of literature and storytelling. He writes, " my whole nature was penetrated with grief and humiliation" ( Forster 1872 in Dunn J, 2004). Subsequent commentators state that the Fragment serves as a poignant reflection on Dickens early years, his struggles, and the societal conditions that shaped his worldview ( Hellread 2025). It is important when reading David Copperfield to again emphasise that Dickens controlled the story of his life on his terms through his proxy, David. It informed David's coming-of-age storyline and the characters who populated the novel, but above all was a story of hardship and self-discovery, resilience and determination to overcome society's and family injustices. It did not, however, eradicate the trauma he carried with him throughout his life course. He remained tied and bound by 'Marleyian' chains, which, unlike Jacob Marley's, in his view, were not of his making.

Dickens was a man of secrets, and he was also duplicitous. Helen Kelly (2023) challenges us to 'exercise a greater degree of caution in talking about this part of his life" (the blackening factory). Furthermore, she writes,' for a century and a half, readers have been encouraged to follow Forster in viewing the riverside factory section in Copperfield as autobiographical' and 'do we need to extend autobiographical readings to other Dickens novels'. Kelly questions that 'the blackening factory was a traumatic time, nor that it  occurred at all, or certainly not in the way we have thought; that Dickens's life, aged eleven to thirteen, may have been quite different; that he may have deliberately edited events to make his resentment of his parents appear more justified than it really was or to conceal his relations; it's disruptive, challenging.'  Also see Michael Allen's  Charles Dickens and the Blacking Factory (2011), who concedes that whilst Dickens's young memory and understanding may have failed him, he is more sympathetic to him, and Forster.

  

Unmasking Sex, Sexuality, Pornography, Gender Issues, Social Class and Bias

 

In relation to several of Dickens' novels, James Adams' contribution to The Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens (2018) specifically addresses sexuality, gender, masculinity, femininity, desire repression, and homoerotism in David Copperfield. He does so in the context of Dickens' management of sexual desire. Copperfield's subplot, whilst focused on the young wife of the 60-year-old Dr Strong, is David's presumption that she must therefore be unfaithful, given the age difference between them. This was during a time when marriages between young female adults and older men were not uncommon. 

                            

         Figure 5.Source:[ date unknown] Presentation David Copperfield PPT.                                                                          www.slideshare.net

To deny the possibility that a teenage boy or girl do not have sexual fantasies would be ridiculous. Adams asserts that 'throughout Dickens, scenes of masculine rivalry capture the often homo-erotic energies between men' ( e.g, Heep's profession of love for Agnes). Social class is also a factor in considering the expectation that Victorian men are men if they effectively self-manage their sexual desires and subsequent responses. Ambition and success demonstrated to their peers and community their gentlemanly position in society. What is Dickens, through the adolescence and young adulthood of David, saying about himself and his own 'undisciplined heart'?  

Dickens continues to be seen as the iconic Victorian man, but was he? Do we read too much into his life course and works? Professor Robert Giddings, in a Paper presented to London University ( 2004), said that 'direct connections between his biographical details and fiction may be easily drawn but may be equally unrealistic'. Point well made. Nowhere is this caution more relevant than when exploring sex and sexuality in Copperfield. Giddings again: ' Dickens was always fascinated by the power of sexuality, both in his private life and in exploring sexuality in imagination. Both personally and creatively, he found himself in conflict with social convention and censorship, as well as with personal censorship' 

We know that the young and older adult Dickens was both personally and professionally no stranger to prostitution and sex workers,  which remains the subject of discussion in many commentaries. What is less discussed is whether he produced or consumed another aspect of the Victorian sex work industry, namely pornography. It was a booming market ( Joudrey 2015), and thus it is inconceivable that Dickens was unaware of it. Steven Marcus's seminal study (1966) on mid-nineteenth-century pornography concluded that 'Dickens neither produced nor consumed this material'. Prostitution and seduction are common themes in Dickens writing (e.g., Oliver Twist and David Copperfield), and even masturbation ( of which pornography is a significant aid) is alluded to in Great Expectations. Still, underground pornography is not referred to or condemned, nor can Dickens. I have written elsewhere on the issue of later-life pornography, in that it remains a valence issue ( Eastman 2006) and underpins the notion, even today, of condemnation.

There has, however, been a conflation of several other elements related to his sexual behaviour and motivations. His alleged relationships with his sister in laws ( Mary and Georgina Hogarth); infatuations leading to what today we may consider the stalking of Christina Weller (1844); the question of having had an affair with Ellen Turnham's mother in 1838 when he was twenty-six and that Ellen was in fact his daughter rather that his mistress; that he had also 'sought' ( at least in his own mind) a sexual relationship with the wealthy and highly religious Miss Angela Burdett Coutts ( 1814- 1906) which, thank God for his sake, remained a fantasy. The very questionable sexual predatory motives behind co-forming with her Urania Cottage have also been referenced in some quarters. (Macintyre and Wild, 2012).

Returning to Copperfield, David was portrayed as finding the young James Steerforth sexually attractive, thinking about him 'very much after he went to bed...his handsome face turned up, and his head reclining on his own.' Typically, Dickens expressed David's relationship with this older student and his own feelings by way of 'implication and allusion to sexual desire and activity.' (Oulton, C. 20 16). A boyhood crush with homo-erotic (sexual) undertones shows that Dickens understood and was sympathetic to sexual intimacy outside marriage, that gender differences were not deviant, sinful or sinister. He appears to take a different view on older people. Nevertheless, he understood and was cognizant of his readers and their sensibilities, including expressions of homosexual identity. (Nord, 2004). He certainly was not homophobic, nor did he see it in terms of sexual violence. 

Mary Poovey (2016) explores David's relationship with Little Emily, the niece of Peggotty and becomes the focus of his fantasies.  The sexuality of Emily intersects with her increasing sense of social class differences and later with David's. The binary Victorian view of male/female sexuality locates the burden of self-control on the woman, which can only be resolved through marriage, until, according to Poovey, 'the site of sexual guilt.'  

As a young adult and increasingly being recognised as a writer, David's sense of self is rooted in a rigid middle class social identity. This, as Poovey says, David and Agnes Wickfield (who eventually marries David ) protected their respective social class self-images by stabilising, firstly, the role of wife in running a tight domestic household and being a faithful partner. Secondly, the husband's taming and accommodating his sexual desires outside marriage. For this reason, Dickens reflects in Copperfield the contradictions of gender biases in terms of role, function and addressing sexual needs and desires according to Victorian middle class expectations. He demonstrates sexuality in childhood and early adulthood within the cultural sensibilities of the time. He, personally, and to his cost, breached the boundaries as a husband at almost every level. His unfaithfulness to Catherine, it should be pointed out, probably occurred throughout his marriage (e.g., if his affair with Ellen Ternan's mother is true) and his cruel separation of Catherine when she, in his view, became old, portly and no longer sexually attractive. 

                                        

                             Figure 6. Source: El Basle de Los Libros: blogspot.com

                                  Dickens, the Misogynist?

Professor Catherine Waters questions whether the accusation is justified and therefore should not be 'a defining feature of his life' (2020). Dickens' it is frequently said reinforced and reflected Queen Victoria's opinion that 'God created men and women different - let them remain each in their own position'. He held the belief that women agitating for the right to sit in Parliament were simply aspiring to become an 'inferior man'. Waters references  Mrs Jellyby (Bleak House), who, by the way, was portrayed as possibly fifty, and sacrificed her role as a 'loving, quiet wife, the good mother, the sweet, unselfish sister' on the altar of African philanthropic enterprises, as expressed in Household Words (1850) and probably penned by Dickens himself. 

British actor and author, Miriam Margolyes, a life long Dicken's enthusiast, co-authored with Sonia Fraser a delightful study of Dickens' women based on an exhibition curated by the Charles Dickens Museum ( London) 'Extraordinary Women in 2026. The authors and the Museum had to navigate the question of  his misogyny versus being 'a man of his time.' I accept that Dickens was indeed a conflicted and complex individual, with possibly ageist or gerontophobic tendencies, but we need to identify a pattern or bias in his portrayals. It is generally accepted that children and young girls/women do, but regarding older female adults, the jury is out. 

Telling, from 'Dickens Women', I was struck by its concluding narrative, which sums up a position held by many a Dickens enthusiast. I quote in full: "Dickens hasn't created a real woman. It's as if he's dragged from the depths of his own fears an iconic distillation of feminine power, misdirected and distorted. There is a problem with Charles Dickens, as there is with all geniuses whose lives seem to betray the gifts they own. We want a good writer to be a good man " Furthermore, ".... humanity transcends his cruelty; the prejudice, the sense of grievance of which he is occasionally guilty seem to fade, and at the end, I am left with the triumph of his imagination, and I'm happy with that" (p 94). Margoyles is no sycophant and is actually aware of his chuavanism, but avoids the label of misogynist. Whilst there is no overt commentary related to Dickens' general portrayals of older women, the musings on the character Mrs Skewton ( Dombey and Son) are noteworthy. Margoyles confesses that she included the character, 'drawn by the comic portrayal', but at the end of the excerpt, considered it with disgust, which Dickens always felt about women who should have been past the age of Lust but burned with the longing for Man. Maria Winter (nee Beadnell) was the progenitor of many such sad creatures (p22)

Mysogony, sexism, ageism, racism and ableism are frequently evident in Dickens' writings and his life course, but should they dominate our understanding of Dickens, and hence define him? If Sigmund Freud and Charles Dickens had been peers, what a field day that would be.

                             Why The Intersections Matter 

This contextual overview, comprising the intersections examined, is rooted in Victorian and English culture and acts as a wide-angle lens, rather than a microscope. It is therefore a thread through which we can examine Dickens and his older people. 

Female 'poor old dears,' frailty, dependency and deficit; old men, grumpy, scheeming or abusive are balanced with independent, intelligent, dynamic, kindly, generous, rich and poor older people. Whatever the portrayals, Dickens' life course and resultant writings  clearly reflected a 'mix of moral ideals, class distinctions, gender norms and emerging scientific and medical views. These attitudes were often contradictory - publicly restrained and moralistic, but privately more varied, with a thriving underground culture of erotica and hypocrisy' (Wikipedia.org 2026). If we were to keep to a simple binary approach  ( Dickens and novels) we would fail to acknowledge that culture and traditions have an impact on all aspects of who we are, what we believe and our attitudes and perceptions of what is and is not acceptable. Dickens being seen as simply a man of his time requires us to take into account social values, our life course from childhood to old age, their transitions and our perception of them. In addition, our personalities and what we find important, our humour, and our public and private lives is our moral compass.

Victorian ageism remains evident today, as does misogyny, sexism, social class, gender bias, racism and injustice. The notion of deserving and undeserving people and generational cohorts determines whether or not receiving civic and civil support is still enshrined in public and political discourse. In the mid-nineteenth century, class, gender, and old age became more defined, and especially youth orientated. The consequences which impacted Dickens and his notion of age and ageing were shaped by both late Georgian and Victorian dualism: good and bad, young and old, rich and poor and male and female. In terms of later life, the pioneering work by Edward Day (1849) in the field of 'gerontology' increasingly configured and legitimised ageist and discriminatory perceptions of age and ageing.

Hopefully, we now have a useful framework for Part Two that moves us to a directory of Dickens and his older people in David Copperfield.

                                References and Sources

ADAMS,J. 'The Trouble with Angels: Dickens, Gender and Sexuality' Chapter 25 ( Section David Copperfield) in PATTEN, R, JORDAN.J & WATERS, C. (Eds) The Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens. Oxford University Press, UK (2018) pp 261-365 and 363

AGRAWAL, S. 'David Copperfield' in Injamamul ' Humour, Pathos in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield. c.p & amp; Berar College/ SANSHODHAN.https://doi.org/10.53957/SANSHODHAN/2019/U811/142795

ANONYMOUS Contributor, but thought to have been Dickens, C: ' Rights and Wrongs of Women' . Household Words (1850's. Cited by WATERS. S : The Conversation. (June 4. 2020) 

BAILISS, H & CRAWSHAW, K. 'Challenging Internalised Ageism - Insights from Age Without Limits', Centre for Ageing Better (2026)

BRADLY, S. David Copperfield Book Analysis (undated). www.brightsummaries.com (p41)

BUTT,J. & TILLOTSON: Dickens at Work. London, Methuen ( 1957) Quoted in DUNN, R. (Ed). (p 8)

DAY, E. ' A Practical Treatise on the Domestic Management and Most Important Diseases of Advanced Life'. Lea & Blanchard. (1849). Quoted in HIND,H . 'Poor Old Dears: Visualising Female Ageing in Victorian Institutions from a thesis by ZADROZNY, S. ' The Victorianist: BAV Pages. British Association for Victorian Studies Pages hosted by VALK, M  (University of Birmingham and WHALLEY, L, Queen Mary University . ( Nov 19.2018)

DINIEJKO, A. 'Charles Dickens as a Social Commentator and Critic' The Victorian Web. Social History (Modified 7.2. 2012)

DUNN,R. (Ed). Charles Dickens. A Source Book' Contextual Overview. Routledge ( Taylor & Francis Group) London & New York. (p 9)

EASTMAN, M. 'Dickens And His Older People: The Portrayal of Older Adult Characters in the Early Novels of Charles Dickens (1836- 1841)' (Vol 1) . Noble Legacy Publishers. (2026)

EASTON, H. ' Yes, Charles Dickens Had Chauvinistic Views - But He Knew the Women in His Life Were Extraordinary'  Hesperous  Press Ltd. London. (2011)

FORSTER, J. ' The Life of Charles Dickens' Vol 1. London Chapman and Hall (1872) Quoted in DUNN, R. (page 20-22).

FRIEDMAN, S. 'Dickens' Mid Victorian Theodicy: David Copperfield'. Dickens Studies Annual. Vol 7. Penn State University Press. (1978).(p 128)

GIDDINGS, R ' Dickens and the Great Unmentionable. A Paper delivered on 20.03.2004, a contributor to a Conference held at the University of London Institute of English Studies. Published October 30th 2009.

- GIDDINGS references in his Paper, HALL, L. (1998), implying that Dickens probably had sex with underage prostitutes.

GROK AI. Downloaded 24.04.26 in response to a question ' What were Victorian attitudes to Old age sex. Its source was Wikipedia.

HALL, L. 'The Other in the Mirror: Sex, Victorians and Historians' Welcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, (1998)

HELLREAD (Author Unknown)' Autobiographical Fragment by Charles Dickens. (Nov 3rd 2025) https://hellread.com/2024/12/ 04/helo-world/

JOUDREY, L. 'Penetrating Boundaries: An Ethics of Anti Perfectionism in Victorian Pornography'. Victorian Studies .57(3)423.  (2015) Quoted ' Victorian Erotica' . Wikipedia.

KAPLAN, F. ' A Biography Dickens' The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore & London (1988) (p 250)

KELLY, H. ' The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens'. Icon Books (2023). (pages 38, 39, 42)

MACINTYRE, B & WILD, R. 'Do What Dickens Didn't - Price Of Not Reading a Letter in Full (Moral in Last Paragraph). The Telegraph Online. Published 04.02.1912. (Downloaded 23.04.26)

MARCUS, S. 'The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth Century England. Corgi. (1966)

MARGOLYES, M & FRASER,S. 'Dickens Women' Hesperus Press Ltd . London (2011)

NORD, D,E. 'Book Review: Ellen Rosenman. Unauthorised. 'Pleasures: Accounts of Victorian Erotic Experience', Ithaca & London. Cornell University Press. Victorian Studies 46(4) .(pages 707-709)

POOVEY, M. 'The Man-of- Letters Hero; David Copperfield and the Professional Writer' ( Chapter 5) in NAYLOR, L. (Ed) 'Dickens, Sexuality and Gender'. A Library of Essays on Charles Dickens. Routledge. London & New York, (2016) .( pages 141-142)

OCHOJSKI, P. 'Study Guide to David Copperfield' . Bright Notes. www.BrightNotes.com. (pages 6-7)

ORWELL, G. Quoted in Bright Notes. (Page 10)

OULTON, C. W de la L. 'Romantic Friendship in Victorian Literature. (undated). https://doi.org/ 10.4324%2F9781315606' Quoted in Wikipedia ' Victorian Erotica'

RUCK, B. 'Charles Dickens's Secret Lovechild: An Untarnished Portrait of Ellen Ternan' Pen & Sword History. (2025) 

WATERS, C. 'Charles Dickens:150 years on, Debates rages over his 'misogynist' label. The Conversation. Posted June 4. 2020.  

  

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