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Chapter 45
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in David Copperfield, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Personal Development
Ambition, Social Mobility, and Morality
Memory and Nostalgia
Womanhood and Gender Roles
Home and Family
Summary
Analysis
About one year into his marriage, David happens to walk by Mrs. Steerforth's house. As usual, it looks dark and uninhabited, and David continues on. He finds he can't stop thinking about the house, though, in part because he had already been mulling over "childish recollections and later fancies" in preparation for a novel he is working on.
The fact that David makes professional use of his memories is very significant. Memory is often a threat to characters' agency in David Copperfield, both because it can overwhelm and incapacitate, and because it often dates back to a time when characters were less in control of their own lives. By consciously drawing on his memories, and especially by using them as a way to further his career, David demonstrates that he is the master of his experiences and recollections.
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Suddenly, David hears a woman's voice, which turns out to be Mrs. Steerforth's maid asking him to come in and talk to Rosa Dartle. David agrees, and learns from the maid as they walk back that Mrs. Steerforth is unwell and unhappy. The maid then leaves David in the garden with Rosa, whom he notices looks thinner and paler.
Steerforth's elopement with little Em'ly has effectively torn apart his own family as well as the Peggottys. In every other respect, however, the experience of the two families is very different, not only because the consequences of the affair are much more serious for Emily than for Steerforth, but also because Mrs. Steerforth's separation from her son is self-imposed— the result of both her class snobbery and her insistence that her son love her exclusively.
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Rosa asks whether anyone has found little Em'ly (although she does not refer to her by name). David says that no one has, and Rosa explains, with obvious pleasure, that Emily has run away from Steerforth and may even be dead. David says that since Emily would probably be better off dead, he will take Rosa's "wish" as a sign that she has "softened" since they last spoke. Rosa, however, simply laughs and asks whether David wants to know what she can tell him. When David says that he does, she leads him to a different section of the garden, making him promise not to grow violent. She then brings out Mr. Littimer and gloatingly orders him to tell his story to David.
Littimer explains that he traveled with Steerforth and Emily to a number of places, including France, Switzerland, and Italy. Steerforth was unusually attached to little Em'ly, who quickly learned the native languages and passed for a lady. Despite this, Emily was prone to bouts of depression that annoyed Steerforth and made him "restless." The relationship eventually deteriorated so much that Steerforth simply left Emily at a villa in Naples one day. Littimer insists, however, that Steerforth behaved "honorably," because he arranged for Emily to marry a "respectable person"—Littimer himself, as David realizes. When Littimer broke the news of Steerforth's departure to Emily, she threatened to kill herself and then, when she learned of the proposed marriage, to kill Littimer. Littimer says that he was therefore forced to lock her inside the villa, but that she nevertheless managed to escape.
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Rosa and Littimer speculate on Emily's fate: Rosa suggests that she is dead, but Littimer says she might have gotten help from some of the boatmen she used to talk to, much to Steerforth's annoyance. David finds the thought of Emily talking to families so similar to her own extremely painful, but Rosa simply orders Littimer to finish his story. Accordingly, Littimer explains that Steerforth was angry when he found out that Emily had escaped, and that Littimer therefore left Steerforth's service (or, more likely, was fired). Littimer says he came to England in the hopes of mending the rift between Steerforth and Mrs. Steerforth, but Rosa reminds him that she paid him to come.
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David attempts to ask, through Rosa, whether Littimer or Steerforth intercepted any letters sent to little Em'ly. Littimer refuses to speak unless David addresses him directly, however, and David manages to suppress his anger long enough to do so. Even then, Littimer is cagey, ostensibly out of loyalty to Steerforth. He hints, however, that Steerforth wouldn't have allowed Emily to receive anything that might "increase low spirits and unpleasantness." David then announces he has nothing more to say to Littimer, except that he intends to tell Mr. Peggotty the role Littimer played in Emily's flight, and that Littimer should be on his guard. Littimer retorts that people are not allowed to take the law into their own hands, and that he will go where he likes. He then leaves Rosa and David alone.
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Rosa says that Littimer also told her that Steerforth is currently sailing off the coast of Spain. She explains that the rift between him and Mrs. Steerforth has not been mended, and that any chance of reconciliation hinges on Steerforth not seeing little Em'ly again. She therefore says that she has sent for David in spite of her own hatred for Emily, in the hopes that Littimer's information will help him find her.
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At that moment, Mrs. Steerforth approaches, and David sees that she looks much older. She asks whether David has heard Littimer's story, and says that she hopes Mr. Peggotty will be able to find little Em'ly in order to prevent Steerforth from "again falling into the snares of a designing enemy." David assures her that he understands her motives but protests against her characterization of Emily. Mrs. Steerforth agrees to let the matter drop, and congratulates David on his marriage and professional success, saying that if he had a mother, she would be proud of him. David then says goodbye to Mrs. Steerforth and Rosa and, as he looks back at them, imagines that the rising mist is a "sea" preparing to engulf them. Later, he says, he had reason to remember this impression.
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The next evening, David goes to the rooms Mr. Peggotty keeps in London. Mr. Peggotty welcomes him in, and David notices that he keeps the apartment ready for little Em'ly's arrival. David tells Mr. Peggotty what he knows of Emily's whereabouts, and Mr. Peggotty is silent and thoughtful. Finally, he asks David what he thinks, and David says he believes little Em'ly is alive. Mr. Peggotty, however, is anxious, and wonders whether his niece's childhood fascination with the sea was a warning that she would drown herself. Nevertheless, he says he has a firm sense that she is still alive: in fact, he has been "told as she's alive." To David, Mr. Peggotty looks like "a man inspired" when he says this.
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David raises a practical issue that has been troubling him, explaining that little Em’ly is likely to come to London, but not to seek out Mr. Peggotty. Instead, he says, she will try to lose herself in the city, which Mr. Peggotty sorrowfully agrees is true. David therefore suggests that Martha might be able to find little Em'ly, explaining how Emily had helped Martha in the past, and how Martha had listened in on their conversation at the public house. Since Mr. Peggotty has already mentioned seeing Martha in London, David asks whether he might be able to find her. Mr. Peggotty says that he thinks he knows where she is, and the two men prepare to leave. As they walk downstairs, Mr. Peggotty admits that he once thought Martha "like the dirt underneath […] Emily's feet."
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As they walk, David asks Mr. Peggotty about Ham, who is much the same: kind and uncomplaining, but uninterested in life. When David asks whether Ham might prove "dangerous" if he ever happened to meet Steerforth again, Mr. Peggotty admits that he doesn't know. David then reminds Mr. Peggotty of the conversation in which Ham talked about the "end of it" while looking out at the sea. Mr. Peggotty, however, says that while he has thought about the remark many times, he can't work out what Ham meant. He also doesn't want to ask Ham, because he senses that he would be disturbing "deep" thoughts best left alone. Mr. Peggotty agrees with David that Ham's demeanor is troubling, and that it would be better for him not to see Steerforth again.
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David and Mr. Peggotty are approaching Blackfriars Bridge, and Mr. Peggotty is on the lookout for any sign of Martha. Eventually, they see a woman on the opposite side of the road and begin to approach her, only for David to realize she might want to speak somewhere more private. David and Mr. Peggotty follow where she leads. Finally, they reach a "dull, dark street" and approach her.
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