David Copperfield: Chapter 47 Summary & Analysis

David and Mr. Peggotty continue to follow Martha into Westminster, where she approaches the riverside. The neighborhood is wet, impoverished, and littered with detritus from boats. To David, it looks as though Martha were "a part of the refuse [the Thames] had cast out, and left to corruption and decay." As Martha gazes out over the river, David approaches her in a state of "dread." She is talking to herself and looks so "wild," he is afraid she will jump into the water.

David calls out to Martha, who at first struggles to get away. When she sees Mr. Peggotty, however, she lets the men take her away from the water, although she continues to cry out "Oh, the river!" David tries to calm her down, but she says that she is drawn to the river, which is "like her" in the sense that it grows polluted and "defiled" on its way to the sea. Mr. Peggotty is horrified, and David—despite his own discomfort—tries to assure him that Martha doesn't mean what she says.

Once Martha has stopped crying, David asks her if she knows who he and Mr. Peggotty are, and if she's willing to talk to them about little Em’ly. She says that she is, but wants to be sure that Mr. Peggotty doesn't consider her responsible for what happened. David assures her that he doesn't, and Martha says that she would have already killed herself if she had helped ruin someone who was so kind to her. In fact, she says, the worst thing about her own fall was that it cut her off from Emily's friendship, and when she learned Emily had run away, she would have done anything to undo it. Breaking down again, she begs Mr. Peggotty to kill her rather than to think the worst of her: she knows she is still far beneath Emily, but she nevertheless feels deep gratitude to her.

Mr. Peggotty reassures Martha that he is in no position to judge her. He says he knows that she, like little Em'ly, was orphaned, and asks her to imagine Emily's feelings toward her adoptive father now—that is, that she both longs to see Mr. Peggotty again and is ashamed to go to him. Finally, he explains that he and David believe that little Em'ly will come to London, and asks Martha to help them find her when she does. Martha is at first surprised that Mr. Peggotty would trust her, but then solemnly pledges to do everything she can to find and help Emily, and asks "help, human and Divine, [to] renounce her evermore" if she abandons the task.

David and Mr. Peggotty tell Martha everything they know of little Em'ly's whereabouts, and provide her with their addresses so that she can contact them. Martha refuses, however, to tell them where she lives, and also declines David's offer of money. Instead, she says that she will try to find work, because in accepting money, she feels she would be losing David and Mr. Peggotty's "trust." This, she says, is the only thing stopping her from killing herself. David begs her to put aside the idea of suicide, but all Martha can say is that she feels, for the first time, as though she has some kind of purpose in life—but she doesn't dare yet hope that she can be "saved." She then leaves, although David and Mr. Peggotty follow her until she reaches a more populous area.

David says goodbye to Mr. Peggotty and heads home. When he passes Miss Betsey's cottage, however, he notices that the door is open and goes to investigate, only to find a man standing in the garden eating and drinking. David realizes that it is the same man his aunt had stopped to talk to in the street years earlier. Eventually, Miss Betsey emerges from the cottage and tries to hand the man some money. She insists that it is all she can give him, but he refuses to leave without more. Upset, Miss Betsey asks why he treats her this way, and how she can "free [her]self" from him short of leaving him "to [his] deserts." The man asks why she doesn't abandon him, then, and Miss Betsey wonders aloud how hard-hearted he must be to ask her that.

Miss Betsey and the man continue to argue, Miss Betsey insisting that she can't spare any more money and can't bear "seeing what [he has] become" any longer." She then begins crying, accusing him of treating her cruelly and turning her into a guarded and mistrustful woman. Taken aback by this, the man finally leaves, and David approaches his aunt, asking for permission to speak to the man. Miss Betsey, however, simply tells David to come in and give her a few moments to compose herself.

David does as Miss Betsey asks, and she then tells him that the man is her husband, who is only "dead to [her]." She was deeply in love with him at one point, but he "repaid her by breaking her fortune, and nearly breaking her heart." This, she explains, is why she is so tough and unsentimental now. Nevertheless, she says, she tried to provide for him when the marriage ended, although his treatment of her meant that she could have won a "separation on easy terms." He squandered the money she gave him, however, and eventually married another woman. She does not want to see him arrested, however, so she continues to pay him money what she can. Once she has explained all this, Miss Betsey asks David not to speak any more about her "grumpy, frumpy story."