David Copperfield

David Copperfield

by

Charles Dickens

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Mrs. Heep Character Analysis

Mrs. Heep Uriah Heep’s widowed mother. She loves her son obsessively and shares many traits with him—above all, a self-serving insistence on her own "humbleness." David first meets Mrs. Heep when he goes to have tea at Uriah's house, and she very skillfully supports her son's attempts to wheedle information out of David. Although David eventually comes to dislike Mrs. Heep intensely, he reluctantly admits that her feeling for her son is real: for instance, when the truth about Uriah's actions begins to come to light, Mrs. Heep begs her son to confess in the hopes of receiving a lesser punishment.

Mrs. Heep Quotes in David Copperfield

The David Copperfield quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Heep or refer to Mrs. Heep. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age and Personal Development Theme Icon
).
Chapter 39 Quotes

"Father and me was both brought up at a foundation for boys; and mother, she was likewise brought up at a public, sort of charitable, establishment. They taught us all a deal of umbleness—not much else that I know of, from morning to night. We was to be umble to this person, and umble to that; and to pull off our caps here, and to make bows there; and always to know our place, and abase ourselves before our betters […] Father got made a sexton by being umble. He had the character, among the gentlefolks, of being such a well-behaved man, that they were determined to bring him in."

Related Characters: Uriah Heep (speaker), David Copperfield, Mrs. Heep
Page Number: 479–480
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mrs. Heep Quotes in David Copperfield

The David Copperfield quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Heep or refer to Mrs. Heep. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age and Personal Development Theme Icon
).
Chapter 39 Quotes

"Father and me was both brought up at a foundation for boys; and mother, she was likewise brought up at a public, sort of charitable, establishment. They taught us all a deal of umbleness—not much else that I know of, from morning to night. We was to be umble to this person, and umble to that; and to pull off our caps here, and to make bows there; and always to know our place, and abase ourselves before our betters […] Father got made a sexton by being umble. He had the character, among the gentlefolks, of being such a well-behaved man, that they were determined to bring him in."

Related Characters: Uriah Heep (speaker), David Copperfield, Mrs. Heep
Page Number: 479–480
Explanation and Analysis: