Mrs. Micawber: Character Analysis in David Copperfield

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      Mrs. Micawber is a simple soul, but a loyal and worthy helpmate to her husband, whom indeed she resembles in many respects. She speaks almost as magniloquently as he, especially when expounding a particular course of action that she thinks he should take up (Chapter XXVIII and LVII). She uses the expressions "what I mean is" or "I allude to" to explain herself, precisely as he uses the expression "in short." She shares his remarkable ability to recover cheerfulness immediately after a depression of spirits (Chapter XI). Like him, she is eternally optimistic that something will "turn up" and enjoys nothing more than an evening of festivity and a bowl of hot punch. Her references to her family and what she did at home with mama and papa correspond to some degree to Mr. Micawber's imposing shirt collar and jaunty if some-what down-at-heel gentility of manner.

      She is the wife of Mr. Micawber. She is a thin and faded lady, not at all young. Mr. Micawber could not have made a better choice of a wife for herself. There never was a man more suitably or happily mated. She is loyal and true to her husband. Even though he is worried about debts, financial crisis and ignored by her relatives, she will never desert Mr. Micawber. She can rise from depths of despair to heights of rapture in a minute, as easily as Micawber himself. She is as elastic as her husband.

      There are some characteristics in which she differs from her husband. Mr. Micawber is an imaginative orator, she is a logician. She stands behind him, restraining him till she points the way. She can state a problem in its best terms with great clarity. She always puts forward the needs and difficulties of her husband logically and clearly. She lives in the dream world of her husband and has since long lost all sense of reality. She is the logician of Mr. Micawber's world and not of her world. She loves him very much and lives in the mistaken hope that one day they'll get settled, so that she too moves happily into his dreamland.

      Mrs. Micawber resembles her husband. She may be regarded as a pencil sketch of Mr. Micawber. Like Mr. Micawber, she is hopeful and optimistic. Secondly, her love for her husband, is highly creditable. Although she belongs to a rich family, she has a soft comer for her poor husband, who has not fixed income. She even tries to earn something by establishing a private school for young ladies. Mrs. Micawber remains devoted to her husband through thick and thin. She declares she will never desert her husband. Sometimes she presents a sharp contrast to Mr. Micawber in her outlook on life. Whereas Mr. Micawber takes a romantic view of life, Mrs. Micawber is a bit more realistic and logical. She feels that her husband is a talented man. But he cannot achieve success because he has no capital.

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