David Copperfield: Chapter 56

Summary

Podcast Summary: Storytime for Grownups – David Copperfield: Chapter 56
Host: Faith Moore
Episode Date: July 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this emotionally charged episode, host Faith Moore guides listeners through Chapter 56 of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, with a thoughtful recap and in-depth analysis of the story’s climactic recent events—most notably the deaths of Ham and Steerforth in the previous chapter. Faith pauses throughout the reading to provide rich commentary, highlighting the intertwined themes of literal and emotional tempests, forgiveness, grief, and the tragic fates of central characters. The episode explores the implications these events have for David and the remaining characters, inviting listeners to reflect deeply on loss, redemption, and the passage to adulthood.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap of Chapter 55: The Tempest and Its Consequences

Timestamp: 03:22–06:06

• Faith provides a vivid summary of the preceding chapter, emphasizing the storm (both literal and metaphorical) that brings about Ham and Steerforth's deaths.
• Key plot points:
  • Emily and Mr. Peggotty prepare to leave for Australia.
  • David, grappling with Dora’s death, decides to deliver Ham’s letter of forgiveness to Emily.
  • Ham, deeply affected and changed by Emily’s departure, dies attempting a heroic rescue during a shipwreck—unaware that the man he is trying to save is Steerforth.
  • Steerforth, once David’s friend and Emily’s seducer, also drowns.
• Quote:
  • Faith Moore on Dickens’s writing: “It's so evocative… Dickens conjures this storm for us and drops us right into this really unsettling scene...” (07:00)

2. Analysis: Storms Inside and Out

Timestamp: 06:53–14:51

• Faith examines the dual nature of the "tempest": both the physical storm and David's mounting internal grief.
• The symbolic interplay between nature's violence and the psychological turmoil of David and Ham.
• The chapter as a turning point, signaling David's inevitable journey through profound personal grief.
• Quote:
  • “It's brought home… by this really haunting image of David trying to see… out of the window at the storm, but instead he sees only himself.” (13:22)
  • David’s sense of “objectless and unintelligible fear,” conveying grief’s power to disorient and isolate. (14:34)

3. Forgiveness, Redemption, and Character Arcs

Timestamp: 10:01–16:00

• The concluding arc of Emily and Ham’s relationship: forgiveness extended but never fully received.
• Emily’s poignant message:
  • “In another world, if I am forgiven, I may wake a child and come to you.” (10:57)
• Ham’s self-sacrificial nature is likened to that of Mr. Peggotty—a theme of saint-like endurance.
• The cruel irony and poetic symmetry of Ham dying to save Steerforth, Emily’s seducer.

4. Steerforth’s Death: Echoes of Innocence and Loss

Timestamp: 16:03–19:20

• Dickens never names Steerforth outright in the chapter; he is recognized through David’s memories, reverting to the boy David once loved.
• Quote:
  • “I saw him lying with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school.” (17:39)
• Reflection: In death, Steerforth is portrayed with a lost innocence, suggesting what might have been if his life had taken a different path. Ham and Steerforth dying together is treated as Dickens’s tragic resetting of fate.

5. Questions Raised for the Final Chapters

Timestamp: 19:26–20:18

• Faith underscores lingering uncertainties: How will David’s grief be resolved? Who is the adult David narrating the story?
• The audience is encouraged to think about the journey from youth to mature adulthood and what kind of person David will become after so much loss.

6. Faith’s Invitation & Listener Community

Timestamp: 20:04–20:16, 36:59–End

• Faith invites listeners to share their thoughts and questions through her website, promising to feature some entries in upcoming episodes.
• A warm call to join the podcast’s online community and participate in “tea time.”
• Closing encouragement for listeners to support and share the podcast.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Meaning of the Tempest

• Faith Moore: “The chapter is both about a literal tempest, but also about… the emotional turmoil going on in David…” (08:04)

Emily’s Forgiveness and Hope

• Emily’s letter (read by Faith): “In another world, if I am forgiven, I may wake a child and come to you.” (10:57)

Steerforth and Lost Innocence

• David (voiced by Faith): “I saw him lying with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school.” (17:39)

Rosa Dartle’s Emotional Confrontation

• Rosa Dartle (to Mrs. Steerforth):
  • “Now, she said, is your pride appeased, you mad woman? Now has he made atonement to you with his life. Do you hear? His life?” (28:36)
  • “Moan and groan and look at me. Look here.” (29:05)
  • “I loved him better than you ever loved him.” (31:21)
  • “She has sown this. Let her moan for the harvest that she reaps today.” (34:02)

On Grief and Final Rest

• Faith (as David): “All the world seemed death and silence, broken only by his mother’s moaning.” (35:00)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:22–06:06: Chapter 55 recap—plot summary and grim outcome.
• 07:00–08:25: Discussion of Dickens’s writing and the emotional "tempest."
• 10:57–11:19: Emily’s letter to Ham – theme of regret and forgiveness.
• 13:41–13:45: David’s self-reflection in the midst of the storm.
• 17:39–17:59: Description of Steerforth’s body and the return to innocence.
• 28:36–34:04: Rosa Dartle’s dramatic confrontation with Mrs. Steerforth.
• 35:10–35:34: Final scene, grief, and silence.

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Tone & Style

Faith adopts a warm, accessible, and deeply empathetic tone, weaving analysis and narration together seamlessly. She uses gentle but incisive language to draw out Dickens’s psychological depth, inviting listeners to reflect emotionally as well as intellectually. Listeners are encouraged to participate, share their insights, and immerse themselves in the unparalleled storytelling of Dickens—with Faith as both guide and companion.

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Listener Takeaways

• The intertwining of external catastrophe and internal grief is masterfully rendered in Dickens’s writing and expertly interpreted by Faith.
• The tragic arc of Ham, Steerforth, and Emily is illuminated, showing the irreplaceable losses and rare forgiveness that define the lives affected by Steerforth’s betrayal.
• The character of Rosa Dartle comes vividly to life as she voices years of pain, blame, and ultimately, unrequited love, delivering some of the most memorable lines.
• Faith’s commentary enriches understanding, making classic literature approachable and meaningful for modern listeners.

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To engage further, listeners are encouraged to contact Faith and join the community through the links in the show notes.

Transcript

[Faith Moore]

Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grown Ups. I'm Faith Moore and this season we're reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along. It's like an audiobook with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair and settle in. It's story time.

[Rosa Dartle]

Hello.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

Welcome back. This is the second of three pre recorded episodes. I am away right now visiting some

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

family on a kind of a longer trip.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And so so I have recorded these three episodes for you in advance so that you will keep getting your episodes every Monday and Thursday.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

After this block of 3, I will

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

be back for the duration of this book. I will be back until the very end and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'm so looking forward to being with you as we make our way into the final chapters of this book that we've been with for so long. We started this in January, you guys. I can't believe it. So I definitely will be back to make sure that we can all be together as we finish this journey together.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

So just a couple reminders. Tea time again is going to be on Wednesday, July 29th at 8pm Eastern. That's over in our online community, the Drawing Room.

[Faith Moore]

And if you're not yet a member

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

or you are not yet Landed Gentry and you'd like to participate in tea time this month, there's still time to sign up. You can just scroll into the show notes, which are the description of this episode and you'll find a link there. Click it.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

It'll just give you some additional information. It'll tell you what you would need

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

to do to sign up and then

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

you can make a decision about whether you would like to do that or not.

[Rosa Dartle]

I hope that you will.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

I always, always, always love chatting with all of my old friends over there. But I love making new friends too. And so I really hope that you will join us. If it's something that you've been considering or something that sounds interesting to you, it's really fun.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

We just kind of chat, we talk about the book.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

We'll be almost done with the book by then, so we can talk about that and you can ask me anything and we can just have a lovely time. So hopefully you'll join us again. It's Wednesday, July 29th at 8pm Eastern.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Okay, that's that.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And then also just all the usual things. Please subscribe. Please tap the five stars.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Please Leave a positive review.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

If you're enjoying the show, please tell a friend. I'm getting so many lovely emails from you guys telling me about all of the ways that you're spreading the word about this show and I'm so, so, so grateful. Thank you. And I love hearing about the ways that you guys are connecting with the people in your lives and making new friends based on this show.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And it just, oh, it just does my heart good.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

It makes me so happy. So thank you for doing that.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And scroll into the show notes, check out the links that are there, maybe

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

something will interest you and you know, buy some merch, spread the word in

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

that way, whatever you want, just check

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

out those links and I will be back with you again in one more episode. There'll be one more pre recorded episode and then I will be for now, let's get into this episode.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

So last time we read chapter 55,

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

today we're going to be reading chapter 56. So let's begin by just reminding ourselves of what happened in chapter 55. It was quite the chapter, right? So let's just do that and then

[Faith Moore]

I'll talk about it for a little

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

while, even though I don't have your questions because I do think it's very

[Faith Moore]

much worth talking about.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And then we'll read the next chapter. So here is the recap.

[Faith Moore]

Alright, so where we left off. David begins by telling us that what he has to relate in this chapter is something so awful and huge that he has been dreading getting to this

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

part of the story all this time.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But he says he's gonna tell it to us and it'll be like living

[Faith Moore]

it again because he remembers it so clearly.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

So it's Almost time for Mr. Peggy,

[Faith Moore]

Emily and the Micawbers to leave on their ship to Australia.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Peggy has come to London to see

[Faith Moore]

them off and she tells everyone that Ham is doing okay and working hard,

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

but is clearly clearly still not himself. David and Ms. Betsy have moved out of their cottages in preparation for David to go abroad and for Miss Betsy

[Faith Moore]

to move back into her house at Dover.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And David decides that he should write

[Faith Moore]

a letter to Emily and tell her what Ham wanted her to know, which

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

is that he forgives her and that

[Faith Moore]

she shouldn't worry about him and he

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

should do this now just in case

[Faith Moore]

she wants to send any word back

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

to Ham before she leaves. So he does this and Mr. Peggy comes over the next morning to give

[Faith Moore]

David a letter for Ham from Emily.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

In it, Emily expresses her gratitude to Ham for his forgiveness and says that perhaps one day that they will be together in heaven, is restless and more overcome by grief for Dora than he realizes. And so he decides to go and take the letter to Yarmuth and give it to Ham and then come back before the ship leaves. That way Emily and Mr. Peggotty can

[Faith Moore]

know for sure that Ham got the letter. He leaves on the coach and as they're traveling, a huge wind kicks up and a storm rolls in worse than

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

anything that anyone in Yarmouth has ever seen.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And the sea is heaving and things

[Faith Moore]

are flying through the air from the wind.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

David looks for Ham, but he's told that he went to a neighboring town

[Faith Moore]

and will be back in the morning.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

David stays at the inn and tries

[Faith Moore]

to sleep, but he can't sleep and the storm and his grief make him

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

feel more and more upset. In the morning, the whole town is

[Faith Moore]

talking about a shipwreck and David runs to the beach and sees the ship there with its mast torn down and breaking the ship apart.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

No one is able to reach the ship because of how high the waves are and the people on the ship are trying to cling on but being swept out to sea. There is one man in particular that David notices clinging to the mast and

[Faith Moore]

who reminds him of someone.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Eventually, Ham shows up and David can tell that he is planning to try to switch swim out to the wreck

[Faith Moore]

with a rope to rescue the people.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

This is very dangerous and David tries

[Faith Moore]

to stop him, but Ham doesn't seem worried about dying.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Ham heads out into the water, but

[Faith Moore]

is dashed by the waves and when

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

he comes back to shore, he is clearly dead. David stays by his side until a

[Faith Moore]

sailor comes and tells him that the

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

man from the ship has also washed ashore. David goes to see his body and

[Faith Moore]

finds that the man that Ham died

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

trying to save is Steerforth and he is dead too.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

Okay, so David, I am so sad and so sorry that I am not here in real time for this chapter.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

It feels like I want to somehow

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

gather with you all and and like grieve together for Ham and maybe even for Steerforth and for David too. I often wish actually that there was a way that we could be together in real life that would be so lovely. I mean, maybe one day we'll have like a live event or something like that.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But for for now, I am sorry

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

that this episode had to be pre recorded so that you all couldn't commune together via your letters and your reactions.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But I will do the best that

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

I can here and then I'll read some of your letters about this chapter on the show when I'm back so you can process this together, even though it's going to be after the fact.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

There's a kind of.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

I'm not really sure what to call it, a kind of fearsome beauty, let's say, to chapter 55.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

It's so evocative. It's brilliant writing, really. The way that Dickens conjures this storm for us and drops us right into this really unsettling scene with the strange wind and the waves towering up and the sand and seaweed flying by and the sound of the waves crashing and

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

everyone out in the streets and on

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

the beach and staying up all night and all of this. It's really haunting. And it seems fairly clear that this chapter is called a tempest, both because

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

there's an actual tempest raging that takes

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

lives of Ham and Steerforth, which I'll

[Faith Moore]

talk about in a moment.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But there's also a tempest going on in David, right? That wave of grief that we talked about before that was building up and which he told us would eventually consume him. It seems to me that it's in this chapter that David begins to suffer the effects of the grief that he's been holding back, and that the tempest of grief that he tells us will eventually come is very close at hand. So I think this chapter is both about a literal tempest, but also about.

[Faith Moore]

About the emotional turmoil going on in

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

David, first because of Dora's death and

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

then exacerbated now by the deaths of Ham and Steerforth. And I think the sort of eerie, haunting setting of this chapter is really such a perfect metaphor for the storm of grief that David has told us

[Faith Moore]

he is going to have to walk through.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And Dickens tells us right up front

[Faith Moore]

that something absolutely awful is going to

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

happen in this chapter.

[Faith Moore]

And it's startling, I think, to hear

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

this, because aside from the fact that Dora is dead and that David has

[Faith Moore]

told us that eventually he'll be overwhelmed

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

with grief, things had mostly been going

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

pretty well for everyone.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And the bad thing that we sort

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

of were anticipating was David's grief. So to hear that this chapter is going to be about something terrible, it's kind of a shock. Here's what David says. I now approach an event in my life so indelible, so awful, so bound by an infinite variety of ties to all that has preceded it in these pages, that from the beginning of my

[Faith Moore]

narrative, I have seen it growing larger

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

and larger as I advanced, like a

[Faith Moore]

great tower in a plane and throwing its forecast shadow, even on the incidents of my childish days.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

So that's disturbing.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But what I love about this is

[Faith Moore]

that it's actually adult David making an

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

appearance again, because he's telling us that all the time that he's been writing this story for us, the events of this chapter have been in his mind, and he's felt the time coming closer

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

and closer when he would have to relive them.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And what I love about that is that we are also now coming closer and closer to the time when we

[Faith Moore]

will meet adult David.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

You know, the closer we get to the end of this book, the closer we come to the person who has been a character throughout, but whose life

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

we don't really know much about.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And that's adult David. So the fact that he shows up here and reminds us of that is pretty great, I think. But, of course, the central event of

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

this chapter, even though it actually happens

[Faith Moore]

only in the last, like, five minutes

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

or so, but the central event is obviously Ham's death, followed closely by Steerforth's death. And Dickens does a great job of setting this up for us without us knowing it, because he gives us, at the beginning of the chapter what turns out to be kind of the ending

[Faith Moore]

of Emily and Ham's relationship. He wraps up for us this connection

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

that has existed for as long as Emily has been alive. That has been a sibling relationship, a romantic relationship, and a broken engagement. And now we learn that things are

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

good between them now, or as good as they can be on this earth, given the circumstances.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Emily has received Ham's message of goodwill and forgiveness, and she sends back a message of her own. And her message is really very beautiful. She remember, she thanks him for his kindness to her. And then she says, here's a quote. In another world, if I am forgiven,

[Faith Moore]

I may wake a child and come to you.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

I mean, that's so touching, right? She's saying that here and now, there is nothing that she can do to take away the pain of what she's done. She can't go back and make it right. But perhaps in heaven, she and Ham can be together. And she's saying that she sees now that that's what she would want, that if she could do it again, she would have married him, because she knows

[Faith Moore]

that he is a better man by far than Steerforth could ever be.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And so perhaps if she's forgiven, that's

[Faith Moore]

what heaven will be like for her,

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

which is so touching and so lovely and sad. And though we don't know it at that point in the chapter, that's the end of their story. And actually, Ham will never even receive that Message, right. David isn't able to get the letter to him before he rushes off into the sea and try and save the man that turns out to be Steerforth. And so we are left with the hope that Emily's wish will one day come true and that they will meet again in heaven and get to do it over again the way that it ought to have played out on earth. So David plunges unknowingly into this storm to try to get this message to Ham. And while he's in the storm waiting

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

for Ham to come back, right, he's in the next town over or wherever.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

While he's there, David begins to get sort of metaphorically enveloped by the storm. It's like the wildness of the wind and of the sea become a wildness inside of his mind. He says, there was that jumble in

[Faith Moore]

my thoughts and recollections that I had

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

lost the clear arrangement of time and distance. Thus, if I had gone out into the town, I should not have been surprised, I think, to encounter someone who I knew must be then in London, so to speak. There was, in these respects a curious inattention in my mind. Yet it was busy, too, with all the remembrances. The place naturally awakened, and they were particularly distinct and vivid. And he finds himself kind of wrapped

[Faith Moore]

up in the storm that's inside of

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

him and the storm that's outside of him, so that he can't really tell the difference between what's real and what's not. And everything seems sort of unsettled and froz. Frightening, he says. The howl and roar, the rattling of the doors and windows, the rumbling in

[Faith Moore]

the chimneys, the apparent rocking of the

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

very house that sheltered me and the prodigious tumult of the sea were more fearful than in the morning.

[Faith Moore]

But there was now a great darkness besides.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And that invested the storm with new

[Faith Moore]

terrors, real and fanciful.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Okay, so this idea of the storm outside and the storm inside, it's brought home, I think, by this really haunting image of David trying to see stare out of the window at the storm, but instead he sees only himself. Here's what he I got up several times and looked out, but could see nothing except the reflection in the window

[Faith Moore]

panes of the faint candle I had

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

left burning and of my own haggard

[Faith Moore]

face looking in at me from the black void.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And so this feeling of being like in the storm, and also somehow that the storm is in him, it causes him to have a sort of presentiment of doom. And on the one hand there is

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

actually a tragedy coming Right, These two deaths.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But we also that David's own grief is coming and that he will soon be swallowed up by it. At least that's what he has told us. And I think that it's the fear

[Faith Moore]

of both of these things that he's

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

feeling when he finds himself sort of inexplicably afraid. He says, I fell into a dull slumber before the fire without losing my consciousness.

[Faith Moore]

Either of the uproar out of doors or of the place in which I

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

was both became overshadowed by a new and indefinable horror. And when I awoke, or rather when I shook off the lethargy that bound me in my chair, my whole frame

[Faith Moore]

thrilled with objectless and unintelligible fear.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Okay, so we've got the sort of metaphorical or even metaphysical version of this storm, which is happening to David and in David. And then we've got the very real repercussions of the actual storm and what it does.

[Faith Moore]

But even that, in a way, is

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

a metaphor for the damage that has been caused by Emily running off with Steerforth. Because it's because Emily ran off that Ham has become a man who doesn't care about his own life. He's not, like, suicidal, and he's not even really depressed, but he just doesn't care if he lives or dies. Here's a quote he says. Master Davy, he said cheerily, grasping me by both hands, if my time is come, tis come. If it can't, I'll bide it. Lord above, bless you and bless all mates. Make me ready.

[Faith Moore]

I'm a going off.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Okay, so there's a way in which Ham welcomes death because his life is already over.

[Faith Moore]

If he can't be with Emily.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And he's swallowed up by a literal storm, but he's already been swallowed up by a metaphorical storm when Emily essentially ruined his life and ran off with Steerforth. But the awful irony of the whole situation, of course, is that the man that Ham dies trying to save is

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

the man that Emily ran off with. And I actually think I could probably write, like, a whole paper or something

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

about this because I find it so

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

fascinating and so beautiful and it kind of heartbreaking way.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But suffice it to say that Dickens

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

is doing something here with time.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Because all of the things that David

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

says about the man that turns out

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

to be Steerforth have to do with the way that Steerforth was before he decided to seduce and run off with Emily. In fact, it never even says Steerforth's

[Faith Moore]

name in the chapter.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

We just know it's Steerforth because of

[Faith Moore]

what David says about him.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And everything he says has to do with the way that Steerforth was at school.

[Faith Moore]

Here's the first thing that David tells us.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

He says he had a singular red cap on, not like a sailor's cap,

[Faith Moore]

but of a finer color.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And as the few yielding planks between him and destruction rolled and bulged and his anticipative death knell rung, he was

[Faith Moore]

seen by all of us to wave it.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

I saw him do it now and thought I was going distracted when his action brought an old remembrance to my mind of a once dear friend. Okay, so this man on the ship is waving his hat, and he's waving it here as a request for help,

[Faith Moore]

obviously, but it could also be a

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

sort of carefree, exuberant greeting in another context.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

Right?

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

He's waving his hat. So David is reminded of the Steerforth that he knew at school when he was dear friends with Steerforth, who, remember, at that time, he wasn't all bad. I mean, he had a very easy,

[Faith Moore]

very charming way about him.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And he did protect David and support him in a way. So there's a way in which somehow how this Steerforth on the ship is

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

not the Steerforth that ruined everyone's lives,

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

but the somewhat more innocent Steerforth from school. And then at the end, when Steerforth

[Faith Moore]

is there lying dead on the beach,

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

David says that he looks just the

[Faith Moore]

way he used to look when he was asleep at school.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Here's what he says.

[Faith Moore]

And on that part of it, it being the beach where she and I

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

had looked for shells to children, on that part of it where some lighter fragments of the old boat blown down last night had been scattered by the wind among the ruins of the home he had wronged, I saw him lying

[Faith Moore]

with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And so again, lying with your head on your arm, asleep is a kind of carefree, comfortable way to sleep. So there's kind of an echo here of Emily saying that when she's in

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

heaven, she will be a child again

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

and come to Ham. It's sort of like in death, Steerforth has gone back to the boy he was, who might have chosen a different path. Maybe, like you once said to David, maybe if he'd had better role models and been less spoiled, then he could have gone a different way. And I think the fact that it's Ham who ends up trying to save the man who took away the only girl he'd ever loved, it just further lifts Ham up as a kind of second Mr. Peggotty, a saint like sort of character. David says they drew him to my very feet.

[Faith Moore]

Insensible, dead. He was carried to the nearest house

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

and no one preventing me now. I remained near him, busy, while every means of restoration were tried. But he had been beaten to death by the great wave and his generous

[Faith Moore]

heart was stilled forever.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Because I kind of think that even if Ham had known it was Steerforth in the boat, he might have saved him.

[Faith Moore]

I don't know.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

I mean, maybe not, but he might have. And I think Steerforth and Ham dying together is sort of Dickens's way of saying, setting back the clock. Steerforth is now the boy that he once was, and Ham is now waiting in heaven for Emily to come to

[Faith Moore]

him whenever she dies, too.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And it's really. It's really so sad and so beautiful. So we know that David is going

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

to have to walk through the desert of grief at some point soon.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

We know that the immigrants will have to leave for Australia soon, unless something happens to prevent them.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And the chapters are dwindling down.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

And I think the question that remains here is, what is the end for David? What brings the David that we've been following up to meet the David who's been telling us this story? And who is that David and what is his life like now? Those are the things we need to find out.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

And there's only one way to find

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

them out, which is to keep reading. So we're going to do that now. But of course, don't forget to write to me. I know I'm away, but I'll be

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

very happy to receive your emails while I'm on vacation.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

It's faithkmore.com and click on Contact.

[Faith Moore]

Or you can scroll into the show

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

notes and and click the link that's there.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

It's the same link and it goes

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

right to my email. And I would love to hear your thoughts and questions and comments, even though I'm away.

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

So please do write it.

[Faith Moore]

All right, let's get started with chapter 56 of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's story time. Chapter 56, the new wound and the Old. No need o Steerforth to have said when we last spoke together in that hour which I so little deemed to be our parting hour, no need to have said, think of me at my best. I had done that ever and could I change now looking on this sight, they brought a hand bier and laid him on it and covered him with

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

a flag and took him up and

[Faith Moore]

bore him on towards the houses all the Men who carried him had known him and gone sailing with him, and seen him merry and bold. They carried him through the wild roar, a hush in the midst of all the tumult, and took him to the cottage where death was already meaning. They brought him to the same house where Ham's body is lying. But when they set the bier down on the threshold, they looked at one another and at me and whispered. I knew why they felt as if it were not right to lay him down in the same quiet room. They don't think that Steerforth and Ham should be in the same room even in death. We went into the town and took our burden to the inn. So soon as I could at all collect my thoughts. I sent for Joram and begged him to provide me a conveyance in which it could be got to London in the night. I knew that the care of it, and the hard duty of preparing his mother to receive it could only rest with me, and I was anxious to discharge that duty as faithfully as I could. I chose the night for the journey, that there might be less curiosity when I left the town. But although it was nearly midnight when I came out of the yard in a chaise, followed by what I had in charge, there were many people waiting at intervals along the town and even a little way out upon the road, I saw more, but at length only the bleak night and the open country were around me, and the ashes of my youthful friendship. Upon a mellow autumn day about noon, when the ground was perfumed by fallen leaves, and many more in beautiful tints of yellow, red and brown, yet hung upon the trees through which the sun was shining, I arrived at Highgate. I walked the last mile, thinking as I went along of what I had

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

to do, and left the carriage that

[Faith Moore]

had followed me all through the night, awaiting orders to advance. The carriage is carrying Steerforth's body. The house, when I came up to it, looked just the same. Not a blind was raised, no sign of life was in the dull paved court with its covered way leading to the disused door. The wind had quite gone down, and nothing moved. I had not at first the courage to ring at the gate, and when I did ring, my errand seemed to me to be expressed in the very sound of the bell. The little parlour maid came out with the key in her hand and looking earnestly at me as she unlocked the gate, said, I beg your pardon, sir. Are you ill? I have been much agitated and am fatigued.

[Rosa Dartle]

Is anything the matter, sir, Mr. James?

[Faith Moore]

Hush, said I. Yes, something has Happened that I have to break to Mrs. Steerforth. She is at home. The girl anxiously replied that her mistress was very seldom out now, even in a carriage, that she kept her room, that she saw no company but would see me. Her mistress was up, she said, and Miss Dardle was with her. What message should she take upstairs? Giving her a strict charge to be careful of her manner and only to carry in my card and say I waited. I sat down in the drawing room, which we had now reached, until she should come back. Its former pleasant air of occupation was gone, and the shutters were half closed. The harp had not been used for many and many a day. His picture as a boy was there. The cabinet in which his mother had kept his letters was there. I wondered if she ever read them now, if she would ever read them more. The house was so still that I heard the girl's light step upstairs. On her return she brought a message to the effect that Mrs. Steerforth was an invalid and could not come down, but that if I would excuse her being in her chamber, she would be glad to see me. In a few moments. I stood before her. She was in his room, not in her own. I felt, of course, that she had taken to occupy it in remembrance of him, and that the many tokens of his old sports and accomplishments by which she was surrounded remained there just as he had left them. For the same reason she murmured, however, even in her reception of me, that she was out of her own chamber because its aspect was unsuited to her infirmity, and with her stately look repelled the least suspicion of the truth. At her chair, as usual, was Rosa Dartle. From the first moment of her dark eyes resting on me, I saw she knew I was the bearer of evil tidings. The scar sprung into view that instant. She withdrew herself a step behind the chair to keep her own face out of Mrs. Steerforth's observation, and scrutinized me with a piercing gaze that never faltered, never shrunk. I am sorry to observe you are in mourning, sir, said Mrs. Steerforth. I am, unhappily a widower, said I. You are very young to know so great a loss, she returned. I am grieved to hear it. I am grieved to hear it. I hope time will be good to you. I hope time, said I, looking at her, will be good to all of us. Dear Mrs. Steerforth, we must all trust to that in our heaviest misfortunes. The earnestness of my manner and the tears in my eyes alarmed her. The whole course of her thoughts appeared to stop and change. I tried to command my voice in gently saying his name, but it trembled. She repeated it to herself two or three times in a low tone. Then, addressing me, she said with enforced calmness, my son is ill, very ill. You have seen him? I have. Are you reconciled? I could not say yes. I could not say no. She slightly turned her head towards the spot where Rosa Dardle had been standing at her elbow. And in that moment I said by the motion of my lips to rosa dead that Mrs. Steerforth might not be induced to look behind her and read plainly written what she was not yet prepared to know. I met her look quickly, but I had seen Rosa Dardall throw her hands up in the air with vehemence of despair and horror, and then clasp them on her face. The handsome lady, so like, oh, so like, regarded me with a fixed look and put her hand to her forehead. I besought her to be calm and prepare herself to bear what I had to tell.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

But I should rather have entreated her

[Faith Moore]

to weep, for she sat like a stone figure. When I was last here, I faltered. Miss Dardle told me he was sailing here and there the night before last was a dreadful one at sea. If he were at sea that night and near a dangerous coast, as it is said he was, and if the vessel that was seen should really be the ship which Rosa said, Mrs. Steerforth, come to me. She came, but with no sympathy or gentleness. Her eyes gleamed like fire as she confronted his mother and broke into a frightful laugh.

[Rosa Dartle]

Now, she said, is your pride appeased, you mad woman? Now has he made atonement to you with his life. Do you hear? His life?

[Faith Moore]

Mrs. Steerforth, fallen back stiffly in her chair and making no sound but a moan, cast her eyes upon her with a wide stare. I cried Rosa, smiting herself passionately on the breast, look at me.

[Rosa Dartle]

Moan and groan. And look at me.

[Faith Moore]

Look here. Striking the scar at your dead child's handiwork. The moan the mother uttered from time to time went to my heart, Always the same, always inarticulate and stifled, always accompanied with an incapable motion of the head, but with no change of face. Face always proceeding from a rigid mouth and closed teeth, as if the jaw were locked and the face frozen up in pain.

[Rosa Dartle]

Do you remember when he did this?

[Faith Moore]

She proceeded?

[Rosa Dartle]

Do you remember when, in his inheritance of your nature and in your pampering of his pride and passion, he did this and disfigured me for life? Look at me. Marked until I die with his high Displeasure and moan and groan for what you made him.

[Faith Moore]

Miss Dardle, I entreated her.

[Rosa Dartle]

For heaven's sake.

[Faith Moore]

I will speak, she said, turning on me with her lightning eyes. Be silent, you.

[Rosa Dartle]

Look at me, I say, proud mother of a proud son. Moan for your nurture of him. Moan for your corruption of him. Moan for your loss of him. Moan for mine.

[Faith Moore]

She clenched her hand and trembled through

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

her spare, worn figure as if her

[Faith Moore]

passion were killing her by inches.

[Rosa Dartle]

You resent his self will.

[Faith Moore]

She exclaimed.

[Rosa Dartle]

You, injured by his haughty temper. You, who opposed to both when your hair was gray, the qualities which made both when you gave him birth. You, who from his cradle reared him to be what he was and stunted what he should have been. Are you rewarded now for your years of trouble?

[Faith Moore]

Oh, Miss Dardle's shame.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Oh, cruel.

[Faith Moore]

I tell you, she returned.

[Rosa Dartle]

I will speak to her. No power on earth should stop me. While I was standing here have I been silent all these years, and shall I not speak now? I loved him better than you ever loved him.

[Faith Moore]

Turning on her fiercely, I could have

[Rosa Dartle]

loved him and asked no return. If I had been his wife, I could have been the slave of his caprices. For a word of love a year. I should have been. Who knows it better than I? You were exacting, proud, punctilious, selfish. My love would have been devoted, would have trod your poultry whimpering under foot.

[Faith Moore]

With flashing eyes she stamped upon the ground as if she actually did it. Look here, she said, striking the scar again with a relentless hand.

[Rosa Dartle]

When he grew into the better understanding of what he had done, he saw it and repented of it. I could sing to him and talk

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

to him and show the ardor that I felt in all he did and

[Rosa Dartle]

attain with labor to such knowledge as most interested him. And I attracted him when he was freshest and truest. He loved me. Yes, he did. Many a time when you were put off. With a slight word, he has taken me to his heart.

[Faith Moore]

She said it with a taunting pride in the midst of her frenzy, for it was little less, yet with an eager remembrance of it, in which the smouldering embers of a gentler feeling kindled. For the moment I descended as I

[Rosa Dartle]

might have known I should, but that he fascinated me with his boyish courtship into a doll, a trifle for the

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

occupation of an idle hour to be

[Rosa Dartle]

dropped and taken up and trifled with as the inconstant humour took him. When he grew weary, I grew weary. As his fancy died out, I would no more have Tried to strengthen any power I had than I would have married him on his being forced to take me for his wife. We fell away from one another without a word.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Perhaps you saw it and were not sorry.

[Rosa Dartle]

Since then I have been a mere disfigured piece of furniture between you both, having no eyes, no ears, no feelings, no remembrances. Moan. Moan for what you made him, not for your love. I tell you that the time was when I loved him better than you ever did.

[Faith Moore]

She stood with her bright, angry eyes confronting the wide stare and the set face, and softened no more when the moaning was repeated than if the face

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

had been a picture.

[Faith Moore]

Miss Dartle, said I, if you can be so obdurate as not to feel

[Rosa Dartle]

for this afflicted mother who feels for

[Faith Moore]

me, she sharply retorted, she has sown this.

[Rosa Dartle]

Let her moan for the harvest that

[Faith Moore (pre-recorded segments)]

she reaps to day.

[Faith Moore]

And if his faults. I began, Faults. She cried, bursting into passionate tears.

[Rosa Dartle]

Who dares malign him? He had a soul worth millions of the friends to whom he stooped.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

No one can have loved him better,

[Faith Moore]

no one can hold him in dearer remembrance than I, I replied. I meant to say, if you have no compassion for his mother, or if his faults you have been bitter on them.

[Rosa Dartle]

It's false.

[Faith Moore]

She cried, tearing her black hair.

[Rosa Dartle]

I loved him.

[Faith Moore]

If his faults cannot, I went on, be banished from your remembrance in such an hour. Look at that figure, even as one you have never seen before, and render it some help. All this time the figure was unchanged and looked unchangeable, motionless, rigid, staring, moaning in the same dumb way from time to time, with the same helpless motion of the head, but giving no other sign of life.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

Miss Dardle suddenly kneeled down before it

[Faith Moore]

and began to loosen the dress. A curse upon you, she said, Looking round at me with a mingled expression of rage and grief.

[Rosa Dartle]

It was in an evil hour that

[Faith Moore]

you ever came here.

[Rosa Dartle]

A curse upon you. Go.

[Faith Moore]

After passing out of the room, I hurried back to ring the bell, the

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

sooner to alarm the servants.

[Faith Moore]

She had then taken the impassive figure in her arms and still upon her knees was weeping over it, kissing it, calling to it, rocking it to and fro upon her bosom like a child, and trying every tender means to rouse the dormant senses. No longer afraid of leaving her, I noiselessly turned back again and alarmed the house as I went out. Later in the day, I returned and we laid him in his mother's room. She was just the same. They told me Miss Dardle never left. Her doctors were in attendance. Many things had been tried, but she lay like a statue, except for the low sound now and then I went through the dreary house and darkened the windows. The windows of the chamber where he lay I darkened last. I lifted up the leaden hand and held it to my heart, and all the world seemed death and silence, broken only by his mother's moaning. Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters. Is there anything you'd like me to clarify? Did something particularly interest you? Please go to my website, faithkmoore.com, click on Contact and send me your questions and thoughts. Or you can click on the link in the Show Notes to contact me.

[Faith Moore (live commentary)]

I'll feature one or two of your

[Faith Moore]

entries at the start of the next episode. Speaking of links, don't forget to take a look at the other links in the Show Notes. You can learn more about me, check out our Merch store, or become a member of the Storytime for Grown Ups online community. Before I go, I'd like to ask a quick favor. This is an independent podcast. It's produced, recorded and marketed by me, so I need your help. Spread the word about the show by posting about it on social media or texting a link to your friends. Subscribe, tap those five stars and leave a positive review wherever you're listening. If you are able to support the show financially, there's a link in the Show Notes to make a donation. I would really, really appreciate it. Alright everyone, story time is over to be continue.