David Copperfield Timeline and Summary

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• David is born at 12:00 AM on a Friday.
• His great-aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood, hears that David is a boy rather than a girl. She decides not to become his godmother.
• David is raised by his child-like mother and his nurse, Peggotty.
• He notices that Mrs. Copperfield starts receiving visits from a handsome, stern gentleman named Mr. Murdstone.
• Peggotty invites David on a trip to her family's house in Yarmouth. He meets Emily, Ham Peggotty, and Mr. Peggotty.
• David gets a huge crush on Emily.
• David comes home to find his mother married to Mr. Murdstone.
• Mr. Murdstone brings his hostile sister, Miss Murdstone, to live with his new wife and son.
• Together, Mr. and Miss Murdstone emotionally abuse the Copperfields.
• Finally, Mr. Murdstone persuades Mrs. Copperfield to send David away to school.
• David attends Salem House, a run-down school run by Mr. Creakle.
• There, David meets his new hero, James Steerforth, and his dear friend, Tommy Traddles.
• Salem House is an awful school, in which all of the boys are regularly beaten.
• David spends two semesters at Salem House being whipped regularly by Mr. Creakle and growing closer to Steerforth.
• While he is still at school, David hears the news that his mother and new baby brother have both died.
• David leaves Salem House.
• Mr. Murdstone no longer wants to support his stepson, David, so he sends David to his wine bottling plant in London.
• David becomes a child factory worker.
• He rents a small room with the extremely jolly but also spendthrift Micawber family.
• The Micawbers are arrested for being in excessive debt.
• David runs away from Mr. Murdstone's factory.
• He walks from London to Dover, a distance of 73 miles.
• In Dover, he meets his great-aunt, who is so moved by his ragged appearance that she takes him in.
• Miss Betsey pays for David to go to a new, much better, school in Canterbury. The school is run by the kindly Doctor Strong, and David does very well there under his training.
• While a student with Doctor Strong, David boards with the Wickfields.
• Mr. Wickfield is Miss Betsey's business manager. His daughter, Agnes, keeps house for him.
• David comes to regard Agnes as a sister.
• He is less taken with Mr. Wickfield's clerk, Uriah Heep, who has a cold and deceitful manner.
• David finishes school at 17 and is ready to start a new profession.
• Miss Betsey suggests that David become a proctor, which is a kind of lawyer who deals in documents and so on. David plans to think it over.
• David heads to Yarmouth (where the Peggottys live) to visit his old nurse.
• On his way to Yarmouth, David bumps into Steerforth at an inn.
• David rekindles his friendship with Steerforth. The two head to Steerforth's mother's house before going on to visit the Peggottys together.
• All of the Peggottys adore Steerforth, and David has a lovely time in Yarmouth.
• David notices that Mr. Peggotty's niece Emily seems shy and reserved around her fiancé, Ham Peggotty. He finds her awkwardness with Ham odd.
• Before leaving Yarmouth, David decides to become a proctor.
• Miss Betsey pays a thousand pounds for David to become an apprentice at the proctor office of Spenlow and Jorkins. David rents a new apartment in London and sets up his adult life.
• While moving in his new legal social circles, David meets up with Traddles again. Traddles is now a lawyer in London, and the two of them become close friends.
• Tommy Traddles is living in a house rented by the Micawbers. David befriends the Micawber family again.
• David falls in love with the boss's daughter, Dora Spenlow. Dora is a lovely, naive, spoiled girl.
• He hears that his old nurse Peggotty's husband has not got long to live. He plans a trip to Yarmouth to visit him before he passes away.
• At Yarmouth, David witnesses Mr. Barkis pass away.
• He is also on hand when the Peggottys receive awful news: Emily has deserted Ham to run away with Steerforth. All this time, Steerforth has been hanging around Yarmouth in secret, trying to seduce Emily away.
• David returns to London filled with a sense of betrayal at the behavior of his best friend.
• Back in London, David finds the Wickfields visiting. He is horrified to learn that the evil Uriah Heep has developed so much control over Mr. Wickfield.
• Uriah Heep tells David in secret that he plans to marry Agnes one day. David is disgusted.
• David receives a sudden surprise visit from Miss Betsey: she has lost all of her money, and she and her ward Mr. Dick are both homeless.
• To support his poor aunt, David gets two more jobs: he starts taking dictation at government debates, and he gets a job as a secretary for his old teacher, Doctor Strong.
• David continues his courtship of Dora Spenlow.
• With the help of Dora's chaperone Miss Murdstone (!!), Mr. Spenlow discovers love letters from David to his daughter. He forbids David from falling in love with Dora.
• That very night, Mr. Spenlow suddenly dies, leaving Dora with very little money.
• David goes to meet Dora's next closest relatives: her two aunts, Miss Clarissa and Miss Lavinia. They agree to allow Dora to marry David.
• Miss Betsey sends David to check on her property in Dover.
• David visits the Wickfields. Uriah Heep has officially become Mr. Wickfield's business partner.
• Uriah Heep has officially hired Mr. Micawber as his new law clerk. Mr. Micawber won't say anything bad about his new boss.
• David and Dora eventually get married.
• They move into a little cottage in Highgate, near Doctor Strong.
• David is finding some success as a fiction writer. He is working incredibly hard to support his new wife.
• Dora has a lot of difficulty with basic household tasks. She cries whenever she has to think about anything too serious.
• David slowly becomes disappointed with life with Dora.
• He and Dora are too different to be happily married.
• Even so, David loves Dora and wants her to be happy.
• Dora begins to grow ill.
• David gets a letter from his old friend, Mr. Micawber, asking David and Traddles to come and see Mr. Micawber in Canterbury.
• Before going to Canterbury, David gets a visit from Mr. Peggotty.
• Mr. Peggotty has been searching for the lost Emily all of this time.
• Finally, David hears word of where Emily is from a shared acquaintance, Martha Endell.
• David watches as Mr. Peggotty comes to rescue Emily from the dive in London that she's wound up in after running away from Steerforth.
• David, Traddles, and Miss Betsey all go to meet Mr. Micawber for this mysterious showdown.
• Mr. Micawber can't keep silent any more. He has collected evidence of Uriah Heep's fraud and blackmail of Mr. Wickfield.
• David finds out that Miss Betsey's money wasn't lost after all; it was just hidden by Uriah Heep to make his old rival David's life harder.
• Uriah Heep is now out of the picture.
• Mr. Micawber has done the right thing, but he now has no income (again). So, he agrees that the best thing would be for his family to sail to Australia.
• Dora grows sicker and sicker, and David must come to terms with the fact that she might die.
• Finally, on her deathbed, Dora sends David out of the room. She wants to impart her last words to Agnes Wickfield, who is there nursing Dora.
• Dora passes away.
• David starts making plans to go to Europe after Dora's death.
• Before he leaves, Mr. Peggotty brings David a letter from Emily to Ham Peggotty.
• David goes to Yarmouth. There is a strong storm going on.
• While David is sheltering at an inn, he hears that a ship is struggling just off shore.
• Ham Peggotty tries to swim to the ship, but the sea is too strong and he drowns.
• The man on the struggling ship also drowns: it's James Steerforth.
• David takes Steerforth's body to his mother, Mrs. Steerforth.
• He goes to the London docks to watch the ship bound for Australia. It's carrying the Micawbers, Mr. Peggotty, Emily, Martha Endell, and Mrs. Gummidge.
• David heads to Europe for three years.
• He realizes that he has been in love with Agnes Wickfield all of this time.
• When he gets back to England, he finishes off his novel.
• David sees Agnes regularly, but he doesn't confess his love – he thinks that boat has sailed. After two months back in England, David can't stand the stress anymore – he asks Agnes how she feels.
• Agnes loves David, and the two get engaged.
• David finds out Dora's last words to Agnes: Dora told Agnes not to let anyone else marry David unless it's Dora herself.
• He's overjoyed that Dora would have approved.
• David and Agnes get married and have lots of kids.
• They live happily ever after, surrounded by friends and family.