1st Place, Critical Essay, 2021 Literary Awards
In the search to understand identity and desire, same-sex relationships have become an important pillar of modern literature. Authors such as James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, and Oscar Wilde have explored such relationships, whether subtly or openly. For example, Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, first published in 1956, is more about what happens to a person if they are afraid to love and less about homosexuality in general, but the story explores homosexual desire, nonetheless. Since homosexuality in literature was more socially acceptable when Baldwin wrote Giovanni’s Room than it was in the 19th century, it is difficult to find homoerotic subtext in novels by Victorian authors. However, the subtext exists. Dickens’ David Copperfield is one such example of Victorian literature that explores same-sex relationships, though much more subtly than Baldwin, showing Dickens’ ambivalence about the subject. Written around a century earlier than Giovanni’s Room, David Copperfield brings up similar ideas about desire and the different roles it can have in one’s life. David Copperfield and James Steerforth’s relationship is one of the most interesting in the novel, both because of the homoerotic nature of David’s desires and Steerforth’s manipulation of these desires. However, David’s desire toward Steerforth is not only homoerotic but Oedipal, too. Therefore, what is the role of Steerforth in David’s life? Is he a father-figure, lover, manipulator, or all three?
David, who never knew his father and lost his mother at a young age, did not have a strong paternal figure growing up, excluding the abusive Mr. Murdstone. Using a psychoanalytic lens and Freud’s idea of the Oedipus Complex, one can argue that Steerforth is, in part, a stand-in for David’s father. Generally, the Oedipus Complex explains that a male desires to be with his mother, feeling resentment towards his father. However, according to Freud, a male “might want to take the place of his mother and be loved by his father, in which case his mother would become superfluous” (Freud 176). Additionally, Steerforth plays the role of a manipulator, of using David’s dependency against him for his own gain. In the process of this manipulation, Steerforth degrades David’s masculinity, once again showing Dickens’ hesitation toward homoerotic attraction. James Steerforth of Dickens’ David Copperfield serves as a father figure to David, who was denied a true masculine figure to look up to as a child. David leaves behind his desire for his mother, who was weak, in favor of the powerful and corrupt Steerforth. Their relationship is both Oedipal in nature and homoerotic at times, placing Steerforth in the position of a lover in David’s eyes. However, as David becomes so engrossed in the relationship, he fails to see Steerforth’s manipulation and degradation of his own masculinity.
David Copperfield’s desire towards his mother is challenged when Mr. Murdstone arrives, and ultimately, this desire dies when she dies, leaving David without any parental figure or object of desire. David’s distrust and distaste of Mr. Murdstone is made apparent from one of their first meetings. David explains, “I didn’t like him or his deep voice, and I was jealous that his hand should touch my mother’s in touching me – which it did” (Dickens ch. 2). This is the moment in the novel where David begins to realize that his desires for his mother are being threatened by someone else, that she could have another person in her life to show affection towards. David and Mr. Murdstone become rivals in the fight for his mother’s desire. This rivalry is highlighted by Freud when he writes, “The boy regards his mother as his own property; but he finds one day that she has transferred her love and solicitude to a new arrival” (Freud 173). Mr. Murdstone represents this “new arrival,” and David’s jealousy in having someone else touch his mother shows his realization of this. Mr. Murdstone’s “deep voice” represents a kind of masculinity that David does not currently possess, as he is still a child; therefore, David feels inferior to Mr. Murdstone, whose desire for David’s mother wins her over, leaving David behind. Through Mr. Murdstone’s abuse, David learns to “subjugate his desire for his mother, under the threat of punitive physical force” (Buckton 197). David’s initial desire for his mother gets buried with her when she dies as he laments, “The mother who lay in the grave, was the mother of my infancy; the little creature in her arms, was myself, as I had once been, hushed for ever on her bosom” (Dickens ch. 9). The dead child in her arms represents the death of David’s desire, a desire that is now “hushed” forever. Additionally, David’s mother is holding him close to her “bosom,” similar to their position in the previous quote from the novel. Only this time, there is no one around to threaten David’s desire. In this sense, David’s mother can be viewed as weak for refusing to stand up to Mr. Murdstone’s abuse towards herself and her child or simply for dying. Either way, David is now left with no mother, no father, and no object of desire. With his desire for his mother labeled as weak, David looks to masculine figures to support him and love him, namely, James Steerforth.
Early on in their relationship, James Steerforth serves as a father figure to David, who admires and looks up to his power. Later in David’s life, when his and Steerforth’s relationship is at its strongest, David reflects on Steerforth’s role in his early days, saying, “he was my dearest friend, the protector of my boyhood, and the companion of my prime” (Dickens ch. 24). “Protector” is important here because fathers often take on the role of protecting their children. According to Freud, “the father was the foremost provider and protector” (Loewald 755). Mr. Murdstone was not a source of protection for David, so Steerforth naturally takes the position of a father figure when he becomes a protector for David. After his mother dies, David is in need of someone who will look after him, and his Oedipal desire turns toward Steerforth. One night at Salem House, David reflects on his new friend James, saying, “I thought of him very much after I went to bed, and raised myself, I recollect, to look at him where he lay in the moonlight, with his handsome face turned up, and his head reclining easily on his arm. He was a person of great power in my eyes; that was, of course, the reason of my mind running on him” (Dickens ch. 6). In this quote, David is idealizing Steerforth as someone he admires, someone whose power should be revered. While David wants to focus on this power, the last sentence seems to suggest that he is convincing himself of this, whereas the first half of the quote tells a different story. There is a tenderness to the moonlight and to David’s gaze on Steerforth, a tenderness that David tries to cover up with the masculine idea of power. Nevertheless, Steerforth is someone David looks up to and respects as an older figure of power, and his tender admiration suggests there may be a deeper desire there. This idea of homoerotic desire is evident in other parts of the novel as the pair’s relationship develops and as Steerfoth becomes more of a lover to David than a father.
David’s attraction towards Steerforth turns homoerotic, and Steerforth becomes a type of lover for him. While most of the evidence to prove this idea comes later in the novel, there are hints during the pair’s time at Salem House that allude to David’s desires. One night, David explains, “I heard that Miss Creakle was regarded by the school in general as being in love with Steerforth; and I am sure, as I sat in the dark, thinking of his nice voice, and his fine face, and his easy manner, and his curling hair, I thought it very likely” (Dickens ch. 6). Through his identification with Mr. Creakle’s daughter, David allows himself to “catalog those aspects of Steerforth that appeal to him most” (Furneaux 178). Because David is looking through the eyes of Miss Creakle, his desire toward Steerforth is permissible because it can be argued that the desire is not really his. Of course, this argument is only a cover to make David feel better about his true homoerotic desire toward Steerforth. David having these thoughts about Steerforth in the dark is representative of the idea that he would not be allowed to love Steerforth in broad daylight or in public. While he thinks it “very likely” that Miss Creakle could fall in love with Steerforth, he is actually insinuating that he would also find it very likely to fall in love with him. When David is on his way to Dover and sleeps on the Salem House grounds he dreams about his school days “and found myself sitting upright, with Steerforth’s name upon my lips, looking wildly at the stars that were glistening and glimmering above me…a feeling stole upon me that made me get up, afraid of I don’t know what, and walk about” (Dickens ch. 13). While this reaction is passionate and intense, it is also vulnerable. David expresses a sense of vulnerability and a need for comfort, resting within his dependence on Steerforth. This vulnerability is “somewhat assuaged by the proximity of his old dormitory,” and the “feeling” that David is afraid of could either be his desire for Steerforth or his need to be protected by him (Oulton 6). As David moves into adulthood, his homoerotic desire for Steerforth becomes more apparent.
David’s homoerotic desire toward Steerforth continues throughout his life, solidifying Steerforth’s position as a lover for David. When David meets Steerforth’s friends from Oxford, he admits that he is “so fond of” Steerforth, that he feels “quite jealous of his Oxford friends” (Dickens ch. 24). This jealousy comes from the attention that Steerforth gets from his friends, attention that is not directed at David. David is dependent on Steerforth, but David realizes here that Steerforth is not dependent on him at all. Additionally, David is excluded from Steerforth and his group of friends, “for his admiring fixation on Steerforth places him in a clearly subordinate position” (Buckton 203). The idea of David’s masculinity and role in his relationship with Steerforth will be explored further on, but this interpretation is important for this quote because it shows David’s dependency on Steerforth as well as his desire and admiration. Later in this same scene, there is an admission of this admiration that is one of the most intense in the novel. David explains, “I broke my glass in going round the table to shake hands with him, and I said (in two words) ‘Steerforth—you’retheguidingstarofmyexistence’” (Dickens ch. 24). There is a connection that can be made between this moment and the moment when David wakes up on the grounds of Salem House, thinking of Steerforth while he looks at the stars. Of course, this admission is a drunken one, one that David perhaps would not make otherwise. However, because David is drunk, his inhibitions are down, and his innermost thoughts come out, whether they are appropriate or not. Stars are thousands of miles away, suggesting that David feels Steerforth is far away from him. This distance could be based on Steerforth’s status or on the idea that David and Steerforth can never be together sexually or romantically in the way David desires. Additionally, Steerforth’s position as David’s guiding star is a dominant one; he leads while David follows. David and Steerforth’s relationship is ultimately a manipulative one, and David is blind to this manipulation at first, having to hear about it from the people around him.
Because David is so engrossed in his Oedipal and homoerotic desires for Steerforth, he fails to see how toxic the relationship actually is, until people like Agnes and Miss Mowcher bring Steerforth’s ill intentions to light. Agnes, characterized as David’s “good angel,” tells him, “ʻI judge [Steerforth], partly from your account of him, Trotwood, and your character, and the influence he has over you… I caution you that you have made a dangerous friend’” (Dickens ch. 25). This quote comes right after David tries to defend Steerforth to Agnes, explaining that the drunken night at the theater was a one-off event. If Agnes is David’s “good angel,” then Steerforth is certainly his “bad angel,” both of them sitting on his shoulders and whispering into his ears about the other. Agnes’ observation of Steerforth as “dangerous” is interesting because even though Steerforth might not present as a physical danger to David, he is a danger to David in terms of identity. Agnes has seen that David is not himself when he is around Steerforth, and she perceives Steerforth as someone who could have a bad influence on David’s identity. In the presence of Steerforth, David is in a position of submission and Steerforth uses David to feel stronger and better about himself; he is a corrupt man, and everyone but David seems to understand this. After Steerforth leaves with Emily, Miss Mowcher, in conversation with David, reveals, “ʻHe was crossing you and wheedling you, I saw; and you were soft wax in his hands, I saw’” (Dickens ch. 32). In Miss Mowcher’s eyes, Steerforth has been intentionally using flattery to soften David up in order to get to Emily. The fact that David was “soft wax” means that Steerforth could mold him any way he pleased. Steerforth preys on David’s desire and uses it to his advantage; he never reciprocates the homoerotic feelings that David has for him. It is only after David takes a step back from their relationship that he realizes this, too. A part of this manipulation and “molding” of David and his desire is Steerforth’s intentional acts to emasculate David and make him feel lesser.
Steerforth’s manipulation takes the shape of degrading David’s masculinity and placing him in a position of submission. One piece of evidence of this emasculation is David’s nickname of “Daisy,” which is exclusively used by Steerforth. One interpretation of this nickname could be that it is “scarcely-veiled homoeroticism” in which Steerforth calls David “Daisy” to make Steerforth’s own homoerotic desires more acceptable, as Daisy is a woman’s name and a delicate flower (Buckton 201). However, Steerforth rarely shows any form of homoerotic desire toward David; that desire is mostly one-sided. Therefore, the interpretation that best fits this nickname is one in which “Daisy” works to feminize David to put him in a more submissive role in the relationship. This way, David will not question Steerforth’s motives and will blindly trust him. This feminine nickname effectively diminishes “David’s status as a subject and a hero of the novel” (Buckton 202). For Steerforth to manipulate David in the way he wants, he has to put David in the position of a woman to be able to effectively do so. Another piece of evidence that speaks to the feminization of David is a conversation he and Steerforth have one night at Salem House:
“You haven’t got a sister, have you?” said Steerforth, yawning.
“No,” I answered.
“That’s a pity,” said Steerforth. “If you had had one, I should think she would have been a pretty, timid, little, bright-eyed sort of girl. I should have liked to know her. Good-night, young Copperfield.”
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, chap. 6
Of course, this scene somewhat foreshadows Steerforth’s seduction of Emily, the figurative sister of David throughout the novel, but it also shows the beginnings of Steerforth’s feminization of David. This fantasy of David having a sister “serves to emphasize the feminine attributes and appearance of David himself” (Buckton 202). At this point, David already looks up to Steerforth as a father-figure; he admires Steerforth’s power and protective nature. Not too far into the future, David’s homoerotic desires develop and come out. He is almost obsessed with Steerforth and becomes putty in his hands, making Steerforth’s manipulation easy. Steerforth is someone who needs to feel stronger and more powerful than his counterparts, and by emasculating David, he is ensuring that David will never rise above him.
James Steerforth’s role in David Copperfield’s life is threefold: father figure, lover, and manipulator. David’s Oedipal desire for his mother is destroyed by both Mr. Murdstone’s threatening presence and her death, leaving him without a strong parental figure until he meets Steerforth. As their relationship develops, David’s desire becomes homoerotic. Therefore, “Steerforth represents the father-figure who is, at the same time, an object of the erotic gaze” (Buckton 203). Additionally, Steerforth manipulates David to get closer to Emily and in doing so, emasculates David to make him more submissive. David is blind to this manipulation at first, needing to be told of it by Agnes and Miss Mowcher. The relationship between Steerforth and David shows the complexity of Charles Dickens’ characters as they take on different roles and have different motives. While their relationship is one-sided, in that David put more affection and honest love into it, his life is shaped by his experiences with Steerforth. Once seemingly similar characters, David and Steerforth end up in two very different situations; Steerforth is dead by the end of the novel and David is a successful man. Dickens’ overall comment about friendships and relationships, then, is that it pays off to have honest intentions and that those intentions have a bigger effect on one’s future than the nature of one’s desires.
Works Cited
Buckton, Oliver S. “The Reader Whom I Love”: Homoerotic Secrets in” David Copperfield.” ELH 64.1 (1997): 189-222.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Penguin, 2004. Kindle.
Freud, Sigmund. “The dissolution of the Oedipus complex.” The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): The Ego and the Id and Other Works. 1961. 171-180.
Furneaux, Holly. “Charles Dickens’s families of choice: Elective affinities, sibling substitution, and homoerotic desire.” Nineteenth-Century Literature 62.2 (2007): 153-192.
Loewald, Hans W. “The waning of the Oedipus complex.” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 27.4 (1979): 751-775.
Oulton, Carolyn. “” My Undisciplined Heart”: Romantic Friendship in David Copperfield.” Dickens Quarterly 21.3 (2004): 157.
Anna VanSeveren is an English Creative Writing and Communication & Media Studies major from Green Bay, WI who likes to play piano in her free time. She will be attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Fall 2021 for an MS in Library and Information Science.
