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Passage Illustrated: Fashionably attired David and Steerforth visit Rosa Dartle

When the evening was pretty far spent, and a tray of glasses and decanters came in, Steerforth promised, over the fire, that he would seriously think of going down into the country with me. There was no hurry, he said; a week hence would do; and his mother hospitably said the same. While we were talking, he more than once called me Daisy; which brought Miss Dartle out again.

"But really, Mr. Copperfield," she asked, "is it a nickname? And why does he give it you? Is it — eh? — because he thinks you young and innocent? I am so stupid in these things."

I coloured in replying that I believed it was.

"Oh!" said Miss Dartle. "Now I am glad to know that! I ask for information, and I am glad to know it. He thinks you young and innocent; and so you are his friend. Well, that’s quite delightful!" [Chapter XX, "Steerforth's Home," 297]

Commentary: Rosa enjoys embarrassing David at the Steerforths' home in Highgate

When David visits James Steerforth's home at Highgate, he meets his friend's doting widowed mother and her combative companion, Rosa Dartle. The companion bears a scar prominently on her face which resulted from a childhood accident, which we find out about later. After the death of Rosa's parents, Mrs. Steerforth had engaged her as a companion out of a sense of responsibility to her as a relative. Rosa and Steerforth therefore grew up together, and in adolescence were romantically involved — according to Rosa, she was the object of Steerforth's "truest" love. Unfortunately, Steerforth's spoiled upbringing and consequent selfishness ruined the relationship. Although Rosa continued to love Steerforth exclusively and obsessively, Steerforth flirted with Rosa as a way of passing the time between a succession of lovers. Such a trying relationship distorted Rosa, turning her into the woman David now meets: bitter, sarcastic, and frustrated. Rosa's warped personality is reflected in her physical appearance, for the scar on her face comes from a time when Steerforth lost his temper and threw a hammer at her.

The scene that Furniss has realised, then, only appears urbane, sophisticated, and superficial. The illustrator makes Rosa's face a mere mask, and indicates her inferior social station by the plainness of her dress. She is in immediate attendance on the elderly but fashionably dressed Mrs. Steerforth, who is appropriately the largest figure in the composition. Steerforth's handsome, aloof profile is repeated in the mirror, centre, and in the portrait (upper left). Although both young men are immaculately dressed in the fashionable evening attire of the mid-Victorian period, Furniss makes Steerforth (standing listlessly) utterly disengaged, whereas earnest, sympathetic David is clearly attending to what the women have to say.

Other Studies of Rosa Dartle from Other Editions (1867 and 1872)

eft: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s dual character study of the David's mother and her knowing companion: Mrs. Steerforth and Rosa Dartle (Diamond Edition, 1867). Right: Fred Barnard's version of Rosa seems appropriate to her perceptive and witty banter: "Oh, really? You know how ignorant I am, and that I only ask for information, but isn't it always so? I thought that kind of life was on all hands understood to be — eh?" (Household Edition, 1872). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1849 through 1910)

• Hablot Knight Browne's Forty steel engravings for the Chapman and Hall Edition (May 1849 through November 1850)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
• Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
• Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 wood engravings for the Diamond Edition (1867)
• Fred Barnard's 62 Composite Woodblock Engravings for the Household Edition (1872)

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.

_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.

Hammerton, J. A., ed. The Dickens Picture-Book: A Record of the the Dickens Illustrations. London: Educational Book, 1910.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.

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Created 9 March 2022