Dickens Treatment of Funerals in "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield"

Abstract or Introduction

Charles Dickens´s view on funerals in Victorian England is widely known. The descriptions of burials in "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield" mirror that “[s]howy and elaborate funerary display had been a longstanding grievance with” him. Beside this critical view on burials and its procedure and features, the funerals in these narrations differ noticeably in the way they are presented and in the way they are treated by the author. By comparing "Dombey and Son" with "David Copperfield" and by carefully analyzing the funerals pictured in these narrations, one has to admit that there is no overall critique view on this particular Victorian custom. As a matter of fact, Dickens finds fault with the histrionic character of funerals, the absurd rules and conventions of this ritual and the funeral homes that consider a human being´s death a bonanza. But still, the funerals in "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield" have the function of expressing grief or even the meaning of connecting characters to each other. Especially Dickens characterization of Mr Omers funeral does not only mirror Dickens´s reservation against burials. Hence, Dickens finds fault with the Victorian funeral´s theatrical and ritual character as well as he questions an excessively enrichment by death. Yet, as it is expressed in "David Copperfield", he tones down his critique by the positive characterization of the undertaker Mr Omer and his family. To justify this thesis, the funerals of Fanny Dombey, Paul Dombey and David´s vistit at Mr Omer´s will be analyzed on the way they are treated by the author.