Soul-mates: David Copperfield's Angelic Bigamy

By the time David Copperfield appeared in 1850, most Victorians felt that heaven was unimaginable without their worldly identity and relationships. But while evangelical ministers and authors of death-consolation literature promised a social and marital reunion in heaven, they also worried about the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Victorian Studies 2010, Vol.52 (2), p.191-218
Main Author:	McAleavey, Maia
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1800-1899 Afterlife Angelology Authors Bigamy British & Irish literature Browning, Robert (1812-1889) Children David Copperfield David Copperfield (1849-1850) Death Dickens, Charles Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) English Literature Future life in literature Heaven history literary studies Love Marriage Marriage in literature Nineteenth Century Nonfiction novel Novels Religion Religious aspects Remarriage Soul Spouses Theology Victorian period Victorian studies Victorian studies, history, literary studies Victorians
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Summary:	By the time David Copperfield appeared in 1850, most Victorians felt that heaven was unimaginable without their worldly identity and relationships. But while evangelical ministers and authors of death-consolation literature promised a social and marital reunion in heaven, they also worried about the status of remarriage in an eternally present afterlife. This essay first examines a variety of complex Victorian responses to the promise and problem of a conjugal heaven and then unfolds the eschatology of David Copperfield . The seemingly conservative language of Victorian angelology unexpectedly allows for David's fantasy that he will share heaven with his two sequential wives.
ISSN:	0042-5222 1527-2052 1527-2052