Dr. Strong

Dr. Strong, David Copperfield’s former schoolmaster, is a courteous teacher and devoted scholar whose retirement from education does not end his work: it turns his attention toward a dictionary and brings David back into his daily life as a secretary. His story joins professional labor to personal loyalty. He receives his former pupil as an honored guest, offers generous help to Jack Maldon, and seeks to support his old friend Mr. Wickfield, even as a later scene shows him distressed in a private crisis he cannot resolve alone.

Identity and Background

Dr. Strong has been David’s schoolmaster in Canterbury, and his recollections of David as an old pupil give their later reunion a history of trust. By the time David is considering how to earn his living, the Doctor has acted on a long-discussed intention to retire from school life and has moved to London. His retirement is not an abrupt break with his past: he remains occupied with learned work and retains the warmth of a teacher welcoming someone who once belonged to his school.

The decision to leave teaching has taken time. When Dr. Strong tells Mr. Wickfield that he wants a quieter life and will relinquish his young people within six months, Wickfield observes that he has been saying this for ten years. The Doctor insists that this time he means it. The exchange presents retirement not as a sudden change of character but as the eventual fulfilment of a familiar intention. His plans include two subjects that continue to occupy him: the dictionary and Annie, his wife.

Retirement and the Dictionary

After leaving scholastic life, Dr. Strong devotes himself to compiling his dictionary. He says that he has been advancing wonderfully with it since retiring, and that morning and evening work would suit him: he expects to walk during the day with his thoughts on the project. The dictionary thus gives shape to his new routine. Teaching has ended, but sustained intellectual work remains central to his life.

David’s employment grows directly out of this project. Agnes tells him that Dr. Strong has moved to London and asked Mr. Wickfield to recommend a secretary. She suggests that the Doctor would prefer his favorite old pupil to a stranger. David writes to offer his services, delighted both by the chance to earn his own living and by the prospect of working for his former master. When the Doctor welcomes him at his cottage in Highgate, he takes David by both hands and expresses pleasure at seeing the grown man his pupil has become.

David’s first hope is to work on the dictionary, and the Doctor responds with delighted approval: David has guessed correctly. The arrangement pairs David’s paid work with the Doctor’s long-standing scholarly ambition. The work, however, includes practical difficulties. Jack Maldon has offered occasional assistance as an amanuensis, or copyist, without being accustomed to the task. His mistakes complicate the manuscript; so do the soldiers and women’s heads he has sketched over it, leaving David to untangle obscurities. The detail makes the dictionary a real, imperfect working undertaking rather than a merely decorative sign of scholarship.

Generosity and Old Friendships

Dr. Strong’s care for other people appears in his dealings with Jack Maldon. When Jack may return from abroad because of ill health, the Doctor says he will not insist on his original plans: Jack must not be sent back, and they should seek a more suitable and fortunate provision for him in England. The offer is made freely, though Mrs. Markleham is surprised by its generosity. Dr. Strong’s willingness to revise his plans puts Jack’s welfare ahead of a rigid commitment to an arrangement already made.

His friendship with Mr. Wickfield also shapes his activity after retirement. Wickfield is described as an old friend, and Dr. Strong wants to talk with him and do him good. Agnes and her father visit the Doctor together; Agnes has arranged lodging nearby for Mrs. Heep, whose rheumatism calls for a change of air, and Uriah Heep soon arrives with his mother. The visit places Dr. Strong’s home within a network of friendship and practical assistance, though it also brings Heep into his immediate circle.

A later glimpse of the Doctor in his study is markedly different from the warmth of his reunion with David. David finds Uriah standing close by the lamp, one hand over his mouth and the other on the table, while Dr. Strong sits with his face covered and Mr. Wickfield leans toward him, troubled and uncertain. David initially thinks the Doctor may be ill; the Doctor gestures for him to stay. Uriah then closes the open door and insists that the matter need not become known to the whole town. The scene establishes the Doctor’s distress and the pressure of secrecy around it, without making David’s first impression of illness the explanation for what he sees.

Character and Narrative Significance

Dr. Strong’s conduct makes his retirement a continuation of service rather than a withdrawal from other people. He gives David work suited to his own needs, welcomes him with affection, and offers Jack a revised prospect when the original plan threatens to become unsuitable. These actions contrast with the impersonal or harsh institutions David has encountered elsewhere: the Doctor’s authority is associated with personal welcome, friendship, and consideration rather than punishment or exploitation.

The dictionary also provides a concrete measure of the Doctor’s character. It absorbs his attention after years of intending to retire, gives David a meaningful place in his new working life, and requires them to deal with the untidy manuscripts left by Jack’s unsuccessful assistance. The Doctor’s pleasure when David chooses this work links scholarly purpose with their former teacher-pupil bond. Through him, David’s passage into adult employment is not simply a matter of finding an occupation; it becomes a return to a trusted relationship, now reshaped as a partnership in daily work.