Norwood

Norwood is the home of Mr. Spenlow and the setting of David Copperfield’s first encounter with Dora Spenlow. Its carefully kept garden and welcoming house frame the visit that changes David’s connection to his employer into an overwhelming romantic fascination; afterward, Norwood also gives that attachment a route and a destination, as David repeatedly walks its road hoping to see Dora.

The invitation and setting

After David becomes articled to Mr. Spenlow, his employer invites him to stay at the Norwood house from Saturday until Monday, promising to drive him there and back in his phaeton. The visit follows a day at Doctors’ Commons, where the legal proceedings have delayed their departure. For the young clerk, the journey is also an approach to a home he has heard about through the office’s stories of its comforts and hospitality.

The house stands in a lovely, well-kept garden. David notices its lawn, clusters of trees, and perspective walks beneath trellis-work, which he can make out in the dark. Inside, the cheerful lighting and busy hall of hats, coats, gloves, whips, and walking sticks establish a hospitable domestic setting before he has met his host’s daughter.

David meets Dora

Mr. Spenlow introduces David to Dora and her confidential friend in a room near the breakfast room. David’s response is immediate: he describes himself as captivated and in love with Dora before he has had sense to say anything to her. His impression turns the meeting into a decisive moment in his personal history, though it reveals more about the force of his idealization than about any developed relationship between them.

Norwood as a recurring destination

After the visit, David makes repeated journeys through London and along the Norwood Road in the hope of seeing Dora. At rare intervals he catches sight of her glove in a carriage window or meets and walks with her briefly, sometimes in the company of Miss Murdstone. Those encounters leave him distressed that he has said too little, that Dora may not understand his devotion, or that she may not care for him. He keeps hoping for another invitation to Mr. Spenlow’s house, but none comes during this period.

Norwood therefore marks both the beginning of David’s infatuation and the distance between his intense private feelings and the limited contact he actually has with Dora. The house and its road become focal points for a courtship largely sustained, at first, by his anticipation and repeated attempts to catch a glimpse of her.