Italy

Italy appears in David Copperfield as a stage in Daniel Peggotty’s determined search for Emily. He crosses the sea to reach it and wanders from place to place, sustained by the kindness of the people he encounters. News that Emily has been seen among the Swiss mountains then gives his journey a new direction.

A Way Station in the Search

Daniel Peggotty recounts that, as a seafaring man, he found it possible to make his way over to Italy. He had been travelling in search of his niece, and in Italy he continued to wander as he had before. The country is presented through this movement rather than through a detailed description of its cities or landscape.

Kindness Along the Road

The people Daniel Peggotty meets in Italy are good to him. Their welcome accompanies the practical difficulty of a journey whose destination remains uncertain: he expects to continue from town to town, perhaps through the country, until news changes his course. His account holds his grief and the hospitality he receives together without suggesting that kindness can end his search.

The Route Turns Toward the Alps

Word reaches Daniel Peggotty that Emily has been seen among the Swiss mountains, travelling with two others. He sets out for those mountains, which seem to recede as he advances, until he eventually crosses them and nears the place indicated. Italy therefore functions as a transitional location in the longer pursuit: a place of temporary welcome, but also the point from which fresh information sends him onward toward Emily.