Wilkins Micawber
Encyclopedia
Wilkins Micawber is a fictional character
from Charles Dickens
's 1850 novel, David Copperfield
. He was modelled on Dickens's father, John Dickens
, who like Micawber was incarcerated in debtors' prison (the King's Bench Prison
) after failing to meet his creditors' demands.
Micawber's long-suffering wife, Emma, stands by him despite his financial exigencies that force her to pawn
all of her family's heirloom
s. She lives by the maxims, "I will never desert Mr. Micawber!" and "Experientia does it!" (from Experientia docet, "One learns by experience.")
Micawber is hired as a clerk by the scheming Uriah Heep
, who assumes wrongly that Micawber's debts arise from his dishonesty. But working for Heep allows Micawber to expose his boss as a forger and a cheat. To start anew, Micawber and his family emigrate to Australia
with Daniel Peggotty and Little Em'ly, where Micawber becomes manager of the Port Middlebay Bank and a successful government magistrate
.
In Hablot Knight Browne
's illustrations for the first edition, Micawber is shown wearing knee-breeches, a top hat
, and a monocle
.
Great Britain's pre-decimal currencies were pounds, shillings, and pence
, abbreviated £, s, and d. Thus "nineteen pounds nineteen and six" was £19/19/6d, six pence less than twenty pounds, and "twenty pounds ought and six", £20/0/6d, is six pence more than twenty pounds.
The character was played by W.C. Fields in the 1935 screen classic, Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
. Bob Hoskins
took the role in a 1999 BBC serial
.
Keith Richards
of the Rolling Stones named one of his guitars (an early '50s Fender
Telecaster with a Gibson
PAF
humbucking
pickup
installed in the neck position) "Micawber." Richards is known to be a fan of Dickens. Of the unusual moniker attached to the instrument, Richards said, "There's no reason for my guitar being called Micawber, apart from the fact that it's such an unlikely name. There's no one around me called Micawber, so when I scream for Micawber everyone knows what I'm talking about."
In addition, the character formed the basis of Micawber, a 2001 ITV drama series written by John Sullivan
and starring David Jason
in the title leading role.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's 1850 novel, David Copperfield
David Copperfield (novel)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...
. He was modelled on Dickens's father, John Dickens
John Dickens
John Dickens was the father of English novelist Charles Dickens and was the model for Mr Micawber in his son's semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield.-Biography:...
, who like Micawber was incarcerated in debtors' prison (the King's Bench Prison
King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison...
) after failing to meet his creditors' demands.
Micawber's long-suffering wife, Emma, stands by him despite his financial exigencies that force her to pawn
Pawnbroker
A pawnbroker is an individual or business that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral...
all of her family's heirloom
Heirloom
In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....
s. She lives by the maxims, "I will never desert Mr. Micawber!" and "Experientia does it!" (from Experientia docet, "One learns by experience.")
Micawber is hired as a clerk by the scheming Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel David Copperfield.The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'umbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man...
, who assumes wrongly that Micawber's debts arise from his dishonesty. But working for Heep allows Micawber to expose his boss as a forger and a cheat. To start anew, Micawber and his family emigrate to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with Daniel Peggotty and Little Em'ly, where Micawber becomes manager of the Port Middlebay Bank and a successful government magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
.
In Hablot Knight Browne
Hablot Knight Browne
Hablot Knight Browne was an English artist, famous as Phiz, illustrator of books by Charles Dickens, Charles Lever and Harrison Ainsworth.-Biography:...
's illustrations for the first edition, Micawber is shown wearing knee-breeches, a top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
, and a monocle
Monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the vision in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string. The other end of the string is then connected to the wearer's clothing to avoid losing...
.
Popular culture
Micawber is known for asserting his faith that "something will turn up". His name has become synonymous with someone who lives in hopeful expectation. This has formed the basis for the Micawber Principle, based upon his observation:- "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
Great Britain's pre-decimal currencies were pounds, shillings, and pence
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...
, abbreviated £, s, and d. Thus "nineteen pounds nineteen and six" was £19/19/6d, six pence less than twenty pounds, and "twenty pounds ought and six", £20/0/6d, is six pence more than twenty pounds.
The character was played by W.C. Fields in the 1935 screen classic, Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 American film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield...
. Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
took the role in a 1999 BBC serial
David Copperfield (1999 film)
David Copperfield is a two part BBC television drama adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield, adapted by Adrian Hodges. The first part was shown on Christmas Day and the second on Boxing Day in 1999...
.
Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
of the Rolling Stones named one of his guitars (an early '50s Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
Telecaster with a Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
PAF
PAF (pickup)
P.A.F. or just PAF is the world's first humbucker guitar pickup, invented by Seth Lover in 1955 as an engineer for Gibson and began use in mass production guitars in 1956 or 1957. However Rickenbacker and Gretsch had developed humbucking pickups also...
humbucking
Humbucker
A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup, first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal. Humbuckers have higher output than a single coil pickup since both coils are connected in series...
pickup
Pickup (music technology)
A pickup device is a transducer that captures mechanical vibrations, usually from suitably equipped stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, electric bass guitar, Chapman Stick, or electric violin, and converts them to an electrical signal that is amplified, recorded, or broadcast.-...
installed in the neck position) "Micawber." Richards is known to be a fan of Dickens. Of the unusual moniker attached to the instrument, Richards said, "There's no reason for my guitar being called Micawber, apart from the fact that it's such an unlikely name. There's no one around me called Micawber, so when I scream for Micawber everyone knows what I'm talking about."
In addition, the character formed the basis of Micawber, a 2001 ITV drama series written by John Sullivan
John Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends....
and starring David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
in the title leading role.
Entry into general English
The character of Wilkins Micawber has given rise to the English noun "Micawber" and the adjective "Micawberish". The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a Micawber as "one who is poor but lives in optimistic expectation of better fortune".Quotations
Besides the Micawber Principle, Micawber is notable for a number of memorable quotations:- I have no doubt I shall, please Heaven, begin to be more beforehand with the world, and to live in a perfectly new manner, if -if, in short, anything turns up. - (Chapter 11)
- Every happiness and prosperity! If, in the progress of revolving years, I could persuade myself that my blighted destiny had been a warning to you, I should feel that I had not occupied another man's place altogether in vain. - (Chapter 12)
- You HEEP of infamy! - (Chapter 52)
- I trust that the labour and hazard of an investigation -of which the smallest results have been slowly pieced together, in the pressure of arduous avocations, under grinding penurious apprehensions, at rise of morn, at dewy eve, in the shadows of night, under the watchful eye of one whom it were superfluous to call Demon, combined with the struggle of parental Poverty to turn it, when completed, to the right account, may be as the sprinkling of a few drops of sweet water on my funeral pyre. I ask no more. Let it be, in justice, merely said of me, as of a gallant and eminent Naval Hero, with whom I have no pretensions to cope, that what I have done, I did, in despite of mercenary and selfish objectives, "FOR ENGLAND, HOME AND BEAUTY." Remaining always, &c, &c, Wilkins Micawber.
- Welcome poverty!..Welcome misery, welcome houselessness, welcome hunger, rags, tempest, and beggary! Mutual confidence will sustain us to the end!
Quotations from the 1935 film
- Boy, as I have frequently had occasion to observe: "When the stomach is empty, the spirits are low!"
- Remember my motto "Nil Desperandum! -Never despair!"
Quotation from the BBC TV/Masterpiece Theatre production
- (featuring Bob HoskinsBob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
as Micawber) "I could not depart this metropolis without paying a valedictory visit to my dear friend Copperfield, in whose debt I shall forever remain (I speak metaphorically of course!)"
Sources
- Bloom, Harold. (1992) David Copperfield (Major Literary Characters Series). New York: Chelsea House Publishers.
- Hawes, Donald. (2002) Who's Who in Dickens. 2nd. ed. London: Routledge
- Oddie, W. (1967) "Mr. Micawber and the redefinition of experience." The Dickensian 63:109.