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“She Brings Everything To A Grindstone”: Sympathy And The Paid Female Companion's Critical Work In David Copperfield, Lauren Hoffer

Faculty Publications

In David Copperfield, Charles Dickens employs Rosa Dartle, Mrs. Steerforth's paid female companion, as an agent of his narrative. The companion in Victorian literature is an ambiguous figure whose status as a genteel insider and outsider within the domestic circle makes her a unique vehicle for the disclosure of important information the narrative cannot otherwise convey. Companions in the nineteenth century were hired to provide company, amusement, and, most important, a sympathetic ear for their mistresses' confidences. But, as Dickens and other Victorian writers show, this purchased sympathy-for-hire can be corrupted and distorted to serve the companion's own selfish …