 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2022) |
| Dora Spenlow | |
|---|---|
| David Copperfield character | |
 David falls for Dora Art by Frank Reynolds (1910) | |
| Created by | Charles Dickens |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Francis Spenlow (father) Clarissa Spenlow (aunt) Lavinia Spenlow (aunt) David Copperfield (husband) |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | British |
Dora Spenlow is a character in the 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. She is beautiful but childish. David, who is employed by her father, the lawyer Mr Spenlow, falls in love with Dora at first sight and marries her. She proves unable to cope with the responsibilities of married life and is more interested in playing with her dog, Jip, than in keeping their house. All this has a profound effect on David, but he still loves her. A year into their marriage, she suffers a miscarriage; her health steadily declines until she dies.
In 1830, Dickens met his first love, Maria Beadnell, thought to have been the model for the character Dora in David Copperfield. Maria's parents disapproved of the courtship and ended the relationship by sending her to school in Paris.[1]
Charles Dickens named his daughter Dora Annie Dickens after the character on her birth in 1850, but she died the following year at the age of eight months.
- ^ Davis, Paul (1998). Charles Dickens A to Z. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8160-2905-1