W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1990 The Role of Alter Egos Within "David Copperfield" Stephanie Alane Eskins College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Eskins, Stephanie Alane, "The Role of Alter Egos Within "David Copperfield"" (1990). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626990. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-52nr-0g06 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE ROLE OF ALTER EGOS WITHIN DAVID COPPERFIELD A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Stephanie Eskins 1990 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts iphanie Eskins Approved, July 1990 ,y!M Deborah Morse er dez ,y T Terry /Meyers THE ROLE OF ALTER EGOS WITHIN DAVID COPPERFIELD ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to portray the role of alter egos within David Copoerfield. David Copperfield1s autobiography attempts to order the events of his past into a coherent story so that he can create his own identity. The process is a difficult one for David, however, for he is caught in a cycle of repression and repetition resulting from a conflict between the compelling force of imagination and the desire for temperance; though David experiences instinctual sexual and aggressive fantasies, he continually represses them, for he feels he must assert society's values.