Charles Dickens — David Copperfield Question: Compare and contrast the characters of Dora and Agnes. Ans . In the artistic pattern of the story Dora and Agnes are presented as studies in contrast. Both of them are presented as the objects of love to David, who married them successively. It has been said that the character of Dora is based on Dickens' first love, Maria Beadnell, with whom he had an abortive and unfortunate love-affair at the age of seventeen. The ardours and miseries of the future novelist are represented in the chapters dealing with the David-Dora love-affair. Agnes is drawn after Catherine Hogarth, the dear wife and life-long companion of the mature Dickens, who made a happy home for him. Somerset Maugham has condemned both the characters as "fearfully tiresome". According tb him, "Dora is too silly and too childish and Agnes is too good and too sensible". In this lies the contrast between the two. Dora is the 'child-wife' of David. Her...