You should notice and
make it clear that there are two parts in the extract, two locations and two
sets of characters. Make sure you know where and when both take place, the
characters’ motivations and the implicit information.
Uriah’s plot unravels.
His plan is ripe, he
can now carry it out. He begins by break Dr Strong morally by telling him that
there is an affair between Annie and Maldon.
However, Uriah is even
more odious for making David and Mr Wickfield his accomplices against their
will.
The climax of David and Uriah’s confrontation.
This passage is a
focal point in the novel insomuch as the tension built up around Uriah comes to
a climax in the slap David gives him.
David’s confrontation
with Uriah takes a physical form.
Note the consequences
of this blow:
Uriah stops calling
David “Master Copperfield” and starts calling him “Copperfield”. The meaning is
double: David is no longer a child, he has grown up (a positive meaning for
him); or Uriah finally stops patronizing him and considers him as an equal (an
ambivalent consequence for David).
Nevertheless, Uriah
still resorts to his old tricks: once more, he tells David that he always liked
him and that he is so humble.
Uriah’s “forgiveness”
is the crowning of this strategy: he puts himself in the position of a victim
and David in that of an assailant: he takes the moral high ground.
He tells David he will
keep the incident a secret, so that David will once more be inextricably tied
to Uriah. This impossibility to get rid of Uriah is symbolized by his following
David when he leaves the house.
An ambiguous passage: David finally becomes “of age”, himself. Yet he is still torn between himself and other personalities: Uriah seizes his hand when he touches him; Uriah’s cheeks shows the mark of his hand; Uriah shows David that he knows him better than he knows himself and can therefore manipulate him. Notice that Uriah constantly calls David by name, as if to establish contact and proximity, whereas David never utters Uriah’s name, as if he didn’t want to acknowledge his opponent.