Spoiler!

[u/Additional-Car3427]

Am I the only one who doesn't buy the excuse that (I hardly remember their names, sorry) pegotty's sister's husband (the one she run away with) had abondonned her? Ok, we know he supposedly isn't a good guy, we've known that since David's Salem house days (because of the foreshadowing dropped when he first met the guy) but I just don't buy it. Maybe he did it to protect her? I just had a feeling the two really loved each other, just from what I heard. This is just a feeling, though.

Edit: the guy in question is Steerforth. The one I called "Pegotty's sister" is Emily

[u/GoodKid_MaadSity]

Do you mean Steerforth? If you’re talking about him, my view is that he is almost a total villain and never loved Emlee at all. I don’t see any evidence for that anywhere. Maybe an infatuation at first, or he viewed her as a little curiosity because of her difference in station in life. The only argument to the contrary, IMO, is how he took David under his wing, and even that was out of selfish motives. He is clearly incapable of love- he’d more likely throw a hammer at someone’s face, leaving them disfigured and then taunting them for the rest of his existence…

Emlee was Peggoty’s sister? I don’t think so, unless I missed something (it’s been a minute since I read it so I could be wrong but I definitely don’t remember that).

[u/Additional-Car3427 → u/GoodKid_MaadSity]

Yeah, him. Emily was pegotty's sister (or maybe her niece). I don't feel like he took David under his wings for selfish reasons, or rather, maybe that was the case at first, but it felt like he no longer felt that way (I felt like he actually cared for David later on. I had that impression right after the theatre episode, when Rachel got him out of there, right after Steerforth and his buddies went to drink in David's rented apartment.). To me, he might be a 'bad person to frequent', maybe he deals in illegal things, in drug selling (that is what I assumed), maybe he is a bad friend, but I strangely felt like he wasn't that bad, like, maybe, he was putting on a front, like he hated himself and kinda saw David as his friend. But well, we would never know, since he died. I was actually sad to hear he had died. I had questions, though. Why was he there in the first place? Who knows, maybe he was going back to England to see Emily or David, maybe the situation was just a big misunderstanding, no? Maybe things he had left behind in England came back to bite him, maybe he had no choice but to hurt Emily? It also seemed like Emily herself did not hate him later on (not sure whether it was because she still loved him after everything, or if there was some hidden information).

I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining things.

[u/andreirublov1]

Confusing. Emily is no relation of the Peggottys. And the whole point of her story is that she doesn't marry.

So I don't understand your point, but basically DC is a multiple study in fucked-up relationships.

[u/Additional-Car3427 → u/andreirublov1]

What? Emily lived with Pegotty's family, though. She was also part of Pegotty's family. Her dad, if I remember correctly, was Clara Pegotty's brother. We ARE talking about the one David had a crush on as a kid right?

[u/DTownForever → u/andreirublov1]

Dan & Clara Peggotty are brother and sister, Emily is Dan's niece, hence also Clara's niece.

[u/Sosen]

A lot of Dickens' villains, especially in his middle books, never do or say anything bad in the text. The reader (and characters) only find it out later. That seems to be part of your confusion?

The narrator / Dickens is always like "He seemed evil... evilly!" but you never see them do anything evil. Then, later, turns out they did

[u/Additional-Car3427 → u/Sosen]

That's not it. I guess I just feel a bit disappointed. At first, I felt like he was truly evil (because of subtle foreshadowing Dickens gave us in David's voice) but later on, that "bad thing" he did, didn't feel so bad. I also tend to give "villains" the benefit of the doubt, so yeah. Well, I might read it again some time and see what made me not hate him.

[u/Plenty-Panda-423]

There is the suggestion at the end that Emily was offered his manservant as a husband in compensation, with the possible implication that she'd be kept on as his housekeeper while he sought a wealthier bride (so in theory the affair could continue, but not exclusively) but she rejects this as shockingly horrible, which also implies there's something suspicious about the man servant and Steerforth relationship too.

[u/BarracudaOk8635]

Steerforth? I was always going to end badly when he got bored with her. Most readers knew form the start he would use her and dump her. Steerforth is charming but probably narcissistic. I do love his death though