Uriah Heep

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Uriah Heep
David Copperfield character
Fred Barnard07.jpg
Drawing by Fred Barnard
Created byCharles Dickens
FamilyMrs. Heep (mother)


In the novel[edit]

David first meets the 15-year-old Heep when he comes to live with Mr Wickfield and his daughter Agnes, in chapter 15:



Art by Frank Reynolds (1910).

Much of David Copperfield is autobiographical, and some scholars believe Heep's mannerisms and physical attributes to be based on Hans Christian Andersen,[2][3] whom Dickens met shortly before writing the novel. Uriah Heep's schemes and behaviour are more likely based on Thomas Powell,[4] employee of Thomas Chapman, a friend of Dickens. Powell "...ingratiated himself into the Dickens household" and was discovered to be a forger and a thief, having embezzled £10,000 from his employer. He later attacked Dickens in pamphlets, calling particular attention to Dickens' social class and background.

Characterisations of real people[edit]

The characteristics of grasping manipulation and insincerity can lead to a person being labelled "a Uriah Heep" as Lyndon Johnson is called in Robert Caro's biography The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Seymour Fleming, a character in the play Babes in Arms, is also called Uriah Heep.[citation needed] Author Philip Roth once compared President Richard Nixon to Uriah Heep.[5] More recently, historian Tony Judt used the term to describe Marshal Philippe Pétain of the French Vichy government.[6] Pakistani-British historian and leftist political commentator Tariq Ali likened Pakistani dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to the character. Late Australian journalist Padraic (Paddy) McGuinness, writing in the Australian Financial Review, referred to former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating as Uriah Heep, after a fawning interview on ABC television in which Mr. Keating, the owner of extensive real estate holdings and a man generally acknowledged to have a robust ego, affected great humility.

Film and television[edit]

In film and television adaptations, the character has been played by Peter Paget (1934),[7] Roland Young (1935), Colin Jeavons (1966), Ron Moody (1969), Martin Jarvis (1974), Paul Brightwell (1986), Nicholas Lyndhurst (1999) and Frank MacCusker (2000).[8]

Cultural references[edit]

The British rock band Uriah Heep is named after the character.[9] In the BBC television series Blake's 7, the computer character Slave was described by Peter Tuddenham, who voiced it, as "...a Uriah Heep type of character...."[10] A reference to the "'umble' Uriah Heep is the arrant hypocrite" is given in Augustus Hopkins Strong's Systematic Theology[11] In Robert A. Caro's The Path to Power, Lyndon B. Johnson is said to have resembled the personality of Uriah Heep.[12] A reference to the character of Uriah Heep exists in the Half Life 2 franchise. A friendly NPC character of one of the aliens from the game was considered, during development, to be a companion to the player for parts of the game, named "Heep". This idea was scrapped in the original game but recycled for Half-Life 2: Episode Two, where a lab assistant of the same species is named Uriah.


  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary.
  2. ^ "Who's who in Dickens", by Donald Hawes. Thursday 1 October 2009.
  3. ^ "Masterpiece Theatre: David Copperfield". Retrieved 2009-10-01.
  4. ^ "The Extraordinary Life of Charles Dickens". Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  5. ^ Philip Roth. "Breast Baring." Vanity Fair October 1989: 94.
  6. ^ Tony Judt, Postwar,Vintage 2010, p. 113
  7. ^ "Peter Paget". British Pathé. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  8. ^ "Uriah Heep". IMDb. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
  9. ^ Kirk Blows. "Uriah Heep Story". www.uriah-heep.com. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  10. ^ Tony Attwood; et al. (1994). Blake's 7: The Programme Guide. London: Virgin Books. p. 225.
  11. ^ Strong August Hopkins (1907). Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. p. 832.
  12. ^ Robert A. Caro (1982). The Path to Power. New York: Random House, Inc. p. 489.

External links[edit]