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Uriah Heep is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel ''David Copperfield''. The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'humbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man.〔''(Oxford English Dictionary )''.〕 He is the central antagonist of the latter part of the book. ==In book== David first meets the 15-year-old Heep when he is living with Mr. Wickfield and his daughter Agnes, in chapter 15: :''(face ) was quite as cadaverous as it had looked in the window, though in the grain of it there was that tinge of red which is sometimes to be observed in the skins of red-haired people. It belonged to a red-haired person—a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older—whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony's head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise.'' Heep has been employed as clerk to Wickfield for four years, since he was eleven. Heep's father, who instilled in him the need to be humble, died when Uriah was ten, and for the first part of the novel he lives alone with his mother in their "umble abode". Copperfield takes an immediate and permanent dislike to Uriah, in spite of the latter's persistent, if insincere attempts to win his friendship. Heep addresses Copperfield as "Master Copperfield" well into their adulthood, an indication of his true patronising view. Heep is repeatedly described as ugly and repulsive, even in his youth - tall, lank and pale with red hair and lashless eyes. Dickens negatively emphasizes Heep's movements as well, described as jerking and writhing; this leads some literary scholars to believe Dickens is describing a form of dystonia, a muscular disorder, to increase Heep's snakelike character. Like most Dickens villains, Heep is motivated mainly by greed, but in his character there is a commentary on the English class system. Heep eventually reveals his lifelong resentment at being the object of charity and low expectations. "They used to teach at school (the same school where I picked up so much umbleness), from nine o'clock to eleven, that labour was a curse; and from eleven o'clock to one, that it was a blessing and a cheerfulness, and a dignity, and I don't know what all, eh?" His thwarted ambition is the driving force behind his machinations. As Uriah works for Wickfield over the years, he teaches himself law at night, and by blackmailing Mr. Wickfield, gains control over his business. His ambition is to marry Agnes and gain control of the Wickfield fortune. Heep is eventually stymied by Mr. Micawber and Tommy Traddles, with help from David and Agnes. With his treachery exposed, he is allowed to go free. He turns up later in prison, sentenced for "fraud on the Bank of England" and awaiting transportation to an Australian penal colony. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Uriah Heep」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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