Quote 1
'Oh, indeed you must excuse me, Master Copperfield! I am greatly obliged, and I should like it of all things, I assure you; but I am far too umble. There are people enough to tread upon me in my lowly state, without my doing outrage to their feelings by possessing learning. Learning ain't for me. A person like myself had better not aspire. If he is to get on in life, he must get on umbly, Master Copperfield!' (17.54)
When David first arrives at the Wickfield house and finds Uriah Heep working hard to become a lawyer, he offers to teach Latin to Uriah. And Heep thanks him but claims that he is "far too umble" to learn. But when Uriah Heep says he "had better not aspire," we think he means that he sees no hope in improving his life strictly through professional achievement. He feels that, to get on in life, "he must get on umbly" – by conniving and deceit. But if Uriah Heep thinks the only way he'll get ahead is through manipulation, why does he bother with law books at all? What do you think Uriah Heep's goals really are – what kind of future is he building by undermining Mr. Wickfield?
Quote 2
Or as certain as 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? [...] You preach, about as consistent as they did. Won't umbleness go down? I shouldn't have got round my gentleman fellow-partner without it, I think. —Micawber, you old bully, I'll pay you! (52.171)
The giant chip on Uriah Heep's shoulder comes from the charitable school he went to, where he was taught all of these humiliating, contradictory moral lessons he can't respect. Even now, in this moment of extreme stress when he's being confronted by everybody, Uriah Heep still finds a way to refer to this original trauma. How much difference does an explanation make to your feeling about a character? Does it make you feel less hatred for Uriah Heep knowing that he has had a hard past?
Quote 3
If I say I've an ambition to make your Agnes my Agnes, I have as good a right to it as another man. I have a better right to it than any other man!' (39.143)
Uriah Heep jumps the gun on his plans a little bit by announcing to Mr. Wickfield that he wants, some time in the distant future, to marry Agnes. Mr. Wickfield groans and yells and confesses his sense of guilt about hiring Uriah Heep, and Uriah Heep subsides for a little while. But he also warns Mr. Wickfield that he has "as good a right" to Agnes as another man – "better" even! Why might Uriah Heep imagine that he has a "better" right than another man to Agnes?