‘The Code of the Woosters’: a gift for fans of Jeeves and Bertie
PG Wodehouse describes his own writing style as a “musical comedy without music, completely ignorant of real life”. The Code of The Woosters is very much in keeping with that style.
The novel features some of Wodehouse’s best-known characters: Bertie Wooster, the affable young aristocrat whose mental gifts are often lacking; Jeeves, his servant, whose mental prowess is known to get him out of the toughest jams; Augustus ‘Gussie’ Fink-Nottle, whose obsession with mermen continually wreaks havoc on his love life; and many others.
The story begins with Bertie Wooster throwing a party one night for his friend Gussie Fink Nottle, who is engaged to Madeline Bassett, a dreamy and poetic girl, who was once engaged to Wooster. Wooster, dreading the very prospect of spending his life with a girl who believes that stars are tears shed by angels, is delighted and relieved that he won’t have to worry about marrying Madeline Bassett again.
The next morning, Wooster receives a request from his Aunt Dalhia to go to a particular antique store and disparage a certain cow’s cream, in order to signal to the seller that it is of little value. Bertie’s Uncle Tom, an avid collector of what he considers to be unique antiques, has been very interested (in fact, almost desperate) to get his hands on that cow cream, and Aunt Dalhia wants to make sure he doesn’t miss out on too much. money. wasted on buying it.
However, in striving to carry out the assigned task, Wooster runs into Madeline’s father and his uncle’s rival collector, Sir Watkyn Bassett. He remembers that Sir Bassett, a judge by profession, had once fined him – unfairly, in his personal opinion – five pounds for what he considers a perfectly harmless offence: pinching a policeman’s helmet. Sir Bassett politely asks Wooster if he has transformed since then. At this point, Bassett’s partner, Roger Spode, is of the opinion that no transformation has taken place, and points to the fact that Bassett’s umbrella is currently in Wooster’s possession. Wooster realizes that Spode is right and wonders how it got into his hands. He laughs that it’s just ‘an impulsive reach for an umbrella that was within arm’s reach’. Spode and Bassett, however, do not take this lightly and let Wooster go with a stern warning. Wooster then caustically criticizes the dealer for the cow cream, hoping to get him to lower its price, but later discovers that his efforts were in vain, as Bassett bought the cow cream.
Meanwhile, Fink-Nottle telegrams Wooster that their engagement is broken and asks for his help. This news seriously shakes Wooster, as he conceives the dire prospect of Madeline returning to him.
Aunt Dalhia orders Wooster to go to Totleigh Towers, Bassett’s residence, and steal her cream of cow, otherwise she threatens him, he would never again be allowed to avail himself of the services of Anatole, his famous cook. Finding such an unbearable prospect, Wooster agrees. Unable to figure out how he can get into Totleigh Towers after his last meeting with Bassett, he asks Fink-Nottle to arrange an invitation. After getting the same from Madeline, who mistakenly assumes that Bertie is coming in hopes of winning her back, he heads to Totleigh towers with a double mission in mind: get the cow cream and arrange Madeline’s betrothal to Fink-Nottle.
However, upon arriving there, he discovers that Bassett’s opinion of him remains unchanged, and to make matters worse, Spode is also in Totleigh. Wodehouse likens Wooster’s situation to that of a would-be murderer who, arriving at the villa where the execution is planned, discovers that not only Sherlock Holmes is staying there on holiday, but also Hercule Poirot.
He meets Fink-Nottle and tries to comfort him, but soon discovers that his differences with Madeline have been resolved and they are engaged again. He heaves a sigh of relief to discover that he’s gone from Madeline forever.
He also discovers that Fink-Nottle is unusually trusting and even goes up against such frightening people as Spode and Bassett. When asked the reason for such a transformation, he explains that he watches their respective idiosyncrasies very closely, and writes down the ones that are extremely funny and laugh-inducing. Bassett’s way of eating and the way Spode wears his mustache, for example, make him see them more as comedians than dictators, and that makes him feel superior to them. This scheme, he tells Wooster, was Jeeves’ brainchild.
However, a problem arises when Fink-Nottle loses his diary, where he has written all this. Wooster tells him that he can never marry Madeline if Bassett finds that journal and everything in it. Being extremely anxious to see Madeline marry and thus be free of her, Wooster is desperate to get Fink-Nottle’s diary back. Fink-Nottle remembers last having it when he was in the company of Stephanie, a ward staying at Totleigh.
In between all of this, Wooster tries to steal the cow cream and is embarrassingly caught by Spode. Spode informs Bassett, and the duo are convinced without a shadow of a doubt that Wooster is a born thief and that his only intention in visiting Totleigh Towers is to loot the cow milkmaid. Madeline somehow rescues Wooster from them, but they remain convinced of his intentions.
Meanwhile, Fink-Nottle is convinced that Stephanie should have included her secret diary in her stalking, and ventures out to test this theory. Unfortunately, by carrying out this far from graceful act, Madeline sees him and loses all respect for him. She also discovers, to her dismay, that her theory doesn’t hold up.
Madeline decides she’s had enough and decides to just make Wooster happy, who thinks she really loves him. She informs Wooster that she will marry him, much to her grief and despair. Wooster decides that the only way out for him is to get the journal and explain everything to Madeline.
To get the diary, he sneaks into Stephanie’s room in her absence, but she returns before he can complete his quest. He discovers that she has brought her boyfriend, who is also her former partner ‘Stinker’ Pinker, now a curator. Stephanie, sensing that her uncle Bassett would not agree to shake hands with a curator, has an idea. She suggests that Wooster pretends to steal Bassett’s prized cream of cows, in disguise, and Pinker would act as if he caught the thief and beat him up. Wooster’s identity would be hidden by a mask. Wooster, who has already been caught trying once, firmly refuses. Stephanie tells her that she won’t be able to get the diary unless she does.
Jeeves comes to Wooster’s rescue and offers him a solution. He suggests that Bassett should first be informed that Stephanie loves Wooster. This would leave him in a state of deep shock, as he perceives Wooster as a thief and hates him with his heart. In this state, if he is informed that he is actually a healer and not Wooster, whom Stephanie loves, he will greet him with a red carpet. Any boyfriend will be sweet as honey to Bassett compared to Wooster.
The plan is executed and Bassett agrees to let Stephanie marry Pinker. He’s just happy that things that ‘could have been so much worse’ aren’t happening. Wooster informs Madeline of Stephanie’s engagement, who then begins to feel that she perhaps had judged Fink-Nottle too prematurely. She makes up with him and they get back together, much to Wooster’s relief. Unfortunately, the relief is short-lived, as Bassett comes to seize Fink-Nottle’s journal. After reading all the abuse and innuendo directed at him, he makes it absolutely clear that he will never have him as his son-in-law.
Meanwhile, due to Wooster’s mismatch, Aunt Dalhia arrives at Totleigh Towers in person to do something with the cream of cows. At the same time, Stephanie gets into trouble with an inspector over the activities of her pet dog. Enraged by her attitude, she decides to teach him a lesson. She gets Pinker to steal her helmet to teach her a lesson. Coincidentally, this is the same inspector whose helmet Wooster once stole.
Two robberies occur: Aunt Dalhia’s theft of the cream of cows and Pinker’s theft of the helmet. Both are hidden in the Totleigh towers. Regarding the cow skimmer, Spode and Bassett have no doubt that Wooster is the culprit. The inspector arrives at the towers of Totleigh, suspecting that Stephanie has stolen his helmet, but seeing Wooster there, he decides that Stephanie should only have been the planner, and Wooster should have carried out the execution, again.
Stephanie asks Wooster not to reveal the fact that Pinker is the real thief. She implores him to go to jail for a month for her sake. Wooster flatly refuses. “The Wooster code is never to let a friend down,” she reminds him. Moved by these words, Wooster agrees. Aunt Dalhia dumps the cow cream in this room, and her room ends up accommodating both stolen items. Wooster sends Fink-Nottle home with the cowboy, but the helmet gets stuck in Wooster’s room. The inspector and Bassett break in, conduct a search, and find the helmet in the room. They immediately accuse Wooster of theft. Bassett locks him inside and asks the inspector to arrest him the next morning.
Jeeves, using his quick mind, finds a way out. Remember that he has some very embarrassing information about Spode, which he got from his valet (all knights’ valets are part of a club, and they are all required to share information about their masters with each other). Spode, apparently, is an expert in making women’s underwear and has a small shop that specializes in the same thing. Jeeves realizes that this information, if made public, would cause Spode great embarrassment, as he has long created the information of being a tough and authoritative person. Armed with this information, he orders Spode to confess to stealing the helmet. He reasons that doing so would do no harm, as Bassett, who is engaged to Spode’s aunt, is unlikely to take any legal action against him. Spode, fearing the consequences of a leak of his long-held secret, complies and makes a false confession, as instructed, to Bassett. Bassett, feeling embarrassed, apologizes to Wooster.
At Jeeves’ suggestion, Wooster threatens to take libel action against Bassett, if he disagrees with Pinker and Stephanie’s marriages; and Fink-Nottle and Madeline. Bassett, knowing the legal consequences of his actions, being a judge himself, sees that he has no other choice and agrees. Wooster also points out that the missing milkmaid has likely been smuggled and could, in the future, be sold to his Uncle Tom, and warns him not to create a problem if he sees the milkmaid in Uncle Tom’s possession in the future. . Seeing that he has no bargaining power, Bassett agrees.
Thus, thanks to Jeeves’ sharp mind, the couples are happily married, Uncle Tom gets his cream for cows, Aunt Dalhia keeps her cook, and Bertie Wooster remains a happy bachelor.
The book, like all of Wodehouse’s books, is a literary feast. Wodehouse’s choice of words, particularly those used by the character Jeeves, demonstrates a mastery of language that inspires and fascinates. The strong undercurrent of humor that runs through the novel keeps the reader smiling all the time and, at times, leaves them divided. Witty quotes like “If he’s not unhappy, he was far from upset” show a level of command of the English language, as well as imagination, that are hard to find in most other comedians. The plot, with all its comic twists, outrageous characters, and a climax that would keep the reader torn, is just one among Wodehouse’s many masterpieces. All in all, a great book by a great author, and a must read for anyone who wants to de-stress or have a good laugh.