Point of View

The Inimitable Jeeves takes place from the first-person point of view of Bertie Wooster, a member of the Idle Rich who becomes involved in comic misadventures only to be bailed out by his trusty valet Jeeves. Bertie is an iconoclast with a gambling addiction, but otherwise he has good intentions and wants to do right. It is through Bertie's eyes that the reader gleans information about the principal characters. Jeeves is characterized as extremely trustworthy and wise; Bingo is a "good chappie" but he's too easily seduced by women; Honoria is a "pot of poison" and similar characterizations.

The choice of this point of view is crucial, because usually the resolution to any certain episode has a "twist" that requires Bertie's ignorance of what Jeeves is doing behind the scenes. For example, when Bertie is conned by Soapy Sid and his accomplice, Jeeves reveals that he...