History Literature / JeevesAndWooster

* AbhorrentAdmirer: For Bertie, just about every unmarried woman he's ever met. The more likable female characters he meets, such as Cynthia Wickhammersly, tend to have no particular interest in him beyond basic friendship.

* MistakenForCheating: In ''The Code of the Woosters'', Gussie Fink-Nottle tries to remove a fly from Stiffy Byng's eye at (of course) exactly the wrong moment.

* NoodleIncident: In-canon, during ''The Code of the Woosters''. Specifically, "Eulalie." It's revealed at the end of the book.

---> And presently the eyes closed, the muscles relaxed, the breathing became soft and regular, and sleep which does something which has slipped my mind to the something sleeve of care poured over me in a healing wave.[[note]]The last line of ''The Code of the Woosters''

* ''The Mating Season'' (1949)

---> And presently the eyes closed, the muscles relaxed, the breathing became soft and regular, and sleep which does something which has slipped my mind to the something sleeve of care poured over me in a healing wave.[[note]]The last line of ''

* ''Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'' (1974)

* {{Butlerspace}}: [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Jeeves]] is formally a valet, rather than a butler, but Bertie frequently remarks on how he can "shimmer" into a room without ever being seen to enter.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In "Extricating Young Gussie", the first Jeeves and Wooster short story, Bertie's personality and his relationship with Aunt Agatha are all in place, but their family name appears to be "Mannering-Phipps" instead of "Wooster" (although this is changed in later prints). More noticeably, Jeeves appears for all intents and purposes to be an ordinary valet, and when Bertie gets in trouble and needs help, he has no idea who to ask. The surname "Wooster" and the personality of Jeeves as we know him today don't appear until the second story, aptly titled "Leave It to Jeeves". (The series doesn't really begin until the next story, "Jeeves Takes Charge", in which Jeeves enters into Bertie's service.)

* LastGirlWins: If a Wodehouse character has been pursuing the same girl across multiple books, it's almost a given he'll run off with a brand-new female character in the last installment. [[spoiler:Augustus Fink-Nottle]] is a prime example.

* {{Butlerspace}}: [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Jeeves]] is [[FandomBerserkButton formally a valet, rather than a butler,]] but Bertie frequently remarks on how he can "shimmer" into a room without ever being seen to enter.

* ItsPronouncedTroPAY:

There is also a BBC radio version starring Creator/RichardBriers as Bertie and Michael Hordern as Jeeves, possibly the most faithful adaptation of the books, as it preserves Bertie's first-person narration. This series included dramatizations of ''The Inimitable Jeeves; The Code of the Woosters; Right Ho, Jeeves; Joy in the Morning; Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves; Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit;'' and ''The Mating Season.'' All but the last have been released on compact disc and MP3.

* FirstWorldProblems: A shining example, [[TropesAreNotBad in a very good way]]. The inhabitants of the Jeeves and Wooster universe are hugely rich without having to work for it, and nobody is ever in serious danger. Even relationship troubles are strictly angst-free.

* PerspectiveFlip: "Bertie Changes His Mind" is the only story narrated by Jeeves.

* CompromisingMemoirs: Sir Watkin writes his Memoirs and several parties take offense at the depiction of the now respectable pillars of society as the kind of roaring youths that would not have gone out of place in the Drones Club. Oddly enough, this does not include most of the people so depicted, who seem to like the idea that the youth may realise that they too were young once.

** Many of the early short stories were actually serials with continuing story arcs. In "Scoring off Jeeves", published in February 1922, Bertie winds up blundering into an engagement with Honoria Glossop. In "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch", published a month later, he's still engaged to Honoria and wondering how to get out of it. "Aunt Agatha Takes the Count", the next story published after that, finds Bertie vacationing on the coast of France, hiding from Aunt Agatha's wrath after Jeeves got him out of the engagement to Honoria. tle.

* DarkSecret: Jeeves reveals wannabe Fascist leader Roderick Spode's terrible secret to Bertie: Spode [[spoiler: also owns a popular ladies' lingerie boutique]]. Even Bertie quickly catches on to the possibilities for blackmail.
--> '''Bertie''': You can't be a successful Dictator and [[spoiler:design womens' underclothing]]. One or the other. Not both.

* HangingJudge: Madeline's father, Sir Watkyn Bassett, an ex-Magistrate who once presided over Bertie's sentencing hearing for stealing a policeman's helmet on Boat Race Night. Though Bertie escaped with a small fine, the incident planted a seed of paranoia in Bassett, who on their next meeting some years later remembers "the prisoner Wooster" as a nefarious archvillain... a misunderstanding not exactly cleared by the fact Bertie's only visiting his home in the first place in order to steal his cow-creamer... [[HypocriticalHumour which Watkyn stole first.]]

* RansackedRoom: In ''The Code of the Woosters'', Stiffy Byng has hidden a notebook (long story) in order to blackmail Bertie into going along with her schemes. Bertie insists to Jeeves that they should search her room before capitulating, because Bertie has read a detective novel which claims that the top of the wardrobe is "every woman's favourite hiding-place". Unfortunately in this case it isn't, and indeed they don't get much further in the ransacking before Stiffy's bad-tempered terrier discovers them.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In ''The Code of the Woosters'', Bertie delivers one to Spode regarding how laughable his posturing as a fascist dictator wannabee really is.

---> And presently the eyes closed, the muscles relaxed, the breathing became soft and regular, and sleep which does something which has slipped my mind to the something sleeve of care poured over me in a healing wave.

* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: DiscussedTrope in ''The Code of the Woosters'', when Bertie muses on a policeman who had his hat stolen. He even quotes the Latin.

* ''The Code of the Woosters'' (1938)

* AltumVidetur: Bertie sometimes quotes Latin tags, usually of the schoolboy variety, quite unnecessarily. Jeeves's are usually more apposite, but he isn't above showing off either. From ''Joy in the Morning'':
--> '''Jeeves''': Precisely, sir. ''Rem acu tetigisti''.\\
'''Bertie''': ''Rem--''?\\
'''Jeeves''': ''Acu tetigisti'', sir. A Latin expression, literally meaning "you have touched the matter with a needle". A more idiomatic rendering would be--\\
'''Bertie''': Put my finger on the nub?\\
'''Jeeves''': Exactly, sir.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Subverted at every opportunity -- if a child appears in a Wodehouse story, nine times out of ten he (it's usually a he) will be an [[BrattyHalfPint obnoxious grubby little pest]]. Exemplified by Edwin Craye, the eager Boy Scout from ''Joy in the Morning''; at one point his attempt to "catch up" on his daily good deeds results in a house burning to the ground (without him in it, unfortunately enough from Bertie's point of view). Later, Bertie's scheme to break up with Edwin's sister by kicking the kid in the backside backfires when it turns out she ''and'' her father have also been victims of these 'good deeds', and are profoundly grateful to Bertie.

** In ''Joy in the Morning'', Bertie remembers having to sneak out and ring the fire bell at Aunt Dahlia's place--the plot of ''Right Ho, Jeeves''.

* TheDitz: Bertie Wooster, as he himself cheerfully admits in short story "Leave it to Jeeves".
--> "I'm a bit short on brain myself."

* EatTheRich: In one short stored named ''Comrade Bingo'', one of Bertie's IdleRich friends is in love with the daughter of a communist revolutionary. He disguises himself and gives speeches with a very Eat the Rich bent to them:

* EnterStageWindow: In ''Joy in the Morning'' Bertie climbs though Boko's window, rather than entering through the door, because...well, he just does.

* GoneSwimmingClothesStolen: An unusual variant in ''Joy in the Morning'', when Jeeves steals Stilton Cheesewright's police uniform, so Bertie will have a costume for the costume ball.
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Bertie, who never uses bad words, is often forced to use complex circumlocutions in order to describe the cursing of other people.
--> "Her first observation was that L.P. Runkle was an illegitimate offspring to end all illegitimate offsprings." (''Much Obliged, Jeeves'')

* {{MacGuffin}}: The most famous is the seventeenth-century English (''not'' Modern Dutch!) silver cow-creamer, the attempted theft of which starts off an entire multi-book uproar in Bertie's love life. The French chef Anatole often serves as a LivingMacGuffin.

* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: In "The Aunt and the Sluggard", Miss Rockmetter, Rocky's scary aunt, comes to visit. After Bertie says tea "bucks you up" and "makes you fizz", the aunt says "I don't understand a word you say. You're English, aren't you?"

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In an early chapter of ''Jeeves In The Morning,'' a house burns down. This is barely mentioned throughout the rest of the novel, not even by the owner.
--> '''Lord Worplesdon''' ''(to Bertie):'' "I should have known that the first thing you would do, before so much as unpacking, would be to burn the place to the ground!"

* ''Joy in the Morning'' (1946)

* BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage: One of Jeeves' regular tasks is getting Bertie Wooster out of engagements while avoiding such lawsuits. The TV adaptation, produced after the breach of promise doctrine was abolished, replaces these references with Jeeves simply trying to avoid offence to the parties involved or being under threat of violence rather than legal action.

* ChristmasEpisode: "Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit", in which Bertie is invited to spend the holiday at the Wickham residence. He decides to play a trick on fellow guest Tuppy Glossop, but as usual with his schemes, it goes horribly wrong.

* OddballInTheSeries: Short story "Bertie Changes His Mind" is the only piece of writing in the Jeeves and Wooster canon narrated by Jeeves.

--> '''Jeeves''': Miss Wickham lacks seriousness. She is volatile and frivolous. I would always hesitate to recommend as a life partner a young lady with quite such a vivid shade of red hair.

* NoodleIncident:
** In-canon, during ''The Code of the Woosters''. Specifically, "Eulalie." It's revealed at the end of the book.
** Inverted when Bertie takes every opportunity he can to tell you what happened that night with Tuppy Glossop and the swimming baths.

* SeriousBusiness: Although Jeeves likes working for Bertie, he hates Bertie's tendency to be seduced by the latest trends in style and fashion. Bertie is constantly buying colorful bits of clothing or art, which causes the disgusted Jeeves to treat him coolly until Bertie finally relents and allows him to destroy it as a reward for services rendered.

** Many of the early short stories were actually serials with continuing story arcs. In "Scoring off Jeeves", published in February 1922, Bertie winds up blundering into an engagement with Honoria Glossop. In "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch", published a month later, he's still engaged to Honoria and wondering how to get out of it. "Aunt Agatha Takes the Count", the next story published after that, finds Bertie vacationing on the coast of France, hiding from Aunt Agatha's wrath after Jeeves got him out of the engagement to Honoria. Most of the short stories later collected in ''The Inimitable Jeeves'' revolve around the various infatuations of Bertie's friend Bingo Little.

* RunningGag: Bertie evidently has two achievements to show for his entire life: a prize for Scripture Knowledge that he won when he was in school, and an article he wrote for Aunt Dahlia's magazine called "What the Well-Dressed Man Is Wearing". He mentions these two things ''over and over again''.

* SeparatedByTheEnglishLanguage: In "The Aunt and the Sluggard", Miss Rockmetter, Rocky's scary aunt, comes to visit. After Bertie says tea "bucks you up" and "makes you fizz", the aunt says "I don't understand a word you say. You're English, aren't you?"

* ForgetfulJones: "Biffy" Biffen, who has found the girl of his dreams, but ''can't remember her last name!'' He could inquire at the hotel, but he can't remember where she's staying. Or where he's staying. It had a big door, and a sort of roof...

-->I don’t know if you’ve ever met my Uncle George. He’s a festive old egg who wanders from club to club continually having a couple with other festive old eggs. When he heaves in sight, waiters brace themselves up and the wine-steward toys with his corkscrew. It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought.

* TheVerse: There are actually quite a few novels and short stories by Wodehouse that don't feature Bertie and Jeeves but share continuity. The "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drones_Club Drones Club]]" series includes not just Bertie's club but several characters from Jeeves stories, like Bingo Little and Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright. Pongo Twistleton from the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Fred Uncle Fred]] stories is mentioned in ''Literature/RightHoJeeves''.

** "Leave it to Jeeves"[[note]]really the first Jeeves and Wooster story, as this one finds Jeeves with his character fully formed[[/note]], "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest", "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", "The Aunt and the Sluggard"

** Many of the early short stories were actually serials with continuing story arcs. In "Scoring off Jeeves", published in February 1922, Bertie winds up blundering into an engagement with Honoria Glossop. In "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch", published a month later, he's still engaged to Honoria and wondering how to get out of it. "Aunt Agatha Takes the Count", the next story published after that, finds Bertie vacationing on the coast of France, hiding from Aunt Agatha's wrath after Jeeves got him out of the engagement to Honoria.