The Mystery of Edwin Drood

“Your life is not laid down to scale, and lined and dotted out for you, like a surveyor’s plan.”

Edwin complains here to Jasper that Jasper cannot fully understand the frustration Edwin feels. This quote shows that Edwin is unhappy with the extent to which his life has been predetermined, especially his impending marriage to Rosa. Edwin uses a simile that reflects his training and future career direction as an engineer.

“You know now, don’t you, that even a poor monotonous chorister and grinder of music—in his niche—may be troubled with some stray sort of ambition, aspiration, restlessness, dissatisfaction.”

Jasper confides a surprising secret to Edwin: He is unhappy, and he nurses a sense of thwarted ambition and frustration. The quote adds complexity to Jasper’s character and deepens the impression that he is someone who can be very secretive and good at concealing his inner reality.

“This stepfather of ours was a cruel brute as well as a grinding one. It was well he died when he did, or I might have killed him.”

Neville, while explaining more about his origins and childhood to Crisparkle, reveals that he has been subject to abuse and cruelty; in the quote, he is also matter-of-fact about his own capacity for violence. The quote contributes to the depiction of Neville as someone hot-tempered and capable of violence when provoked.

“I have been brought up among abject and servile dependents, of an inferior race, and I may easily have contracted some affinity with them. I don’t know but that it may be a drop of what is tigerish in the blood.”

Neville reflects on his personality and how he hopes to change with Crisparkle, admitting that he has little control over his temper. He compares himself unfavorably with his sister, who has much better self-control. Neville makes racist comments, implying that his upbringing in Sri Lanka has led him to be hot-tempered and potentially violent; these comments reflect Victorian prejudices towards individuals of non-European descent. The comment about something “tigerish” may imply that Neville has Sri Lankan ancestry; it also compares individuals of South Asian descent to animals, dehumanizing them.

“He terrifies me. He haunts my thoughts, like a dreadful ghost. I feel that I am never safe from him.”

Rosa reveals her true feelings about Jasper to Helena. Rosa feels very uncomfortable around Jasper because she can detect his obsessive and lecherous interest in her. The quote shows that trust and a close bond quickly develops between Helena and Rosa; it also reveals Helena’s shrewd and observant nature: Helena immediately notices that Jasper makes Rosa uncomfortable.

“You may know a black common fellow, or a black common boaster, when you see him (and no doubt you have a large acquaintance that way); but you are no judge of white men.”

Edwin insults Neville’s upbringing in what was at that time an English colony (now the country of Sri Lanka), implying that Neville is not truly “English” and that Edwin is implicitly superior. Neville’s violent reaction reveals how offensive this kind of insult would have been in the Victorian era. The use of “black” here relies on wordplay. “Black” in Dickens’s time might have meant “foreboding, evil, no-good,” while it may also be hinting at Neville’s darker skin and his countrymen, juxtaposed against the phrase “white men.”

“I shall never know peace of mind when there is danger of those two coming together with no one else to interfere.”

Jasper describes the violent altercation that has taken place between Edwin and Neville to Crisparkle. Jasper indicates and perhaps exaggerates a sense of fear about what could happen if further conflict occurs. The quote foreshadows further violence enacted by Neville—or it could be Jasper carefully developing a cover story for his own plan to eventually kill Edwin.

“I say she is sacrificed in being bestowed upon him. I say that I love her, and despise and hate him!”

Neville openly and boldly admits to Crisparkle that he is infatuated with Rosa; this jealousy is part of why Neville has such a strong antipathy towards Edwin (since, at this point, it appears that Edwin and Rosa will marry). Neville’s language emphasizes Rosa’s lack of agency in her impending marriage (she is “being bestowed,” not freely choosing to marry Edwin); this comment hints that Neville believes Rosa would choose a different suitor if she had the ability to decide for herself.

“After what I have seen just now, I have a morbid dread upon me of some horrible consequences resulting to my dear boy.”

This quote from Jasper’s diary describes his feelings after the confrontation between Neville and Edwin. Jasper shows this diary entry to Reverend Crisparkle. The diary contributes to the strange and sinister atmosphere that surrounds Jasper in the lead-up to Edwin’s disappearance; Jasper seems almost obsessed with documenting the animosity between Edwin and Neville, which suggests he is planning ahead in order to blame Edwin’s disappearance/murder on Neville.

“I wonder whether he ever so much as suspected that some one doted on her, at a hopeless, speechless distance, when he struck in and won her.”

Mr. Grewgious reflects on his secret love for Rosa’s long-dead mother and wonders whether Rosa’s father ever knew about his feelings. Grewgious never confides this secret to anyone, but it helps to explain why he is so attached to Rosa. The quote also develops the theme of Jealousy and Hidden Desire, since Grewgious (like Neville and Jasper) was once in love with a woman who was promised to someone else.

“That Durdles himself, who is always prowling among old graves and ruins, like a Ghoule—that he should be stealing forth to climb and dive, and wander without an object, is nothing extraordinary; but that the Choir Master […] should hold it worth his while to be with him […] is another affair.”

This quote introduces the episode in which Jasper and Durdles explore the cathedral together at night, including descending into the crypt and climbing up the tallest tower. The narrator explicitly builds suspense by commenting on how it is strange and unusual for Jasper to be wandering around at night; this comment invites readers to speculate about what Jasper’s motivations might be and hints that he is up to something. This quote is an example of the third-person narrator functioning almost as an additional character and explicitly directing the reader’s attention.

“Eddy, let us be courageous. Let us change to brother and sister from this day forth.”

Rosa meets with Edwin a few days before Christmas and suggests they break off their engagement. Rosa evokes a sibling bond as the possible model for their relationship, which echoes the love and affection between Neville and Helena. Rosa also uses the word “courageous,” implying that it is braver for them to reject their planned engagement and choose their own fate.

“From that time, with occasional wild charges, like a wounded monster dying, it drops and sinks; and at full daylight it is dead.”

This quote describes the violent storm that rages on Christmas Eve and finally dies out in the early hours of Christmas morning. The description of the storm uses personification to foreshadow that something violent might also be occurring amongst the characters. In order to create suspense, readers do not know what was happening to Neville, Edwin, and Jasper during the period in which the storm was raging and dying, but this description hints that Edwin might have been dying a violent death during the same period of time.

“Mr. Sapsea expressed his opinion that the case had a dark look; in short (and here his eyes rested full on Neville’s countenance), an Un-English complexion.”

When Neville is forcibly brought back to Cloisterham after Edwin’s disappearance, he is taken to see Mr. Sapsea (the mayor) to make a statement about what happened. The quote plays with two meanings of dark: one being potentially suspicious or criminal, and one referring to Neville having darker skin (and thus, according to Sapsea’s racist logic, being more likely to engage in criminal activity). The quotation shows how Neville becomes an object of suspicion because he has lived outside of England for most of his life and may not be white.

“That I will fasten the crime of the murder of my dear dead boy, upon the murderer. And That I devote myself to his destruction.”

This excerpt from Jasper’s journal, which Jasper shows to Crisparkle, confirms that Jasper not only believes Edwin was murdered but that Jasper also wants revenge. This quote sets the stage for ongoing suspense in the remainder of the novel since Jasper will not rest until Edwin’s killer is brought to justice.

“I feel marked and tainted, even when I go out—as I do only—at night.”

Neville admits these feelings to Crisparkle when the latter comes to see Neville in London, about six months after Edwin disappears. Neville has fled from Cloisterham and only goes out at night because he feels ostracized and ashamed. The quote shows that even though Neville insists on his innocence and has not been charged with any crime, his life is ruined due to the suspicion that falls upon him.

“I have made my confession that my love is mad. It is so mad that, had the ties between me and my dear boy been one silken thread less strong, I might have swept even him from your side when you favored him.”

Jasper confesses his feelings to Rosa, making it clear that he has been in love with her even while she was engaged to Edwin. He repeatedly uses the word “mad” to imply that his feelings were irrational and extreme; this comment implies that Jasper might even have resorted to murder in order to have Rosa to himself.

“Circumstances may accumulate so strongly even against an innocent man, that, directed, sharpened, and pointed, they may slay him.”

Jasper threatens Neville while speaking to Rosa, implying that if Rosa refuses him, he might falsely blame Neville for Edwin’s murder. Jasper knows this threat is particularly frightening to Rosa since Rosa is close to Neville’s sister Helena. Jasper uses figurative language and personification to evoke a feeling of violence, threat, and foreboding (“directed, sharpened, and pointed”), and his comment on slaying an innocent man hints at how Neville could be executed if he were to be found guilty of killing Edwin.

“Jasper’s self-absorption in his nephew when he was alive, and his unceasing pursuit of the inquiry how he came by his death, if he were dead, were themes so rife in the place, that no one appeared able to suspect the possibility of foul play at his hands.”

Rosa wonders if Jasper could have killed his nephew. The quote reveals how Jasper could have effectively manipulated people so that no one would suspect him of the crime: He made a great show of how much he loved Edwin, and he has been virulent in his claims about wanting revenge. This quote hints at Jasper’s skill at carefully manipulating others while concealing his true motives.

“Am I so wicked in my thoughts as to conceive a wickedness that others cannot imagine?”

Rosa’s suspicion that Jasper may have killed Edwin is shocking because no one else seems to have thought of this possibility; she immediately begins to doubt and question herself. However, Rosa has always had a more accurate perspective on Jasper than other people because she knew long before anyone else that he was obsessed and infatuated with her.

“I did it millions and billions of times. I did it so often, and through such vast expanses of time, that when it was really done, it seemed not worth the doing, it was done so soon.”

Jasper admits his dark thoughts and potential deed in a reverie to Princess Puffer, while consuming opium at her establishment in London. Months earlier, before Edwin’s disappearance, Jasper would fantasize about an unspecified action while on opium. If this quote indeed references Edwin’s murder, Princess Puffer is one of very few people who would have known in advance that Jasper planned to kill Edwin. The text supports this conclusion when revealing that Princess Puffer was the woman who told Edwin that someone named “Ned” was in danger.

“It was last Christmas Eve, just arter [sic] dark, the once that I was here afore.”

Princess Puffer speaks Mr. Datchery when she follows Jasper back to Cloisterham six months after Edwin’s disappearance. This comment establishes Princess Puffer as a potentially significant character, since it reveals that she was in Cloisterham on the night that Edwin disappeared and therefore may know something key to the mystery.

“She is behind a pillar, carefully withdrawn from the Choir Master’s view, but regards him with the closest attention.”

Princess Puffer secretly watches Jasper in the cathedral. The scene builds suspense because Princess Puffer clearly has a strong interest in Jasper, but it is not explained why. The episode is also an ironic inversion since Jasper is often the one lurking around and observing others in secrecy, but in this case he now becomes the object of surveillance.