Editing Jeeves (section)

===Comic style===
The plots and dialogue of the Jeeves stories were strongly influenced by Wodehouse's experience writing for the stage, and the playlike quality of the stories is often comically exaggerated. For example, many stage comedies involve two sundered couples, and this number is increased to five for the plot of the Jeeves novel ''[[The Mating Season (novel)|The Mating Season]]''. Bertie frequently uses theatrical terminology to describe characters and settings. For instance, in ''[[Joy in the Morning (Wodehouse novel)|Joy in the Morning]]'', Bertie says that Lord Worplesdon's study "proved to be what they call on the stage a 'rich interior', liberally equipped with desks, chairs, tables, carpets and all the usual fixings." Later in the same scene, when Worplesdon sends his butler to fetch Jeeves, Bertie says, "During the stage wait, which was not of long duration, the old relative filled in with some ''ad lib'' stuff about Boko, mostly about how much he disliked his face" (chapter 22).<ref>Thompson (1992), pp. 102–103.</ref> The dialogue is sometimes written like in a script. For example, several lines of text in the first chapter of ''[[Right Ho, Jeeves]]'' are rendered in script format.<ref>Thompson (1992), p. 104.</ref>

Wodehouse uses a number of what [[Kristin Thompson]] terms "delaying devices" to keep the competent Jeeves from solving problems too quickly. For example, Bertie sometimes cannot get help from Jeeves initially because Jeeves is away on vacation. In multiple stories, Jeeves delays solving Bertie's problem because he disapproves of an object Bertie has acquired.<ref>Thompson (1992), pp. 125–127.</ref> Jeeves is shown to be a "thoroughly pragmatic, occasionally Machiavellian figure" who is willing to delay solving problems until it is advantageous for him to do so.<ref>Thompson (1992), p. 129.</ref> In some stories, Bertie insists on trying to handle problems himself. Jeeves, planning in the background, can estimate the extent of Bertie's mistakes in advance and incorporate them into his own plan in the end.<ref name="auto1"/>

Wodehouse has Jeeves consistently use a very formal manner of speaking, while Bertie's speech mixes formal and informal language. These different styles are frequently used to create humour in the stories, such as when Bertie has to translate Jeeves's erudite speech for one of his pals who is not familiar with Jeeves. An example of this occurs in "[[The Artistic Career of Corky]]", when Jeeves comes up with a plan to help Bertie's friend Corky. Jeeves says his plan "cannot fail of success" but has a drawback in that it "requires a certain financial outlay". Bertie explains to Corky that Jeeves means "he has got a pippin of an idea, but it's going to cost a bit".<ref>Hall (1974), pp. 91–94.</ref>

Jeeves often tells Bertie about his machinations at the end of the stories, but does not always reveal everything to Bertie. This can be seen in the only story narrated by Jeeves, "[[Bertie Changes His Mind]]", in which Jeeves manipulates events without telling Bertie. The reader can infer some of Jeeves's offstage activity from subtle clues in Bertie's narrative. For example, in "[[Jeeves and the Kid Clementina]]", Bertie ends up in a tree while trespassing as part of a task outlined by the mischievous [[Bobbie Wickham]], and is confronted by a policeman. The only information given to the reader about how the policeman got there is when he says, "We had a telephone call at the station saying there was somebody in Miss Mapleton's garden." After reading the story, the reader can look back and infer that Jeeves called the police himself or got someone else to do it, knowing the incident would ultimately make Bertie seem heroic to Miss Mapleton and would make Bertie realize the dangers of Bobbie's scheming.<ref>Thompson (1992), p. 155.</ref>