Editing Jeeves (section)

=== Skills ===
Jeeves presents the ideal image of the gentlemanly manservant, being highly competent, dignified, and respectful. He speaks intelligently and correctly, using proper titles for members of the nobility. One of his skills is moving silently and unobtrusively from room to room. According to Bertie, Jeeves noiselessly "floats" and "shimmers".<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1938], ''The Code of the Woosters'', chapter 1, p. 1 and chapter 2, p. 28.</ref> Bertie once remarks, "Presently I was aware that Jeeves was with me. I hadn't heard him come in, but you often don't with Jeeves. He just streams silently from spot A to spot B, like some gas".<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1938], ''The Code of the Woosters'', chapter 6, p. 136.</ref> In addition to being a proficient valet, Jeeves can serve capably as a butler, and does so on a few occasions. As Bertie says in ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'', "If the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them."<ref name=cawthorne170>Cawthorne (2013), p. 170.</ref>

Jeeves has an encyclopedic knowledge of literature and academic subjects. He frequently quotes from [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] and the [[Romanticism|romantic poets]]. Well informed about members of the British aristocracy thanks to the club book of the [[Junior Ganymede Club]], he also seems to have a considerable number of useful connections among various servants. Jeeves uses his knowledge and connections to solve problems inconspicuously.<ref>Cawthorne (2013), p. 173.</ref> [[Richard Usborne]], a leading scholar of the life and works of Wodehouse, describes Jeeves as a "godlike prime mover" and "master brain who is found to have engineered the apparent coincidence or coincidences".<ref>''Wodehouse at Work to the End'', Richard Usborne 1976.</ref> To form his plans, Jeeves often studies "the psychology of the individual" or the personality of one or more people involved in the situation.<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1930], ''Very Good, Jeeves'', chapter 4, p. 98. Jeeves says that studying "the psychology of the individual" is essential to solving problems, and that this means studying "the natures and dispositions of the principals in the matter".</ref> His mental prowess is attributed to eating fish, according to Bertie Wooster, who credits the phosphorus content in the fish with boosting Jeeves's brain power. Jeeves does not try to argue this claim, though at least once he says he does not eat a lot of fish.<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1925], ''Carry On, Jeeves'', chapter 5, p. 137.</ref>

One of Jeeves's greatest skills is making a special drink of his own invention, a strong beverage which momentarily stuns one's senses but is very effective in curing hangovers. The drink is Jeeves's version of a [[prairie oyster]].<ref>Cawthorne (2013) p. 47.</ref> Bertie first hires Jeeves after his hangover is cured by one of Jeeves's special drinks.<ref name="auto" /> Not simply a hangover cure, the drink can also give energy to someone who needs it, yet calm down someone who is agitated.<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1954], ''Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit'', chapter 7, p. 65. "It's a curious thing about those specials of Jeeves's, and one on which many revellers have commented, that while, as I mentioned earlier, they wake the sleeping tiger in you, they also work the other way round. I mean, if the tiger in you isn't sleeping but on the contrary up and doing with a heart for any fate, they lull you in. You come in like a lion, you take your snootful, and you got out like a lamb. Impossible to explain it, of course. One can merely state the facts."</ref> Dark in colour, Jeeves's special pick-me-up is composed of [[Worcester sauce]], a raw egg, and red pepper according to Jeeves, though Bertie suspects that the drink consists of more than that.<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1934], ''Right Ho, Jeeves'', chapter 5, p. 48.</ref> Wodehouse mentions other ingredients in a personal letter he wrote late in his life, though these ingredients are not referred to in the stories.<ref>Wodehouse (2011), ''P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters'', p. 541. Wodehouse wrote: "Jeeves's bracer does not contain dynamite as is generally supposed. It consists of lime juice, a lump of sugar, and one teaspoonful of [[Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo|Mulliner's ''Buck-U-Uppo'']]. This, it will be remembered, is the amount of the Buck-U-Uppo given to elephants in India to enable them to face tigers on tiger hunts with the necessary nonchalance."</ref> Additionally, Jeeves is capable of typing and writing [[shorthand]].<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1971], ''Much Obliged, Jeeves'', chapter 1, p. 10, and chapter 16, p. 183.</ref>

Jeeves has knowledge in more dubious subjects as well. He is well-informed about how to steal paintings and kidnap dogs.<ref>Wodehouse (1993) [1959], ''A Few Quick Ones'', chapter 4, p. 79. Jeeves tells Bertie how to steal a painting with treacle and brown paper, and says that this is "the recognized method in vogue in the burgling industry".</ref><ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1930], ''Very Good, Jeeves'', chapter 5, pp. 125–126. Jeeves tells Bertie how to lure a dog using aniseed, and says that it is extensively used in the dog-stealing industry.</ref> He uses a [[Mickey Finn (drugs)|Mickey Finn]] to incapacitate the unscrupulous [[List of Jeeves characters#Rupert Bingley|Bingley]].<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1971], ''Much Obliged, Jeeves'', chapter 11, p. 123.</ref> Capable of action when the situation calls for it, Jeeves uses a golf club to knock out Sippy Sipperley in "[[The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy]]", and takes down a swan with a raincoat and boathook in "[[Jeeves and the Impending Doom]]". He finds it necessary to get Aunt Dahlia to knock out Bertie with a gong stick in "[[Jeeves Makes an Omelette]]", though he agrees with Bertie not to use this sort of tactic again.<ref>Wodehouse (1993) [1959], ''A Few Quick Ones'', chapter 4, p. 89.</ref><ref>Thompson (1992), p. 131. "Certainly Jeeves never uses violence against Bertie, though he does—regretfully—get Aunt Dahlia to knock him out as part of the solution in 'Jeeves Makes an Omelet'."</ref> After Jeeves uses a cosh to knock out Constable Dobbs in ''[[The Mating Season (novel)|The Mating Season]]'', an astonished Bertie describes Jeeves as "something that would be gratefully accepted as a muscle guy by any gang on the lookout for new blood".<ref>Wodehouse (2008) [1949], ''The Mating Season'', chapter 24, p. 235.</ref>