|
I think that he intended to have Jasper be the murderer, but he was keeping his options open as evidenced by the discussion about the title. Another interesting point mentioned in the Pearl essay is that we know Edwin’s parents died, but his father’s first name wasn’t mentioned. Dickens could have twisted the title to refer to Edwin’s father if he was also an Edwin for all we know could have happened in the second half that was never written. The main message of Pearl’s essay was that the element of surprise was a very important “commodity” to Dickens.
|