Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
[...] I'm in the Edwin survives camp, but also in the camp that says that Dickens was keeping his options open. The point of the ring could well have been to ensure identification of the body dissolved in quicklime; otherwise it's a red herring. And even if Edwin did survive, I think we have to assume that Jasper assumed he killed him; certainly there must have been an interval when Edwin was unconscious and seemingly dead, when Jasper removed the jewelry he knew of, to plant it at the weir.
|
It seems unlikely in this story, but in a more modern mystery I would not be surprised to learn that (if he is alive) Drood was somehow complicit in his own disappearance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
[...]My feeling on coming to the end such as it was that I was glad in a way that it was unfinished. The double nuptials at the end, so much sweetness, would have irritated me. Instead, there's the fun of turning over the possibilities. I do regret missing out on the examination of evil through the prism of Jasper. I wonder to what extent exculpatory factors Dickens might have raised?
|
I was a little surprised to see that most made-up conclusions assumed happy endings and two weddings. This was Dickens, not Austen. I don't think we can assume it would have been an all-round happy ending.
The death of Little Nell did so well for
The Old Curiosity Shop, it seems possible he might have bumped off ... Helena I think, but then the Crisparkle would have made a good martyr. I don't think Neville was good enough to have made a good martyr, but he would have wept convincingly over Crisparkle's body (or Helena's).
It seems to me the second half may have spent quite some time in gaol with Jasper, learning of his background and his justifications. Other than seeing where some of the connections exist, I think it's anyone's guess exactly what details Dickens had in mind.