Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. As the first-person narrator of ten novels and over 30 short stories, Bertie ranks as one of the most vivid comic creations in popular literature. Bertie’s middle name, “Wilberforce”, is the doing of his father, who won money on a horse named Wilberforce in the Grand National the day before Bertie was born and insisted on Bertie carrying that name (mentioned in Much Obliged, Jeeves).
Bertie's family relationships provide recurring motifs in the stories and novels in which he appears, particularly the relationships with his aunts. Due to the volume of stories and time span over which Wodehouse wrote them, there are a number of inconsistencies an
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Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. As the first-person narrator of ten novels and over 30 short stories, Bertie ranks as one of the most vivid comic creations in popular literature. Bertie’s middle name, “Wilberforce”, is the doing of his father, who won money on a horse named Wilberforce in the Grand National the day before Bertie was born and insisted on Bertie carrying that name (mentioned in Much Obliged, Jeeves).
Family
Bertie's family relationships provide recurring motifs in the stories and novels in which he appears, particularly the relationships with his aunts. Due to the volume of stories and time span over which Wodehouse wrote them, there are a number of inconsistencies and contradictions in the information given about his relatives. "Bertie" and several of his relations appear in the early Wodehouse story "Extricating Young Gussie". In that story the family name is Mannering-Phipps, not Wooster, and the story has never been included in collections of Jeeves and Wooster materials, however the incidents described in "Extricating Young Gussie" are referred to in later stories.
Bertie's immediate family: It is established throughout the series that Bertie is an orphan. In the story "Bertie Changes His Mind" he mentions a sister who has three daughters, referred to by Jeeves as Mrs Scholfield. No other siblings are mentioned.
Bertie's aunts and uncles: Bertie's father is said to have had many siblings. In "Extricating Young Gussie" Bertie's Uncle Cuthbert is described as the "late head of the family". Bertie's Uncle George carries the title of Lord Yaxley. Other uncles who come into the stories are Henry Wooster, a "looney", whom the family find a considerable embarrassment; and Willoughby Wooster, upon whom Bertie is initially dependent for financial support, but who apparently passes away during the course of the stories, allowing Bertie to inherit a vast fortune.
Two sisters of Bertie's father play major roles in most of the stories and novels. They are Aunt Dahlia and Aunt Agatha. Bertie's description of the two aunts makes them appear exact opposites, although both criticize him heavily for his aimless life. Aunt Agatha is demeaning and demanding towards Bertie, leaving him quite unhappy about her involvement in his life. Aunt Dahlia is more good natured, but can also be a little demanding. Despite any disagreement he might have towards the plans his aunts have, Bertie feels obligated to follow their whims, often getting in trouble for doing so.
An aunt by marriage, Aunt Julia, the widow of Uncle Cuthbert, appears only in Extricating Young Gussie but is mentioned by Bertie occasionally. Another aunt by marriage, Aunt Emily, Claude and Eustace's mother, is mentioned in The Inimitable Jeeves.
Bertie has three uncles-by-marriage throughout the series: Tom Travers, Aunt Dahlia's husband; Spenser Gregson, Aunt Agatha's first husband; and Percy Craye, Earl of Worplesdon, her second.
Bertie's Cousins: Henry's twin sons, Claude and Eustace, play significant roles in several stories, as do Aunt Dahlia's children, Angela and Bonzo Travers, and Aunt Agatha's young son, Thomas Gregson, nicknamed "Thos". The title character of "Extricating Young Gussie" is Bertie's cousin Gussie, son of Aunt Julia and Uncle Cuthbert.
The family title: Bertie's Uncle George is Lord Yaxley, suggesting that he is the eldest living uncle and that Bertie's paternal grandfather likely held the title as well. However, the relative ages of Bertie's father and remaining uncles are unclear, so it is unknown whether Bertie or one of his male cousins would be in line to inherit the title. In "Extricating Young Gussie" Uncle Cuthbert is described as the "late head of the family" however it is explicitly stated that his son Gussie "has no title."
Education
Bertie's early education took place at the semi-fictional Malvern House Preparatory School. Wodehouse himself attended a school by that name, located in Kearsney, Kent; however, the Malvern House which appears in the stories is located in the fictional town of Bramley-on-Sea.
He was further educated at the non-fictional Eton and at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Most of Bertie's friends and fellow Drones Club members depicted in the stories attended one or more of these institutions with him. Also, Bertie's former schoolmaster at Malvern House, Aubrey Upjohn, appears or is mentioned several times.
One detail of Bertie's school life which comes into several stories is his winning of the prize for Scripture Knowledge while at Malvern House. Bertie speaks with pride of this achievement on several occasions; however, in Right Ho, Jeeves, the character of Gussie Fink-Nottle, while intoxicated, publicly accuses Bertie of having achieved the award through cheating. (Bertie stoutly denies this charge, however, and on the same occasion Gussie makes other completely groundless accusations against other characters.)
Romance
Bertie never marries, but does become engaged in nearly every story and novel. In the early years he is rather given to sudden and short-lived infatuations, under the influence of which he proposes to Florence Craye (in Jeeves Takes Charge, the second story in terms of publication and the first in the internal timeline of the books), Pauline Stoker, and Bobbie Wickham. In all of these cases, he rethinks the charms of the holy state and a "lovely profile" upon a closer understanding of the personalities of the girls in question. However, having already received a proposal from him, each assumes in her own way that she has an open invitation to marry Bertie whenever she has a spat with her current fiancé. Madeline Bassett and Honoria Glossop are similarly deluded, though in their cases Bertie was attempting to plead the case of a friend (Gussie Fink-Nottle and Bingo Little respectively) but was misinterpreted as confessing his own love. In all of these cases, Bertie feels himself honour-bound (also known as the Code of the Woosters) to agree to the marriage. He often cites his determination to act as a preux chevalier, and observes that "one is either preux or one isn't". In the later stories and novels, Bertie regards engagement solely as a dire situation from which Jeeves must extricate him.
Aunt Agatha is of the opinion that Bertie, whom she believes to be a burden to society in his present state, must marry and carry on the Wooster name; furthermore, he must marry a girl capable of moulding his personality and compensating for his many defects. (Interestingly, though, in the short story Jeeves Takes Charge, Lady Florence Craye tells Bertie that his Aunt Agatha "called you a spineless invertebrate and advised me strongly not to marry you". Aunt Agatha later marries Florence's father Lord Worplesdon, and Florence begins to call Agatha "mother", to Bertie's bemusement, so evidently the two terrifyingly imperious females feel some sort of spiritual kinship.) This prospect mortifies Bertie, not least because it would mean he and Jeeves would have to part ways. He also shares an obvious platonic affection with his cousin Angela (Aunt Dahlia's daughter), whom he feels protective of during her choppy engagement to Tuppy Glossop.
Jeeves
When Bertie catches his valet Meadowes stealing his silk socks, he fires him and sends for another from the agency. Jeeves, arriving in Jeeves Takes Charge, mixes Bertie a hangover cure. This comprises an egg yolk, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper (although Bertie sometimes speculates that there must be more to it). The cure is remarkably effective, and Bertie hires Jeeves immediately. According to the text, Bertie is twenty-four when he hires Jeeves. Thereafter, Bertie cedes much of the control of his life to Jeeves, clashing occasionally on matters of dress and appearance. When Jeeves expresses disapproval of a particular article of Bertie's clothing or grooming, be it a brightly-coloured cummerbund, a check suit, purple socks, white mess jacket, various hats or even a moustache, it is certain that it will be disposed of by the end of the story, sometimes after a period of coolness between the two. In one particular instance, he goes to the extent of breaking a vase he disliked which had been purchased by Bertie.
Jeeves frequently displays apparent mastery over a vast range of subjects from philosophy (his favourite philosopher is Spinoza) to an encyclopedic knowledge of poetry, science, history, psychology, geography, politics and literature. He is also a 'bit of a whiz' in all matters pertaining to gambling, car maintenance, etiquette and women. However, his most impressive feats are a flawless knowledge of the British aristocracy and making antidotes (esp. for hangovers). His mental prowess is attributed to eating fish, according to Bertie, and the latter often offers the dish to Jeeves.
Among Bertie's many reasons for not wanting to marry are his dislike of children and that all of his fiancées seem to have an aversion to Jeeves, insisting that Bertie dismiss him after their wedding. More importantly Jeeves is disagreeable to the prospect of his master's matrimonial alliance, as any prospective wife would likely dethrone him as the "true master" of the Wooster household. Because of this, he manages to steer Bertie out of every close relationship, sometimes against Bertie's will. Aunt Agatha also disapproves strongly of Jeeves's influence on Bertie, seeing his position as Bertie's "keeper" as further proof of self-insufficiency and unwillingness to take responsibility. Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, on the other hand, is extremely impressed by Jeeves's intelligence and is often party to his clever schemes.
Acquaintances
Bertie has several friends who keep popping into his life, mostly for Jeeves' help. A list of those who play major roles are:
Hildebrand "Tuppy" Glossop, who once challenged Bertie to swing across the pool in the Drones club and "looped back the last ring, thus rendering it necessary for me [Bertie] to drop into the deep end in formal evening costume".[3] He is the cousin of Bertie's sometime fiancée, Honoria Glossop, and is usually engaged to Bertie's cousin Angela.
Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle, who keeps newts and has a face like a fish.
Oofy Prosser, the Drones Club Millionaire with a pimply face. His wealth apparently exceeds Bertie's, though it can't be by much.
Richard "Bingo" Little, who had the penchant of falling in love with every girl he met before finally marrying Rosie M. Banks.
Rev. Harold P. "Stinker" Pinker, Curate of Totleigh-in-the-Wold. Pinker is consistently clumsy except when playing rugby as a prop forward.
Freddie Widgeon
Harold Winship, Stands for Parliament as the Conservative candidate in Market Snodsbury.
Beefy Bingham, Parson in the East End
Marmaduke "Chuffy" Chuffnel, the young landowner of Chuffnell Regis, an estate he tries to sell.
George "Sippy" Sipperly, an author who is arrested for assaulting the police on boat race night.
Claude "Catsmeat" Potter-Pirbright, an old school friend of Bertie's.
Charles "Biffy" Biffen
Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps
Bertie is known for being incredibly loyal to his friends, willing to do whatever he can to solve their problems. He considers it a duty to be able to help them, saying "when it comes to helping a pal we Woosters have no thought of self." This has led to somewhat of a bad connotation in his life though, as he is regularly volunteered for troublesome tasks — he muses in Jeeves in the Offing that "whenever there is dirty work to be undertaken at the crossroads, the cry that goes around my little circle is always 'Let Wooster do it.'" However, to his credit he never shies away from these tasks or enlisting Jeeves' assistance with them.
Bertie belongs to the Drones Club, and many of these characters are fellow members and appear in the separate Wodehouse "Drones Club" series of stories. Bertie is also acquainted with Lord Emsworth, another of Wodehouse's best-known characters, and mentions having visited Blandings Castle.
Bertie also has several adversaries who are constantly suspicious of him and on occasion, threaten him.
