47 pages • 1 hour read
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
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Chapters 11-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “A Picture and a Ring”
Content Warning: The novel and the guide reference drug addiction, colonialism, and racist beliefs.
On a cold December night, Edwin visits Mr. Grewgious’s London law office; Mr. Grewgious’s assistant, Mr. Bazzard, is also there. The three men have dinner together and chat about various topics, including Rosa. Mr. Grewgious confirms that Edwin received the copy of Rosa’s father’s will. Mr. Grewgious then presents Edwin with a beautiful diamond and ruby ring; it once belonged to Rosa’s mother. The ring was left in trust for Edwin to use to confirm his betrothal to Rosa; Mr. Grewgious tells Edwin that he should take the ring with him when he goes to Cloisterham, and either put it on Rosa’s finger (confirming their betrothal) or bring it back to Grewgious. Grewgious has Bazzard witness Edwin taking the ring.
Alone, Grewgious reflects on his secret and unrequited love for Rosa’s mother.
Chapter 12 Summary: “A Night with Durdles”
In Cloisterham, Mr. Sapsea has become Mayor and has cultivated a friendship with Jasper. One night, Sapsea runs into Jasper, the Dean, and Mr. Tope talking near the cathedral. Jasper explains to the group that Sapsea should be given credit for introducing him to Durdles; in the subsequent time, Jasper has spent more time with Durdles and is now planning “a moonlight expedition […] among the tombs, vaults, towers, and ruins” (123) of the cathedral.
Later that night, Jasper meets with Durdles. Jasper shows interest in a substance called quicklime. As Jasper and Durdles walk towards the cathedral, they notice Neville and Crisparkle walking ahead of them. Jasper urges Durdles to be quiet and keep to the shadows so that the two other men will not see them. While they cannot fully hear the conversation between Neville and Crisparkle, Jasper hears them talking about the planned meeting on Christmas Eve; when Neville and Crisparkle pass out of sight, Jasper begins to laugh hysterically. Durdles is confused both by the laughter and by the intense interest Jasper displayed.
Durdles and Jasper enter the cathedral crypt; they wander around and eventually begin climbing the great tower, from the summit of which they can see all of Cloisterham. When Jasper and Durdles descend back to the crypt, Durdles passes out. The text implies that Jasper may have drugged Durdles. Durdles wakes up unsure of what Jasper has been doing in the time that he was asleep, but it seems that Jasper may have taken Durdles’s keys. The two men leave the cathedral. Deputy (the young boy who follows Durdles around) is waiting outside and begins pelting them with stones. Jasper becomes violently angry and physically attacks the young boy; Durdles intervenes, and everyone goes their separate ways.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Both at Their Best”
It is now almost Christmas. Most of the girls at the boarding school are leaving to go home for the holidays, but Rosa and Helena will remain in Cloisterham. Rosa and Helena have become close friends, but Rosa does not confide in her about her doubts about her relationship with Edwin: she can tell that Helena becomes uncomfortable whenever Edwin comes up.
Edwin is feeling nervous as he prepares to meet Rosa; ever since his conversation with Grewgious, Edwin has been wondering if he should break off the engagement. He resolves, “I will be guided by what she says, and by how we get on” (140). Edwin and Rosa go for a walk, and she tells him that she wants to break off their engagement. Both are relieved and kind to one another; however, Edwin begins to worry about how to break the news to his uncle. Rosa suggests that they have Grewgious tell Jasper the news, and Edwin seems very relieved by this suggestion. Since they are no longer engaged, Edwin also decides not to show the ring to Rosa and simply return it to Grewgious.
As they walk, Rosa thinks about how she wants to stop studying music with Jasper, and Edwin wonders if he can possibly court Helena now that he is a free man. They come up with a plan: When Grewgious arrives in Cloisterham, Edwin will tell him that the engagement is off, and then he’ll leave. Grewgious will meet Jasper and break the news, but only after Edwin has left Cloisterham. Rosa and Edwin fondly kiss one another goodbye. They see Jasper lurking nearby, watching them. Edwin correctly infers that Jasper has seen them kiss and will assume they are happy and pursuing their engagement.
Chapter 14 Summary: “When Shall These Three Meet Again?”
It is now Christmas Eve. Jasper, Neville, and Edwin will meet later for dinner at Jasper’s home. The narrative describes how each of them spends the day before the dinner. Neville plans a solitary walking trip for about two weeks and will leave after the dinner; in preparation, he has acquired a heavy walking stick. He goes to see Helena and tells her about this plan; she “think[s] well of it, as a healthy project, denoting a sincere endeavour, and an active attempt at self-correction” (151). Neville tells Helena that he is not looking forward to the dinner and feels a sense of foreboding. He then leaves for Jasper’s home.
Meanwhile, Edwin has his watch repaired at a jeweler’s shop. Afterwards, he notices an elderly woman begging in the street. Edwin stops to give her money and notices that some of her behavior (tremors and blank looks) reminds him of his uncle. Edwin asks the woman if she consumes opium, and she admits that she does. The woman also asks Edwin if his name is Ned, since someone with that name is in danger. Edwin leaves the conversation confused; he doesn’t think the warning applies to him, but he does reflect that Jasper is the only person who ever calls him Ned. Edwin later goes to his uncle’s home for the planned dinner.
Jasper spends the day in good spirits. When he runs into Reverend Crisparkle, Jasper says he expects the coming year to be much better for him, and that he will be happier in the future. After hearing from Crisparkle that Neville is already on his way to the meeting, Jasper returns home, where the two young men will be meeting with him.
Overnight, a violent storm rages. In the morning, the cathedral is badly damaged. Jasper rushes to the house of Reverend Crisparkle to ask if Edwin is there; Jasper is alarmed because Edwin and Neville “went down to the river last night […] to look at the storm” (159), and Edwin hasn’t returned. Crisparkle confirms that Neville returned home alone and has already left for his walking trip.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Impeached”
Neville has traveled a significant distance away from Cloisterham when a group of village men forcibly detain him. They drag Neville to where Jasper and Crisparkle are waiting and begin to question him about the events of the previous night. Neville explains that he and Edwin left Jasper’s home around midnight and went down to the riverbank; this aligns with what Jasper has also reported. Neville says that he and Edwin spent a short amount of time together, and then they walked back to Jasper’s home, where Edwin was staying. Someone points out that Neville has bloodstains on his clothing and walking stick, but Neville says these stains stem from when the village men first forcibly seized him.
The group, including Neville, walk back to Cloisterham and visit Mr. Sapsea. Jasper gives an overview of the events leading up to Edwin’s disappearance and explains that there is no reason for Edwin to have left suddenly without telling anyone. Mr. Sapsea finds the context very suspicious and considers arresting Neville. However, Crisparkle persuades Sapsea not to make an arrest until more information is known. All day, men from the village, including Jasper, search the river for Edwin’s body.
That night, Jasper goes home, and Grewgious comes to see him. Grewgious has spent the day with Helena and Rosa; Rosa is very distressed by Edwin’s disappearance, and Helena is already fiercely defensive of her brother. Grewgious then informs Jasper that Rosa and Edwin broke off their engagement before Edwin’s disappearance (he has learned this information from Rosa, according to the plan of having Grewgious break the news to Jasper). Jasper is overcome with violent emotion and collapses.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Devoted”
After Jasper collapses, Grewgious summons Mr. and Mrs. Tope to help; they all tend to Jasper. Jasper eventually calms down. He explains that the news about Rosa and Edwin is actually hopeful to him, as it makes it seem more likely that Edwin (embarrassed about the dissolution of his engagement) left Cloisterham, and thus might still be alive: “the fact of his having just parted from your ward, is in itself a sort of reason for his going away” (172). Crisparkle arrives, and Jasper shares his newfound belief that Edwin is alive and has run away. Crisparkle would like to believe this as well, but he is conflicted: Neville was jealous of Edwin, and the fact is incriminating. Crisparkle, out of obligation, tells Grewgious that while he still doesn’t think Neville harmed Edwin, Neville had a violent temper and hated Edwin because he, Neville, was in love with Rosa.
The next morning, Crisparkle goes to Cloisterham Weir (a small barrier or dam used to control water levels); this area has not been searched. Crisparkle catches sight of a watch, dives into the water, and retrieves it; it is Edwin’s watch. Crisparkle also finds a shirt-pin. Crisparkle takes the evidence to Mr. Sapsea, and summons Neville and Jasper. The watch and the shirt-pin seemingly confirm that someone murdered Edwin and tried to throw away the items (which would be readily identifiable), or else threw them in the river to suggest that Edwin might have died by suicide. Most people in Cloisterham now believe that Neville murdered Edwin, but in the absence of a body or conclusive evidence, Neville is not arrested. He leaves the town of Cloisterham in disgrace. Jasper shares an entry from his diary with Crisparkle: He is now convinced that Edwin was murdered and vows to take revenge on his nephew’s killer.
Chapters 11-16 Analysis
The novel’s title alludes to a mystery that is only established in this section: What happened to Edwin Drood after he vanished on Christmas Eve? The mystery has multiple levels since, in the portions of the novel that Dickens completed, Edwin’s body is not found. It is unclear whether he is dead or alive, and if the former, who killed him. It may be worth noting that the plot of Dickens’s previous novel, Our Mutual Friend (1865), features a protagonist who is presumed dead while actually living under a disguised identity; Dickens was interested in playing with the tension of whether or not a character is living or dead, which may explain why Drood doesn’t unfold as a conventional murder mystery, in which a body would likely have been found immediately, triggering a more traditional murder investigation.
The chapters immediately before Edwin’s disappearance heighten suspense and tension in the plot, as well as noting some details that might have had significance in the eventual resolution of the mystery plot. Dickens is very intentional in describing both Edwin receiving the heirloom ring from Grewgious and emphasizing that Edwin decides not to give it to Rosa: “let them [the jewels in the ring] be. Let them lie unspoken of, in his breast” (145). This sequence of events establishes that Edwin would almost certainly have had the ring with him on the subsequent night when he either vanished or was killed, and Dickens foreshadows that there is some significance to Edwin’s decision to keep the ring in his possession: “there was one chain forged in the moment of that small conclusion, riveted to the foundations of heaven and earth, and gifted with invincible force to hold and drag” (145). While there is no definitive evidence of Dickens’s plans for the remaining plot of the novel, some individuals who spoke with him reported that Dickens intended for Edwin’s body to eventually be located and identified based on the ring being found with him.
Chapter 12, “A Night with Durdles,” deepens the sense of sinister mystery surrounding Jasper and also lays a number of clues (or red herrings) for a potential plot in which Jasper is carefully orchestrating a plan to kill his nephew and conceal the body. Jasper’s fascination with exploring the hidden spaces of the cathedral under the cover of darkness suggests a menacing aspect to his personality, and functions as a metaphor for the dark obsessions that lurk within his mind. By light of day, the cathedral is a benign and even holy place, but at night it becomes foreboding, secretive, and potentially a site where bodies can literally be hidden; likewise, Jasper presents an upstanding public presence as a member of the Cloisterham community while hiding a dark fixation on Rosa, and a potentially deadly animosity towards his nephew.
Jasper’s obsession with secrecy is highlighted in his violent reaction when he realizes that Deputy (the young boy who follows Durdles around) has been watching them, and therefore can witness and confirm that Jasper and Durdles were in the cathedral: Jasper attacks the young boy, raging that “he followed us to-night, when we first came here!” (134). Jasper’s intense anger with Deputy shows that he has a strong interest in concealing his movements and actions; earlier that same night, he hid from Neville and Crisparkle. This fixation on secrecy hints that Jasper’s intentions are not good; he also shows a suspicious interest in quicklime (calcium oxide), a chemical substance sometimes used in construction and building; it is, as Durdles observes, “quick [strong] enough to eat your bones” (127).
Dickens masterfully heightens the suspense and mystery surrounding Edwin’s disappearance in Chapter 14, “When Shall These Three Meet Again?” On Christmas Eve, in the hours leading up to the planned dinner at Jasper’s home, Dickens provides parallel descriptions of the activities of the three men. He ends each of these sections with the repetition of “and so he goes up the postern stair” (155). What actually happens during this dinner, once the three men assemble, becomes an example of a lacuna, or gap; this literary term originates with texts preserved in manuscripts where a word or passage is literally missing or too damaged to be legible, but has been expanded to refer to the idea of information or events that are deliberately omitted from a text in order to heighten effect. The lacuna of the dinner is particularly striking because readers are given detailed descriptions of the events beforehand, and detailed descriptions of the events that occur afterwards (once Jasper raises the alarm). The repetition of the sentence “and so he goes up the postern stair” (158) draws attention to what happens “off-stage” in the novel, and what readers are tantalized by not being allowed to see.
While Dickens doesn’t directly narrate the events of Christmas Eve, he uses the technique of pathetic fallacy, in which events in the external world mirror the inner state of characters, to further heighten the impression of conflict and violence. A terrible storm rages throughout the night: “the violent rushes abate not, but increase in frequency and fury” (159), and in the early morning, the storm is personified as dying: “like a wounded monster dying, it drops and sinks; and at full daylight it is dead” (159). This imagery strongly suggests that in the night or early hours of the morning, Edwin may have suffered through similar death throes.
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