Apart from the mystery—which Charles Dickens did not live
long enough to solve—Edwin Drood was an interesting character. He was an orphan,
and had only his uncle John (Jack) Jasper as a relative; and as they were of
the similar age, they had become intimate friends. Drood is a young man of good
spirit, gaiety and cheerfulness. In his simplicity, Drood never sees any
obstacles in life, and rather took everything for granted. Men with those qualities
should have been far away from troubles, however it’s often than not, that
their indifference caused them huge problems.
Drood was supposed to marry an orphan girl he had long affianced
to—Rosa—when he was coming of age, and after that a bright future has been
waiting for him in Egypt as an engineer. With his indifference and selfishness,
Drood never thought much about others’ feelings. He did not take his future marriage
as a serious matter, and until the time came, he treated Rosa merely as a
little sister whom he called ‘Pussy’. I believe deep in his heart Drood has a
slight attraction to Rosa, that had he not engaged to her since childhood, he
would have felt the attraction more easily.
Drood always sees positive aspects of others, that he did
not see any suspicious thing about Jasper; Drood only thought about himself. And
being insensible, he talked rather harshly to Neville Landless on the night of
their first encounter. I believe it’s not that Drood wanted to intimidated
Neville, but it’s because he talked whatever across his mind, never care about
what other may feel about it.
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| in BBC miniseries |
If Drood talked about Rosa indifferently, I think it’s
because it was Drood’s nature to not think seriously of everything; he did not
have any intentions to be ignorant. And giving money to Princess Puffer who was
coughing terribly on the night he was murdered, showed that Drood wasn’t that
ignorant to others. He could be kind sometime…
What I learn most from Edwin Drood is that being too sensitive
won’t make you happy, but being too insensitive can put you in danger when you
did not realize that people who look kind to you might not be honest to you.
I found Edwin quite arrogant, harmless, but arrogant. I think the best side of him comes out in his meeting with Grewgious when he is given the ring. He seems to think alot more then about others not just himself. Lovely analysis :)
ReplyDeleteYep, so perhaps if the world permit him to survive the attempted murder, Edwin might have changed to be much better. I think ignorant could arouse from (too) comfortable life. Charge people with some big responsibility, then we can judge his true personalities.
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