Madeline Bassett

Madeline Bassett is a recurring character in the Jeeves stories by English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being one of the young women to whom Bertie Wooster periodically finds himself threateningly engaged.

Overview

Wooster describes her in Right Ho, Jeeves as "a pretty enough girl in a droopy, blonde, saucer-eyed way, but not the sort of breath-taker that takes the breath", though elsewhere he describes her as "physically in the pin-up class". These moderate charms must be considered in balance with her personality, which is that of the soppiest, mushiest, sentimentalest young gawd-help-us that ever was; even the devotion of Gussie Fink-Nottle wanes with each new injunction to take up vegetarianism or recite Christopher Robin poems at the village concert.

To illustrate her unique outlook on early 20th century life, it may help to mention that Madeline is allegedly fond of remarking in casual conversation that "the stars are God's daisy chain", or that "every time a fairy blows its wee nose a baby is born". Such comments would be in keeping with her general conversational style, which is all too apt to revolve around elves, gnomes, flowers, and small furry creatures. This excessive soppiness is wedded to an impressive degree of self-centered idealism, which for nearly the entire course of the saga keeps her from being wedded to anyone else; at the end of Much Obliged, Jeeves she is re-engaged to Roderick Spode and may be presumed to be on her way to becoming the next Countess of Sidcup, as long as he does not make the error of renouncing his title or speaking ill of Winnie the Pooh.