On the orders of his aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster is obliged to visit a country house busy with romantic confusion amongst multiple couples. He endeavours to sort things out, whilst saving himself from marriage to a woman he doesn’t love.

Amongst all the chaos, Jeeves tries to comfort Bertie by quoting Marcus Aurelius:

“Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web.”

Bertie is not best pleased to be told this, The idea of a great web is meant to be comforting, but for most of the book the opposite is true. There is a sense of hopeless entanglement. The mess of circumstance has a web-like feel of one problem leading to another in a disastrous chain reaction. It is not until late on, once Jeeves has done some of his arranging, that the web changes its nature, to become something where solution leads to solution in a virtuous circle.

So is the web of fate a spiders web where we are trapped, or a knitted hammock where we can find peace and repose? Well, take your pick. The Mating Season explores both interpretations. I don’t think you will be too surprised, if you know anything at all about Wodehouse, to hear that the final outcome suggests the optimistic view. Nevertheless, we have to go through the tangles of pessimism to get there. And while the tangles are comedic, they do nevertheless explore the light and shade inherent in the idea of fate. Not bad for frothy comedy.