Overview
Double Dealing is built around deception, misunderstanding, and the comic consequences of people trying to gain an advantage without realizing that everyone else is doing exactly the same thing. W.
This title is catalogued in Art & Aesthetics. Its reading profile is Medium and Moderate, with themes including literature, beauty.
One-Page Summary
Double Dealing is built around deception, misunderstanding, and the comic consequences of people trying to gain an advantage without realizing that everyone else is doing exactly the same thing. W. W. Jacobs was a master of short fiction involving ordinary people, suspicious motives, money, relationships, and the sudden reversal that changes how an earlier event should be understood. The title gives away the mechanism: when more than one person is “double-dealing,” no one can safely assume that an apparently simple arrangement is genuine. Jacobs often makes this funny rather than purely sinister.
Characters scheme because they think they are clever, only to discover that someone else has anticipated them. The result is a game of social chess in which the pieces are ordinary people with very ordinary weaknesses—greed, pride, fear, jealousy, and self-interest. The charm comes from watching the plans collide. What begins as a small dishonest act can create a chain of complications that becomes impossible to control. Read today, the story is a good example of why Jacobs remains entertaining: he understands that people are often funniest when they take their own schemes completely seriously.
Key Themes
Literature: This title is tagged with literature as one of its main themes.
Beauty: This title is tagged with beauty as one of its main themes.