Intention to leave his last work unfinished
Dickens alludes to things being 'unfinished' several times in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Firstly, the title asserts that it is a mystery and therefore unsolved, the portrait of Rosa is unfinished and so is Durdles house described as unfinished. I wonder if Dickens began this project with an awareness that he would not be able to finish it and therefore was paving the way for his final dramatic exit. If this is the case then attempts made to write an ending are an insult because it may have been his intention that readers make up their own minds as they read it. I say this because the late Victorian period is seen as a period of anxiety and change. Perhaps the unfinished element of Dickens last work is a statement in itself about the need for neat endings and security of knowledge in a period unable to offer these answers.