Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Moonstone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Detective Methods and Genre Standards
Intention, Identity, and Personality
Science and Religion
Gender and Victorian Morality
Class, Wealth, and Nobility
British Imperialism
Summary
Analysis
Betteredge and Cuff walk into Julia’s room, and Julia explains that Rachel informed her about an hour ago about her desire to stay with the Ablewhites for some time. Betteredge’s heart begins to race; Cuff requests that Julia try to keep Rachel around the house until the following afternoon, so they can talk, instead of letting her leave in the morning, when he is also planning to be in Frizinghall. Julia agrees and Cuff asks her not to tell Rachel about his involvement in her departure plans. Outside, Cuff compliments Julia, and Betteredge grows furious: he grabs Cuff and yells that “there's something wrong about Miss Rachel—and you have been hiding it from me all this time!” Betteredge feels guilty for his reaction and reassures the reader that it was only because of his loyalty to the family and care for Rachel.
Rachel’s desire to get away from the investigation suggests even more strongly that she has something to hide, but Cuff already seems to know what this is and has a plan to circumvent it. Betteredge’s reaction to his new prediction, in a rare loss of composure, shows his inability to cope with losing the power to keep the household in check. Indeed, both Betteredge and Rachel’s personality shifts prove that Cuff’s investigation (even more than the Diamond’s theft) has upended the normal order of the Verinder estate, turning people into their opposites—or, perhaps more precisely, exposing their contradictions.
Themes
In Betteredge’s sitting room, Cuff reveals the truth: Rachel still has the Moonstone and was trying to throw suspicion onto Rosanna. Cuff will lay out his case tomorrow, before Rachel leaves for Frizinghall, and he wants Betteredge to be present. As dinner comes and goes, Betteredge feels “restless and miserable” and even starts thinking about his own death, but continues to insistently believe that Rachel must be innocent.
Cuff’s explanation is as stunning as it is initially improbable, but it truly does explain all the relevant details of the case. Just as Cuff’s detective work reveals people’s contradictions and undersides, it reveals the victim as the thief. Betteredge, ever the champion of consistency and order, cannot bear this.
Themes
Julia asks Betteredge to inform Cuff that the three Indian jugglers are going to be released soon, and that it is their last opportunity to question them. When he goes outside, Betteredge finds Cuff engaged in a passionate argument about roses with the gardener. He gives Cuff a written note about the Indians, and Cuff asks for Mr. Murthwaite’s contact information before returning to his argument.
Cuff again spends his free time focusing on how to keep a rose garden, a personal obsession that reflects his desire to move beyond the cynical world of crime and punishment that consumes his days, and grow something beautiful of his own accord rather than continue resolving other people’s problems forever.
Themes
Inside, Betteredge encounters Penelope, who explains that Rachel grew furious upon hearing that she would not be leaving until the next afternoon and laments the “changed state of things in the house.” Then, Rosanna runs past Betteredge “with a miserable look of pain” and insists that he “don’t speak to me.” As Cuff passes by, no longer reliant on the surly Betteredge for his investigation, Franklin explains to Betteredge that Rosanna approached him while he was playing billiards and lamented his lack of interest in her. Franklin admits that he “almost hoped” Rosanna would be found responsible for stealing the Diamond, and Betteredge at once sees that saving Rachel requires blaming Rosanna, and that Rosanna’s strange behavior justifies Franklin’s suspicion. Thinking she may have a better explanation, Franklin asks Betteredge to tell her she is welcome to visit him in the library, but she has already gone to sleep.
Identities and the distinction between public and private continue to get jumbled as Rachel, Betteredge, and Rosanna all react with misery and discomfort to their individual problems, all of which secretly differ from what the others expect—and all of which also intersect with one another: Rachel says she cannot stand the changes since Cuff’s investigation, while Cuff thinks she is actually worried about her apparent role in the theft; Rosanna is apparently worried about her role in the theft, but secretly concerned about Franklin; and Betteredge is apparently preoccupied with Rachel and Rosanna’s safety, but also secretly worried about the changing hierarchy in the house.
Themes
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Betteredge is surprised to discover that Cuff is not sleeping in his room, but rather on three chairs in the hallway leading to Rachel’s room. The Sergeant awakens and explains that he is hoping to prevent Rosanna and Rachel from secretly communicating throughout the night. Betteredge yells that he wishes “the Diamond had never found its way into this house,” and Cuff agrees.
Cuff’s full theory becomes apparent—Rachel enlisted Rosanna to pretend to steal her Diamond, which accounts for Rachel’s surliness and Rosanna’s shiftiness. All he is missing is a motive. Betteredge’s reply—that he wishes the Diamond never came to the Verinder estate—shows that, for almost everyone involved, the loss of the Diamond is less important than the curse of the Diamond: the recent upheaval within the family.
Themes
