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 recounts Cuff setting off for the Shivering Sand with Duffy, a local boy who works at the Verinder family estate and has just seen Rosanna rushing in that direction. Betteredge occupies himself with some “needless” house work until Duffy returns with a note from Cuff asking Betteredge to send a boot of Rosanna’s with Duffy. Betteredge does, but he decides to follow Duffy as well.
Despite Cuff’s attempts to distance him from the case, Betteredge inevitably gets drawn back into the drama surrounding the Moonstone, which is rather convenient for the reader. The boot suggests that Cuff must be seeking to match footprints.
Themes
A storm brews as Betteredge arrives on the beach and encounters a horrified Cuff, who matches Rosanna’s boot to a series of marks that all point at a spit of rocks. At once, Betteredge realizes what Cuff is thinking, and the detective exclaims that “some fatal accident has happened to” Rosanna on the rocks. Betteredge recalls Rosanna’s solemn manner that morning but cannot bring himself to tell Cuff that he thinks she committed suicide—he then thinks back to the first time he met her on the Shivering Sand, when she declared that she thought she might die there. Mortified, Betteredge imagines losing Penelope, who is the same age as Rosanna.
Unlike last time Cuff and Betteredge visited the Shivering Sand, now Rosanna’s footsteps tell an unambiguous story: she seems to have fulfilled the prophecy she presented to Betteredge upon their first trip. Again, for one of the few times in the book, Betteredge is genuinely overwhelmed with emotions and unable to process what he has just experienced.
Themes
The Yollands and the outdoor servants all congregate on the beach, where Cuff reveals what he has discovered about Rosanna’s fate. The fishermen explain that no boat could have picked her up, but that the other side of the rocks would have been empty of water an hour before. Betteredge blurts out his suspicion that Rosanna might have committed suicide, but Cuff asks everyone to ignore him. A fisherman explains that, given the topography of the area, she must have waded out into deeper water—and deeper quicksand—after falling off the rocks.
Betteredge’s fall out of Cuff’s graces leads Cuff to ignore his one accurate prediction, although it is completely speculative. At the same time, Cuff suddenly switches back to a communal mode of investigation, crowdsourcing the information he needs to prove what could have actually happened to Rosanna. It is telling that she dies just after Rachel’s departure and Franklin’s declaration that he plans to leave—this suggests that one of them might be tied to her fate.
Themes
A servant comes to the Shivering Sand with a suicide note from Rosanna thanking Betteredge for his kindness and asking his forgiveness. Betteredge “burst[s] out crying” and blames Cuff. Together, they set out for the house.
A clue Cuff did not ask for proves the worst-case scenario true. Rosanna recognizes Betteredge’s concern for her, but yet again he finds himself privy to everything, but with power over nothing.
Themes
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