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 tries to faithfully recount what Franklin learned after revealing to the family lawyer Mr. Bruff that he was to deliver Herncastle’s present to Rachel. It turned out that, when Herncastle came back to England, Franklin’s father learned that Herncastle had papers that would help him prove the Dukedom he so desperately sought. Herncastle immediately saw through the elder Franklin’s intentions and proposed an exchange: Herncastle would give Franklin the papers if Franklin would arrange protection for the Diamond. Herncastle would send Franklin periodic notes confirming that he was still alive; if he were murdered, Franklin would get rid of the Diamond. Thinking this is all as absurd as it looked—and that Herncastle must have simply been taking too much opium—Franklin readily agrees.
Indeed, Herncastle involves Franklin Blake and his father in his plot through a mutually self-interested transaction, not because of any good feeling between relatives. Although Franklin and Betteredge are already beginning to confront the apparent Indian conspiracy, they believe Herncastle’s methods to be inexplicable and irrational (even though they themselves will eventually resort to similar ones). And the reference to opium foreshadows its later importance in the book—not as a tool of absurdity, but rather as a means of scientifically proving an important proposition.
Themes
Everything went as planned—Franklin the Senior guarded the Diamond, and Herncastle sent his periodic letters—until a few months before Betteredge’s meeting with Franklin the Junior. At this time, Herncastle’s letter ordered Mr. Bruff, the lawyer, to visit him in the rural villa where he lived in complete isolation (except for his animals). Herncastle dictated his will to Mr. Bruff; there were only three items: his animals would be cared for, he would fund a chemistry professorship (he had already spent nearly all his wealth on chemistry experiments), and the Moonstone would be a birthday present to Rachel (with Franklin the Senior as the executor). The senior Franklin figured this would be harmless, and so he agreed. And in his will, Herncastle even explained why he was giving Rachel the Moonstone—but the younger Franklin does not want to share this with Betteredge before reaching that part of the story.
By giving Franklin’s father the Diamond, Herncastle not only distances himself from the danger foretold by the Moonstone’s guardians (endangering the unwitting Blake family in the process) but he also tries to throw those guardians off his trail. By passing the Diamond on to Rachel, he appears to be seeking to pass on this curse to the family that scorned him. And his ultimate isolation is the clearest sign of the toll the Diamond took on his psyche. His inexplicable interest in chemistry points to the sinister dimension of science in Victorian England, which rapidly and fundamentally changed popular understandings of the world and its origins.
Themes
To the elder Franklin’s delight, the jewelers he consulted agreed that the Moonstone was almost inconceivably valuable, although it had an imperfection at its heart. Out of curiosity, he read the sealed instructions to be followed in the case of Herncastle’s murder: the Moonstone would be cut into a number of smaller stones and sold away. The younger Franklin explains to Betteredge why this is brilliant: the Colonel’s message was: “Kill me — and the Diamond will be the Diamond no longer.” The point was not to reduce its value—divided up around its imperfection, the Diamond would be worth even more. The point was that, for the Indians seeking to get their Moonstone back, the gem as a whole was sacred. Betteredge now understands why the Indian jugglers’ visit was noteworthy. (And Franklin thinks the whole story is consistent with what his fellow Brits claim to know about “Oriental races.”)
Ultimately, in an ironic twist of fate, Herncastle spends his whole life guarding a priceless Diamond whose value he never gets to spend: not only does he end up giving it up, but he has nothing valuable to spend it on (no family and no worldly ambitions). It is unclear why he guarded the Diamond for so long if it only brought him pain—in fact, it seems probable that Herncastle’s wickedness and desire for vengeance are products of the desperation and paranoia into which the Moonstone drove him. His quest for power and wealth—whether through the Moonstone’s monetary value or its symbolic importance—ended up undermining itself and depriving his life of all value.
Themes
Literary Devices
Franklin remarks to Betteredge that the critical question is whether this conspiracy has continued, and will begin following Rachel now instead of the Colonel. Every time he went to the bank for the Diamond, Franklin noticed “a shabby, dark-complexioned man” following him. He thinks the jugglers’ ink-pouring is “hocus-pocus,” but he wonders whether the Indians truly are able to keep track of and follow the Diamond. Betteredge and Franklin joke about throwing the Diamond into the Shivering Sand. Franklin returns to the question of the Colonel’s motives, and Betteredge includes the full third clause of Herncastle’s will in his testimony, which specifies that the Diamond will only be gifted to Rachel if Julia is still living—and that a copy of the will shall be given to Julia as a “token of my free forgiveness” of her for so insulting him and damaging his reputation.
Franklin and Betteredge simultaneously denounce the Indians' apparent magic and deeply fear it; they refuse to believe in what they do not rationally understand, but also fear that the Moonstone might prove that myth is reality, and therefore reveal the limits of their very capacity for understanding. Herncastle’s will strongly suggests that he is seeking to taunt Julia through his gift, which is far from “free,” especially since Rachel is unlikely to understand its danger.
Themes
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Betteredge is baffled. Franklin asks whether Betteredge thinks he is carrying out Herncastle’s vengeance or repentance, but he dodges the question. Franklin asks why Herncastle would leave the gem to Rachel, not Julia, and yet condition it on Julia being alive. Franklin sees both vengeance and repentance as equally probable explanations, and Betteredge chalks his indecisiveness up to his multinational education and inability to settle into one way of thinking. Franklin asks Betteredge’s advice; Betteredge suggests they wait—they have four weeks until Rachel’s birthday. In the meantime, they can store the Diamond in the nearest bank, and Franklin takes off on a horse in order to do so.
In fact, the question of the dead Herncastle’s motives can never be settled—it is a perfect crime with perfect plausible deniability, in which retribution masquerades as repentance and guilt as innocence. This is the one of the first places in which the novel muddies the distinction between these apparent opposites, but Franklin Blake’s character also exemplifies this tendency to contradiction—one which the adamant defender of “pure” British culture Betteredge blames on the admixture of foreign thinking.
Themes
