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 prepares for Rachel’s birthday, including his speech in her favor—which he compares to the Queen’s speech before Parliament, for it is the same every year. After this speech, Betteredge convinces the conflicted Franklin to simply gift Rachel the Diamond as originally planned, with no undue warnings. Franklin and Rachel spend the morning finishing the bedroom door; before dinner, Betteredge awakens from Robinson Crusoe to find Franklin arriving alongside Godfrey Ablewhite, who is surprisingly surly, and his two rotund and jolly sisters. Franklin affirms that he has the Diamond and has not seen the Indians.
Betteredge clearly thinks highly of his employers and by extension of his own role managing the house. But he also exposes its futility by humbly admitting that his speech is a mere meaningless formality. Everything starts off as planned, although Godfrey’s manner does not seem to match Betteredge’s expectations of him.
Themes
Literary Devices
Sometime later, Betteredge hears a scream from the drawing-room, where he discovers Rachel holding the Diamond and the rest of the guests examining it ecstatically. Julia reads the will and, looking confused, asks Betteredge to talk with her in her room a half hour later. On his way out, Rachel shows Betteredge the Diamond, which reminds him of the moon and is as “unfathomable as the heavens themselves.” (Godfrey remarks that it is “mere carbon” and carries on with grace.) At their meeting, Julia is deeply pessimistic about Herncastle’s gift; Franklin confronts Betteredge on his way out, asking about Rachel and Godfrey’s whereabouts. And just before dinner, Penelope delightedly informs Betteredge that she witnessed Rachel refuse Godfrey’s proposal in the garden. Betteredge prepares to reprimand Penelope for what he considers misplaced enthusiasm, and then the first guests’ arrival interrupts him.
Although Franklin hands over the Diamond without a hitch, Rachel strangely never appears to ask where it came from, and of course Julia’s knowledge of its origins immediately launches her into a panic. The Diamond’s appearance attests to its mystical, otherworldly quality, but Godfrey’s remark suggests that he has a different perspective on the Diamond’s value, compared to everyone else: while Rachel is ecstatic about its beauty, Godfrey sees it as just one physical object among others, and his grumpiness strangely contrasts with his sudden and unexpected proposal to Rachel.
Themes
Literary Devices
