The Moonstone Essay PDF

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This is an analysis of the Moonstone by Wilkie Collins....

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Karl Stout Dr Melissa Williams English 121 10 November 2014 Objectivity and Subjectivity in The Moonstone The irreplaceable consciousness and senses humans are gifted with provide an ability to develop a personal interpretation of the world. This opinion, developing as time goes by, leads to an internal analysis of each event experienced by a person, one that varies immensely between different people. This idea is present in The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, as it uses multiple narrators to clearly emphasize that objectivity and subjectivity inevitably combine to greatly undermine the validity of truth. While it is clear that life provides a genuine, real experience, Collins suggests that truth and reality are two entirely different concepts, conflicting through the the human mind’s ability to morph reality into its own form of truth. With interpretation comes variation, making first hand experience, an evident conjunction of the interpersonal and intrapersonal communication, the only credible source for determining certainty. A multitude of characters are present in The Moonstone, eight of which take on the role of narrator at some point in the story, providing their own accounts of certain witnessed events which relate to the mystery of the Moonstone. While none of the narrators officially clarify their direct significance in the final solution of the story, each one provides a clear paradigm which is entirely different than all other characters. In the first period, narrated by Gabriel Betteredge, Mr Franklin puts it best in saying “the idea is that we should all write the story of the Moonstone in turn ─ as far as our own personal experience extends,” (21) emphasizing that each witness’ goal was not to find the moonstone, but to give the group the general grounds for certainty. With this

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in mind, the story carries on with Betteredge who provides the longest account of all the narrators in the story. Betteredge’s first bias shows up within his first narrative. When he states “you really must hear the story of the sands, and the story of Rosanna” (34), his necessity to share his opinions on Rosanna, which are crucial to the story, show his strong beliefs about her, her relation to the mystery of the diamond, and the effect she has on his character. His views on Rosanna lead to a much different development of the story than any other character, as nearly every other character focused on entirely different aspects of the mystery, and felt differently about Rosanna. Earlier on, revealing more of his character, Betteredge states, “When my spirits are bad ─ Robinson Crusoe. When I want advice ─ Robinson Crusoe... when I have had a drop too much ─ Robinson Crusoe. I have worn out six stout Robinson Crusoes with hard work in my service.” (22). His obsession with and faith in this book which discusses British Imperialism, usually along with “a pipe of tobacco,” symbolizes the british people’s ignorance to the blatant display of British imperialism and importation they are a large part of (22). While Betteredge proves to place a lot of faith in Robinson Crusoe, Miss Clack’s input on the story is highly influenced by her faith in a “howling ocean of popery,” and her interests in her “wealthy relative” (201). Her religious extremism gives her an exasperating personality, one which is also displayed by her self-obsession. When she finds out that she will not be a part of Lady Verinder’s will, she foolishly states: Not the slightest pecuniary interest in Lady Verinder's Will. Oh, how thankful I felt when I heard that! If my aunt, possessed of thousands, had remembered poor Me, to whom five pounds is an object—if my name had appeared in the Will, with a little comforting legacy attached to it—my enemies might have doubted the motive which had loaded me with the choicest treasures

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of my library. (224) She ironically assumes that society would view her for who she truly is. The only clues she receives pertaining to the Moonstone are results of her desire to know gossip, as a lot of the time, she is pointing out pointless facts about herself such as “On rising the next morning, how young I felt! I might add, how young I looked” (235). Although Miss Clack is not completely irrelevant to the story, a different person in her situation could have collected much more information on the happenings of the Moonstone with less interest in themselves than the mystery they want to help solve, perhaps a character more like Franklin Blake. Franklin Blake is the one responsible for the collection of narratives. As the closest character to a protagonist, his personality is surprisingly hidden, with “clever and agreeable” being the only direct reference to his attributes by another character (387). His complexity is emphasized by Betteredge when he claims that Franklin “could be a busy man, and a lazy man; cloudy in the head, and clear in the head; a model of determination, and a spectacle of helplessness, all together” (55), the stated contradictions proving that not much is known about him. Just as others question his character, the story proves that Franklin himself holds confusion about himself as well. This is shown when he surprisingly finds out he was the true thief of the Moonstone, as exclaimed by Rachel, “My heart's darling, you are a Thief! My hero whom I love and honour, you have crept into my room under cover of the night, and stolen my Diamond!” (352). Franklin Blake, finding himself “in a state of trance, produced by opium,” loses his subjectivity, which forces him to accept his unconscious objective actions of theft (385). Coping with this counterintuitive result is only difficult due to the human inability to accept a lack of subjective experience in an objective action; however, the objective event was the only form of solid evidence in the events of The Moonstone which could lead to an irrefutable truth, bringing

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into question yet again, who provides the closest truth to reality. Perhaps the most reliable of all characters, then, is Sergeant Cuff, as “when it comes to unravelling a mystery, there isn’t the equal in England of Sergeant Cuff.” (306). This is due to Sergeant Cuff’s ability to meticulously spot any potential physical evidence, like the slight hint of paint that “had been smeared by some loose article on somebody’s dress,” which would be the main objective in finding who stole the diamond (114). Sergeant Cuff, although supposedly the greatest detective, cannot solve the mystery of the moonstone, which suggests that even the intelligent finding of a collection of objective and subjective evidence is not necessarily enough to gather certainty; however, his approach is one which resonates through other books, as he sets the universal standard for detectives for in future novels such as the famous Sherlock Holmes, Adrian Monk, or even the Scooby Doo Gang. As knowledge and certainty have always been consistently strived for instinctually by all humans, different experiences lead to different forms of truth. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins undoubtedly classifies the existence of mystery as an overwhelmingly powerful occurrence in humanity, one that requires the combined powers of internal and external events to establish a potentially solid solution. With the different perspectives of various narrators, Collins suggests that truth is immensely difficult to attain due to different subjective and objective experiences colliding, usually giving different accounts of reality. Truth and reality only conjoin when absolute certainty is established, which is one of the most difficult things to achieve with the variety placed within the different personalities of all humans....