Throughout my reading of The Moonstone thus far, I find myself noticing the narrator’s voice a lot. Mostly, I find myself questioning the narrator in a lot of ways. In the margins of my book, you might find “lol,” “creepy,” “?!,” or “eye roll.” In The Moonstone particularly, I find myself noticing how Wilkie Collins has chosen these narrative voices that seem at odds with each other, but are actually quite similar in a lot of ways. Similarly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane tells her own story of her psychotic episode. Thus, we have no objective accounts of the event, and in both stories we find ourselves entering into “this abominable detective business” ourselves (Collins 175). We realize that like the characters we are reading about, we share that “moral perversity” in using our snooping skills (228).
In The Yellow Wallpaper, we are constantly trying to figure out Jane’s mental stability and subsequent reliability as a narrator. For example, Jane informs us that “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are not serious. I am glad my case is not serious!” (Perkins Gilman). Instantly, we find ourselves questioning why John might be away so often, and wondering what sort of “cases” these are. Similarly, in The Moonstone, Mr. Betteredge feels the need to constantly re-assert his reliability as narrator, which in turn makes us doubt him. When the story transfers over to the narrative of Miss Clack, a similar effect is achieved; we know we are reading the story from the point of view of someone without omniscient knowledge.
Although the overall effect of this narrative technique can make critical reading more important, it also forces us to enter more into the story. We don’t surmise that the narrator is providing us with consistent or accurate information, and so we take to our own methods of inference to make conclusions. In both texts, the reader feels a strong connection to the events of the story because it is necessary to interact more with the text. Thus, in the case of The Yellow Wallpaper, we understand why the text resonated with so many generations. Further, in The Moonstone, we can easily understand how Wilkie Collins was such a hit success among his readers.
I have been feeling that Mr. Betteredge reminds me a lot of Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey, and in this clip I am reminded of the amount of loyalty that the servants often had with the members of the family. This is especially relevant between the relationship of Mr. Betteredge and the Varinder family, since Mr. Betteredge knew her as a child.
Downton Abbey US, A House Grieving. YouTube, 27 March 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxB5zhH8P3c. Accessed 4 April 2017.