In D.A. Miller’s book, “The Novel and the Police,” he writes, “Disciplinary power constitutively mobilizes a tactic of tact: it is the policing power that never passes for such, but is either invisible or visible only under cover of other, nobler or simply blander intentionalities (to educate, to cure, to produce, to defend)” (Miller, 17).
In Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, religion has taken the form of various entities. From Betteredge’s personal Bible, Robinson Crusoe, to the religious Rachel Verinder and her mother, all the way to the esteemed Godfrey Ablewhite and his respectable charity work (yeah, not for long), religion has manifested itself in different ways throughout the story. However, when introduced to Miss Clack, the second narrator, religion is presented in a different way. Here, we catch a glimpse of evangelical Christianity.
“Oh, Rachel! Rachel!’ I burst out. ‘Haven’t you seen yet, that my heart yearns to make a Christian out of you? Has no inner voice told you that I am trying to do for you, what I was trying to do for your dear mother when death snatched her out of my hands?’ (Collins, 269).
After the death of Lady Verinder (that made really sad, of course), Miss Clack tells Rachel that she wants to “make” her a Christian (isn’t she already a Christian?). In a way, Miss Clack feels guilty because she feels that it is her fault that she wasn’t able to “save Lady Verinder’s soul [from hellfire].” As a result, she feels that her moral duty is to spread the word of God – to use religion as a policing power – to others to prevent them from eternal damnation. Throughout her narrative, we have seen her do exactly that: force books onto others, persuade others to go to church, etc.
Nevertheless, there is something mysterious – and fallacious – about Miss Clack’s character. To be honest, I’m not even quite sure if she understands what it means to be a Christian. In chapter 1 of the second period, she says, “Let your faith be as your stockings, and your stockings as your faith. Both ever spotless, and both ready to put on at a moment’s notice!” (Collins, 204-205).
In this passage, Miss Clack relates Christianity to a stocking – an odd and unseemly comparison, if that. If Miss Clack were truly a Christian, she would argue that we are Christians all of the time. Of course, we are sinners, but we are always under God’s love and protection because we have been saved. The fact that she believes Christianity can just be “put on at moments notice” shows that she truly isn’t as pious as she seems. Instead, it seems to be a facade – a veneer that she puts on to seem superior to others. Doesn’t that make sense? Think about it: she even takes her “stocking” off at the end of chapter 5 – remember how indignant she was for not being written into Lady Verinder’s will?
While Miss Clack repeatedly uses her religion – Christianity – as a policing power to “save others” through invisible means such as words, and visible means such as books and pamphlets, she never really abides by her own rhetoric. To be honest, Lady Verinder should have been the one “policing” Miss Clack, as she seemed much more reverent and pious. Despite Miss Clack’s eccentricity (what’s a better word I can use?), I am nevertheless moved by her character. Although her understanding of Christianity seems skewed, she finds her cause (to make others Christian) noble.
In all, this novel is marked by misleading appearances and dispositions. Nevertheless, because we are dealing with a mystery, I think Collins is trying to prove a point. Because we are in the midst of a disappearance, we should keep in mind that these “misleading appearances” are marked by differences in systems of value. Similar to Miss Clack, the Indians, on the surface, seem evil and dangerous, but further down, they find their objective to return the sacred gem to India, virtuous and noble. In other words, if Miss Clack feels that she is doing the “right” thing, should we judge her (even if we don’t agree)?
I LOVE this SO much! It immediately makes me think of this hilarious passage:
“‘As an affectionate well-wisher and friend,’ I proceeded, ‘and as one long accustomed to arouse, convince, prepare, enlighten, and fortify others, permit me to take the most pardonable of all liberties – the liberty of composing your mind.'” (266).
When Miss Clack makes this attempt at converting her relatives once again, I can’t help but think she is actually trying to do the little bit she can in the situation. Although her interest in making Rachel more Christian is based in her divided interest to learn more about the Moonstone, I do believe in her heart she cares for these people. In this situation, it seemed to me that the best thing she could try for was to try and settle the situation. This obviously doesn’t turn out well for her. However, we can also look at how other members of the novel seem to refer to her. Lady Verinder evidently liked her, as Rachel herself states. Moreover, although she seems to be annoying, no one questions her aims for goodwill.
I think we can also look at how Miss Clack uses religion as a means of escaping her limited prospects. As a religious woman, she can enter into church communities and feel that she is somehow contributing. In reality, she may not have had any prospects of marriage as a middle-class woman without any dowery or income to help her secure a match. Thus, her Christianity also provides her an escape from social restrictions.
Reading this and considering your argument about Miss Clack’s supposed Christianity, and does make me think about the way that sin is treated within different sects of Christianity. For example, I was reminded of the way that Catholicism is represented in James Joyce’s Portrait of a Young Artist often demonstrates the way that stricter Catholic practices in the time period kept its practitioners not essentially in fear of sin, but in fear of not confessing that sin before their death. In religious discourse, in within the way it is presented in literature like with Miss Clack, it could be interesting to trace how sin is understood according to various Christians, and whether they are more concerned with themselves and others living a sin free life, or rather living a life were sins are confessed or otherwise rectified in the appropriate time and way.
Oh! I just remembered what’s his name (I could look it up, but I’m not going to) from Lowood in Jane Eyre, and his own view of sin! He’d be an interesting point of comparison to how sin is represented in 19th century literature and to what effect.