As we (y\u2019all) discussed in class, Betteredge has very surface level opinions on most things and I think that applies to his and other characters\u2019 knowledge on the moonstone as well. They are concerned only about the appearance and the worth of this stone, but are completely ignorant of, even have no care for its religious and cultural value or the consequences of displacing it.<\/p>\n
This is the passage where we get the grand reveal of the moonstone:
\n\u201cLord bless us! it was a Diamond! As large, or nearly, as a plover\u2019s egg! The light that streamed from it was like the light of the harvest moon. When you looked down into the stone, you looked into a yellow deep that drew your eyes into it so that they saw nothing else. It seemed unfathomable; this jewel, that you could hold between your finger and thumb seemed unfathomable as the heavens themselves. We set it in the sun, and then shut the light out of the room, and it shone awfully out of the depths of\u00a0its own brightness, with a moony gleam, in the dark.\u201d (Collins 74)
\nIn Betteredge\u2019s narrative, he focuses mainly on the its size, glow and how much it resembles the moon, but he seems to be unaware of (or choose to turn away from) the the origin of the moonstone: it was set in the forehead of the Indian God of moon and was \u201csupposed to be affected by the lunar influences\u201d (12). Betteredge does address how the moonstone \u201cseemed unfathomable as the heavens themselves\u201d (74) but fails to see that it might possess some sort of divine agency. If it can be taken literally that the stone is \u201caffected by lunar influences\u201d, I found a website (reliable or not I don\u2019t know) that tells me the moon phase on Rachel\u2019s birthday, 06\/21\/1848, and that is a 74% full moon, which to me sounds strong enough to induce an unpleasant dinner party through the moonstone. Maybe this idea will recur in the rest of the novel, but if not, the link is attached just for fun.<\/p>\n
Based on Franklin\u2019s observation on the moonstone, there is \u201ca defect, in the shape of a flaw, in the very heart of the stone\u201d (50). Apart from the physical defect, the stone is said to be cursed as well; it is said to punish and avenge those who lay their hands on it. If the stone is affected by the moon, and punishment is even predicted by a deity (Vishnu the Preserver), it seems to imply that divine power punishes the immoral in this case.<\/p>\n
Betteredge and the other characters are depicted as ignorant intruders who take what\u2019s sacred in another culture without knowing its true value and power. They are trying to take possession of something that is beyond their knowledge and control. I\u2019m curious to read on and see if there will be any more obvious supernatural interference in the story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.moonpage.com\/index.html?go=T&auto_dst=T&totphase=WANING+GIBBOUS+%2863.64%25+full%29&m=6&d=21&y=1848&hour=21&min=0&sec=0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we (y\u2019all) discussed in class, Betteredge has very surface level opinions on most things and I think that applies to his and other characters\u2019 knowledge on the moonstone as well. They are concerned only about the appearance and the worth of this stone, but are completely ignorant of, even have no care for its … Continue reading In the heart of the stone<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}