{"id":982,"date":"2022-10-30T21:35:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T21:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=982"},"modified":"2022-10-30T21:35:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T21:35:12","slug":"o-moonstone-my-moonstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2022\/10\/30\/o-moonstone-my-moonstone\/","title":{"rendered":"O Moonstone! My Moonstone!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In chapter 9 of <\/span>Moonstone<\/span><\/i>, when the family sees the Moonstone for the first time the scene insinuates a higher, potentially religious, power associated with the stone. In its physical likeness, the stone is compared to the \u201charvest moon\u201d from the \u201clight that streamed from it\u201d (74). Additionally, Betteredge details \u201cwhen you looked down into the stone, you looked into a yellow deep that drew your eyes into it so that they saw nothing else\u201d (74). In this way, the stone is compared with the \u201cheavens themselves\u201d and its being tangible was so \u201cunfathomable\u201d to the onlooker that could barely comprehend its presence (74). The family also sets the stone in the darkness, to which they discover it \u201cshone awfully out of its own brightness, with a moony gleam, in the dark\u201d, another fantastical element to the stone\u2019s description that suggests its containment of some type of magical property that allows it to glow in the dark (74).<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from the physical descriptions of the stone, the family\u2019s reactions to its glowing beauty are portrayed in emotions and actions of awe, emulating religious stories of being in the presence of God. Betteredge bursts out an \u201cO\u201d himself and Miss Rachel is enamored with the stone (74). Even Mr. Godfrey, who, although is the only one \u201cwho kept his senses\u201d, wraps his arm around his sisters\u2019 waists \u201clooking compassionately backwards and forwards between the Diamond and me\u201d (74). The family gawks at the stone in such a way that is similar to that of biblical descriptions of when God reveals himself to his followers through objects, like the burning bush. In this passage, the Moonstone is held with such high regard it sets a contrast between Betteredge\u2019s later description of the stone and its effect on the family upon its being lost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the novel progresses, this passage sets the tone of the family\u2019s interaction with the stone. In their first encounter, it seems they become obsessed with the stone. Although this is not explicitly described, the fantastical tone upon their first sight of it suggests the fascination and obsession with the stone that begins to tear at the bonds of the house upon its going missing. Later in the novel, when the stone is discovered to have gone missing, Betteredge blames the stone for creating a deep negative energy in the house that causes Rachel to shut herself off from everyone, his lady to be in constant distress, Penelope to be on edge and defensive against accusations made of her, and insults the servants to being the subject of repeated searches. Betteredge and the family\u2019s love for the stone turn the household cold and tense, despite initial descriptions of the warm, yellow, \u201clight of the harvest moon\u201d radiating from the stone (74). <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In chapter 9 of Moonstone, when the family sees the Moonstone for the first time the scene insinuates a higher, potentially religious, power associated with the stone. In its physical likeness, the stone is compared to the \u201charvest moon\u201d from the \u201clight that streamed from it\u201d (74). Additionally, Betteredge details \u201cwhen you looked down into … Continue reading O Moonstone! My Moonstone!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344620],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982","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\/4878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}