The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

The gothic traces of the sensation novel creates an ideal boulevard for the popular psychology of the

Victorian period; a time of subconcious curiosity and indeed scientific discovery. The juxtoposition

of the wild yet domestic framework of The Moonstone is not excluded from this enthusiasm . The

novel thrives in the realms of the unknown much like the shivering sand of Cobb's Hole. From this

sand the artefacts of discovery are drawn as the vindication of truth occurs in the realms of

the unconcious. We will explore the relevance of the contemporary psychology and its

preoccupation in The Moonstone by examining the Victorian enthrallment of contemporary

pyschology and the supernaturalism of Collins characters, observing the quivers of both themes

throughout the novel.

The mid nineteenth century sensational novel though criticised for its commonplace compromise is

a reliable validation of the importunate effect of the investigation into contemporary psychology.

The preoccupation of this supernaturalism is dichotimized with the detective elements of The

Moonstone .Throughout the novel, we seem to question the validity of what is commonplace and

conventional and what is other worldly and experimental. This is well depicted through the

changing narratives upholding the conventions of a small provincial Robinson Crusoe enthusiast, a

dutiful christian member of the 'Mothers Small Clothes Conversion Society' to the professional

ranks of Sergeant Cuff and Mr Bruff and finally the intellectual and scientific Mr Candy and more

especially Ezra Jennings. The supernaturalism of contemporary psychology is always depicted by

what is deemed empirical by the uneducated and...

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...ysterious location in Collin's narrative is to conceal and

reveal secrets, and to complicate the characters knowledge of each other and themselves. Both a

grave and a hiding place, a natural phenomon and a preternatural horror ' (169).

Works Cited

Levy, E. 'The Moonstone' and the Problem of Pain in Life. Canada: Victorian Association of Western Canada, 2002. Print.

Robert, L. 'Shivering Sands' of Reality: Narration and Knowledge in Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone . Canada: Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada, 1997. Print.

Hutter, D,A. Tranformations and Literature: The Implications of Detective Fiction. USA: Indiana University Press. 1975. Print.

Mossman, M. Representations of the Abnormal Body in 'The Moonstone'. USA: Cambridge University Press.2009. Print.

Collins, W. The Moonstone. England: Penguin Group. 2012. Print.