Wilkie Collins portrayal of a cursed diamond in The Moonstone, this Victorian era detective fiction book is still recognized globally today. Although, this novel was written in the nineteenth century Collin effortlessly distinguished the novel for viewers of all ages. The novel is not only a detective fiction but also has some elements of action and romance. Collins not only writes novels but also poetry and has been recognized internationally for all his work. Collins can with ease characterize all his characters in the novel. There are many contradistinction aspects in the moonstone but the most fascinating one is viewing the novel in a psychological approach. The reason is because in the novel Franking Blake unconsciously steals the cursed diamond away from his beloved Rachel. This novel is mainly about a diamond that became cursed when it was stolen away from its Hindu temple. The diamond was also the most expensive diamond in existence at that time. The diamond is said to curse anyone who receives it and keeps it and it will bring unhappiness to his or her life. The curse has been shown to be true throughout the novel. For example, the relationship between Rachel and Franklin Blake although, they have loved each other the moonstone has only brought unhappiness to there lives. Despite the love between Rachel and Franklin Blake the stone has cursed their lives the moonstone is best understood to be a curse, because both of these individuals took possession of the diamond their love and friendship was cursed until the diamond was returned to its holy Hindu temple.
The diamond belongs to a Hindu religion, which worshiped the diamond and praised it. The moonstone was so extremely profitable that some of the members in society in...
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...giver’s generosity rather than his or her rapacity” (Blumberg 4). This is why at the end of our novel the stone was returned back to its Hindu temple.
Works Cited
Blumberg I. Collins's "Moonstone": The Victorian Novel as Sacrifice, Theft, Gift and Debt. Studies In The Novel [serial online]. Summer2005 2005; 37(2): 162.
Available from: MasterFILE Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 3, 2012.
Collins, Wilkie. "The Moonstone." New York: The Century Co, 1904. 3-515. The English Comedie Humaine. LitFinder. Web. 2 Apr. 2012.
Duncan, Ian. "The Moonstone, The Victorian Novel, And Imperialistic Panic." Modern Language Quarterly 55.3 (1994): 297. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2012.
Gooch, Joshua. "Narrative Labor In Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone." LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 21.2 (2010): 119-143. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2012.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone has been read as an archetypal piece of imperial propaganda, and yet it seems to lend itself to an alternate reading in which it represents a distinct challenge to the colonial mindset. The majority of the tale is set in England but the Indian location of the prologue and epilogue explicitly root The Moonstone within the context of the colonial experience in India. Far from being incidental embellishments, these two sections provide the opening and the closure of the story. Significantly, the thefts of the eponymous jewel is carried out by a series of upper-class Englishmen, starting with John Herncastle. It is hugely relevant that he steals the moonstone during the siege of Seringapatam in 1799, an event which consolidated the dominance of the East India Company in colonial India. The Moonstone first appeared in serial form on January 4th 1868 by which time myths and facts about the British termed ‘mutiny’ of 1857 were firmly entrenched in the national consciousness. Amidst the widespread repercussions of the events of the mutiny was a loss of former power on the part of the same company. Through his evocation of these memories Wilkie Collins seems to link looting and violence with colonial maladministration.
Don Aker makes the novel The First Stone very interesting and intriguing without question because of his effective writing style. He uses simple, understandable, yet powerful vocabulary to draw the reader into each moment of the plot. The sentence structure was not very complex, but I think it was quite appropriate for a teenager to read. The use of the third- person omniscient point of view in the novel really helps the reader experience the story on a more personal level. The author’s narrative voice takes the front seat, and one is able to get inside the mind of the protagonist – Reef, a teenager who is piecing together the puzzle that is his life, gradually delving into deeper emotions and relationships with important characters and figures in the novel. The characters in the text Reef and Leeza are teenagers who have gone through some difficult events in their young lives. The reader is able to relive their memories and experiences, with flashbacks that Don Aker incorporates in the novel. The climax of the story develops quite naturally, with a sense of cohesiveness that is clearly present. As each chapter passes the reader has been give some insight about Leeza as the author throughout the novel, has moved back and forth between the perspectives of the two principal characters. Little by little, as time progresses, a turn of events causes the two main characters to be in the same place, in which Reef would change both their lives forever. By making two teenagers as the main focal points of the novel, the author really wants the target audience to feel a connection, and relate the novel to their lives or someone they...
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The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe.
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"The Victorian Period." Holt Elements of Literature British and World Literature Sixth Edition. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008.
I first encountered a lovely crystal by the name of Amethyst about 4 years ago. A friend gave it to me and told me that it would help me in this period of my life. I did not really know how or why a pretty little “rock” would help me out but, I took it with gratitude and kept it in my pocket. Sometime had passed and then I came across another gemstone. When a second stone came into my life it gave me a sense to actually look it up and find out what these stones meant and why they started to pop up into my life. During this journey, I found out that gemstones and crystals have many ancient and contemporary uses. They have much history and many legends attached to them. There are also many theories of how gemstones and crystals work, hundreds of practical applications and many lists of their healing and spiritual properties.
This novel was written in the Victorian Era, a time when society faces many social difficulties such as industrialization, prostitu...