The Finest Diamonds

The “Finest Diamonds” advertisement alienates the British readers as it serves to criticize the class system. This advertisement is aimed at readers of the periodical in the United States, demonstrating that anyone interested in buying a diamond will be able to. This allows a deconstruction of the class system in relation to The Moonstone within the novel. Rosanna, in her letter, admits her criminal past, explaining that she was forced to steal because she was abandoned to live on the streets (Collins 310). Therefore, she fears that Sergeant Cuff will suspect her of stealing the moonstone “I was not certain of what he might do when he found me employed as servant in a house in which a valuable moonstone had been lost” (322). Rosanna is considered to be the thief because she had been a thief in the past. However, Rosanna believes that Mr. Franklin took the moonstone to “sell it, or pledge it, and so to get the money of which [he] stood in need” (323). Here, Rosanna makes Mr. Franklin out to be a criminal because he has debts to be paid and believes his last resort was to become a thief. This breaks down the boundaries of the class system because it shows that anyone can become a thief when they have run out of options. It defies the stereotype that the poor are the only individuals that can become criminals as a means of survival. Franklin, a high-class man has just as much of a motivation for stealing the diamond as a poor servant girl.