The Fall of a King

            In Harper’s Weekly, the eighth chapter of The Moonstone opens with an exchange between Franklin Blake and Mr. Bruff, the photo that is opposite on the page displays more than one “battle” scene. I think this is intentionally placed and meant to demonstrate the tension and hostility that is between occurring between Franklin and Mr. Bruff. The photo that is one the left page shows the “the Savannah Duel” and at the bottom of the page is titled “King Theodore as he lays dead Magdula”, which demonstrates the power struggle that is between Bruff and Franklin but also follows the strained interaction between Franklin and Rachel that had just occurred. I believe that the dead king symbolizes the death of the hope that Franklin was clinging to and the power struggle throughout the novel. The King being dead could represent the fall of the members in the upper class as there is a strain in relationships are the novel progresses.  Leigthon and Surridge explain “… that the illustrated version of The Moonstone the Harper’s readers encountered in 1868 added an intricate visual later to this already complex narrative structure” (Leighton and Surridge 210), the illustrations that are on both pages represent the complex plot of The Moonstone.  The photos on the right depict the heightened conversation between Franklin Blake and Mr. Bruff. The chapter opens with the two of them discussing the conversation that happened between Rachel and Franklin, which there is not only a power struggle between Bruff and Franklin but also there had just been a power struggle between Rachel and Franklin.

Collins, Wilkie “Chapter VIII” The Moonstone. Oxford University Press, 2008. pp 351- 364. Print.  

Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Lisa Surridge. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial   in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 42 no. 3, 2009, p. 207-243. Project                  MUSE, doi:10.1353/vpr.0.0083.