Illustrations in Harper's Weekly

Surridge and Leighton suggest that the illustrations accompanying The Moonstone create “complicated interpictorial effects” through the “tensions, parallels, and ironies of their placement” (211). In Harper’s Weekly, the spatial positioning of illustrations, and characters in illustrations contributes to ideas developed by the characterization of heroic individuals in The Moonstone, creating multiple levels of interdependent meaning that construct an image of heroism.

The bottommost illustration foregrounds Cuff and Franklin, while Godfrey’s prone position relegates him to a lower level — visual impact is determined by spatial position. Furthermore, the breadth of observation offered by Gooseberry’s physical position above everyone complements his heroic position in the text. Specifically, Korte describes the “everyday hero” as “above the crowd spatially and ethically because none . . . seem capable of performing the heroic deed” (192). Similarly, Gooseberry “[has his] eyes about [him]” (Collins 431) as others do not, and thus drives the narrative toward its conclusion, as his following the ‘sailor’ (436) leads to Godfrey’s reveal. Gooseberry is “thoroughly to be depended on” (429); his initiative reflects the popular Victorian image of “moral heroism” as “an extraordinary sense of duty, endurance, perseverance, and selflessness” found “even among [children]” (Korte 183). If “illustrations do not merely reflect . . . [but] profoundly [affect narrative meaning]” (Leighton and Surridge 210), this combination of spatial, visual, and textual positioning necessarily conditions the depiction and interpretation of heroic character in The Moonstone — Gooseberry’s spatial and textual position makes him “one of the sharpest boys in London” by virtue of his eyes, not in spite of them (429).

Works Cited

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Edited by John Sutherland, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Korte, Barbara. “On Heroes and Hero Worship: Regimes of Emotional Investment in Mid-Victorian Popular Magazines.” Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 49, no. 2, 2016, pp. 181-201. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/vpr.2016.0012.

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