"Phalon's 'Paphian Lotion'"

Harper’s Weekly is littered with advertisements for various pharmaceutical lotions, creams, and soaps that claim to ameliorate physical difference. Any physical abnormality, whether it be: “freckles, pimples, tan, moth-blotches, sunburn” (Harper’s 350), is to be rendered “soft, fair, and blooming” (Harper’s 350) after the application of this lotion. These advertisements operate with an aim to accentuate physical differance in hopes to and actively rectify abnormality. This supplements the argument that Harper’s serialization of The Moonstone re-emphasizes and unsympathetically treats physical difference and abnormality.

            These adverts in Harper's are estranging, and add to the narrative that Lucy Yolland's alienating difference is something that is to be actively treated, up-held, and cured. Blake describes the sight of Lucy Yolland as an “apparition at the open door, with a letter in its hand” (301). He uses estranged language of spectacle, applying the alienating pronoun of “it” to describe her countenance. He is describing her by her difference; using disaffected language to describe her as an entity to be cured or treated. She loses her person-hood, a fact that is best seen when reading the surrounding material contained within the Harper’s Weekly serialization.

Works Cited: 

Collins, Wilkie. “Third Narrative” The Moonstone. Ed. John Sutherland. New York: OUP, 2008. 292-307. Print.