THE DINNER
Chapter X of The Moonstone is broken down into two parts, the dinner party for Rachel’s birthday with the appearance of the jugglers, and the conversation between Mr. Murthwaite, Franklin, and Betteredge. During dinner, Rachel is seated between Mr. Murthwaite and Mr. Candy. Mr. Murthwaite tells Rachel that her diamond is of religious importance in India and that if she ever travels to India, she should leave the diamond at home as “your life would not be worth five minutes’ purchase” (Collins 66). The appearance of the moonstone seems to create an atmosphere of strangeness at the dinner. The conversations become odd as people start making social mistakes or saying the wrong thing. Franklin gets in an argument with Mr. Candy about his medical profession as he tries to prescribe Franklin with laudanum to help with his lack of sleep. After dinner, Franklin hears the sound of the Indian drum – the three Indian jugglers arrive. As they perform, Rachel is standing there in front with the Moonstone visible on the front of her dress. Mr. Murthwaite goes up to them and asks them something in Hindi and are shocked but answer and leaves shortly. Mr. Murthwaite has a private conversation with Franklin and Betteredge about the Indians who are not street performers, but Brahmins disguised as street performers. Mr. Murthwaite then advises Betteredge to let the guard dogs sniff around the property overnight, just in case the Indians return.
The conversation between Mr. Candy and Franklin about the uses of medicine shows the idea behind the identity of the United States during the 1860s. Mr. Candy is a doctor that does not like to be lectured on his profession in which Franklin disagrees with. Mr. Candy’s confidence in his practice of medicine represents a solidified identity that the US is trying to build up. He projects his understanding of Franklin the same way the government is using Harper’s to build up the citizen’s belief in the government again after the Civil War. With the appearance of the jugglers, the illustration uses the pattern of darkness to blend the characters in an attempt to eliminate identity. As stated by Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge, “the lack of light on faces suggests the [. . .] challenge what we might call common sense-that is, the deeply embedded ideological assumptions about gender, race, and nation” (218). Harper uses this scene in The Moonstone to show the importance of building identity because without it people, or in the case of the US, nations will be overlooked.
The section ends with Mr. Murthwaite advising Betteredge to let the mastiff and bloodhound search the property overnight. Mr. Murthwaite makes a comparison between the dogs and the Indians as both are not troubled “about the sanctity of human life” (Collins 74). The idea that is being represented is how both the dogs and the Indians symbolizes the “the lower class”. With the lack of illustration in All the Year Round, it elevates the social status for those in Britain. In Harper's, the dog is being compared, but the illustration shows the dog with Betteredge. Harper's is illustrating and identifying how the American publication attempts to differentiate its national identity with Britain's by their views on social status. With the lack of illustration in All the Year Round, it elevates the social status for those in Britain. The dog with Betteredge shows they accept the mixture of high and low class within the house creating a new form of identity, parallel to the US accepting all under one flag.
Works Cited
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Ed. John Sutherland. New York: OUP, 2008. 292-307.
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, pp.207-243.