"Benares"

Reading questions on THE MOONSTONE narratives: Gabriel Betteredge Drusilla Clack Mr. Bruff Franklin Blake Ezra Jennings' journal Sgt. Cuff & concluding narratives

GABRIEL BETTEREDGE'S narrative

1. What social classes exist in the Verinder household?
2. How does Collins treat women characters?
3. How does Robinson Crusoe relate to The Moonstone?
4. How does Collins create verisimilitude?
5. Why did Collins choose Betteredge for the first narrator in this novel?
6. How are these symbolic: the Shivering Sands, the veneer on the door, the nightgown?
7. What is the importance of the dinner party episode to the novel's plot?
8. What tensions exist between the police and the private detective?
9. How does Collins use names for characterization?
10. Is Betteredge a reliable narrator?

DRUSILLA CLACK'S narrative

1. How do other characters look at Miss Clack?
2. What do Miss Clack's biblical allusions tell us about her?
3. How are Clack's and Betteredge's world views different?
4. How is the motif of martyrdom developed in Miss Clack's narrative?
5. What is Collins' attitude toward zealous Evangelicals?
6. What is Miss Clack's opinion of Godfrey Ablewhite?
7. What is Miss Clack's opinion of Miss Rachel?
8. Is Miss Clack a reliable narrator?
9. What is comic about Miss Clack's narrative?
10. Why might Collins have chosen to use Miss Clack as his second narrator?

MR. BRUFF'S narrative

1. How is Mr. Bruff's writing style and the organization of his document appropriate to his occupation as an attorney?
2. For what reasons does Mr. Bruff admire Miss Clack (can you believe anyone likes her?!)
3. What significant clue to the mystery lay hidden in Lady Verinder's will?
4. What is Mr. Murthwaite's opinion about "the theory of clairvoyance"? (To understand this better, look up "mesmerism.")
5. What important information do we learn from Mr. Bruff about Godfrey Ablewhite? about Rachel Verinder? the Indians?
6. Who is Mr Septimus Luker? (Look up the word "lucre" to understand the pun in his last name.)

FRANKLIN BLAKE'S narratives

(the first narrative)
1. What steps has Rosanna taken to safeguard the clue she hides in the tin box under the quicksand?
2. What important information do we get through flashbacks in the letter from Rosanna Spearman?
3. Do you feel differently about Rosanna Spearman now than you did at the beginning of the novel? Why?
4. How could the climactic scene at the end of Chapter 3 be filmed?
5. Who is Ezra Jennings, and what has happened to Dr. Candy?
6. When you have finished Franklin Blake's narrative, you know who took the diamond. The novel is no longer a "whodunit"! What mysteries still remain to be solved?
7. Could Collins have put the narratives we've read so far in a different order without revealing "whodunit" sooner?

(the second narrative)
1. What theory does Ezra Jennings propose to explain Franklin's unremembered episode with the diamond?
2. Think about what you knew about the reasons behind Rosanna's behavior in Betteredge's narrative and what you know now. How do you interpret her actions differently now?
3. What important events occurred at the dinner party (back in Betteredge's narrative) that now come to light and provide a solution to the mystery?
4. Why can't Dr. Candy explain to Franklin Blake what happened the night of the dinner party, yet he can seemingly remember the events quite well when he is ill and speaking in his sleep?
5. At this point in the novel, are you hopeful that things will work out between Franklin and Rachel? Why or why not?

EZRA JENNINGS' journal

1. What is Ezra's occupation? What is his attitude toward science?
2. What drug does he take, and why does he take it? What are its side effects?
3. Why does Ezra Jennings sympathize with and try to help Franklin and Rachel?
4. Why is Ezra's attitude toward social convention (and particularly toward Mrs. Merridew, who represents it)?
5. Who is Ezra in the Old Testament (look this up if you don't know). What is Collins suggesting about Ezra Jennings with this allusion in his name?
6. How does Ezra test the "truth" of his theory about Franklin Blake? What are the results of this test? What is Betteredge's attitude about participating in the test?
7. Contrast Ezra Jennings and Gabriel Betteredge in as many ways as you can.
8. How does the physical act of pulling the tin box out of the quicksand by the chain represent the mental act of retrieving information stored in the unconscious mind?

Sgt. Cuff's & concluding narratives

1. Which characters could not have written narratives without giving away too much too soon?
2. What crucial piece of information about Godfrey Ablewhite's finances emerges in these final pages? Could we have solved the mystery earlier without this clue?
3. Does the pace of the novel speed up or slow down in this section?
4. Think about the different kinds of religious "martyrs" in the novel. Who is the most devoted to his or her religion?
5. What are the major themes of this novel (you should be able to come up with at least 3)?
6. In what ways does Collins treat the favorite theme of many writers in this novel--illusion vs. reality?
7. What does Collins seem to be suggesting in this novel about the many different ways people get at truth? How does the form he chooses for the novel help him to emphasize this?
8. Why do you suppose Collins chose the phrase "the moonstone" forthe title of his novel?
9. If the diamond itself is a major symbol for the novel, what does it represent?
10. How is this novel like a modern novel? Unlike a modern novel?

back to THE MOONSTONE homepage