Toby Moisey
06/11/2006
Eng 200C
Dr. Shlensky
The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
Close Reading

Every good mystery needs an even more mysterious back-story. The back story sets the reader up for a compelling and interesting story, it fills in the information he needs to know in order to feel part of the story. We all know how we feel when we are told (usually in giggles) that “you had to be there” before some juicy gossip flows. The prologue of The Moonstone lets use be there. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins takes place in Victorian England starting in 1848, but the prologue is the story of the Storming of Seringapatam which takes place in 1799. The back-story is full mystery and contains the legends of the “adventures”[1] of the yellow diamond beginning in the eleventh century.

The warnings about the moonstone are fierce. It is cursed, decreed in a dream by Vishnu himself to three Brahmins, and that the Moonstone is guarded till “the end of the generations of men”[2]. Vishnu also predicted “certain disaster to the presumptuous mortal,” to his family and everyone to ever receive it after him. This is key to the story. This informs the reader that there is a curse and that bad things will happen to the person who steals it. It makes the reader want to read on because as a human he is a sick beast and wants to know what those bad things are.

In the prologue of The Moonstone it is hinted that the Moonstone was acquired by Herncastle, not through rage, but to prove a point of rage, he believed in the moonstone and was teased for it. If Starwars has taught me anything about literature it is this, the dark side is bad. Only ill events come from ill means. Hearncastel wanted the moonstone because he believed in it and because he believed in it he also believes in the curse. This lets the reader believe in the curse, their belief heightens their excitement over the investigation, and with heightened excitement the job of the prologue is complete.

The schism of the Herncastles begins in the prologue. The author has presented his story so the “relatives on either side” to form their own opinions on Herncastle. Herncastle is made out to be an evil man. The author has taking action to be separated from him in the forces, and he feels the need to write to his family about the situation. It all leads the reader to feel that Hearncastle is an evil man and that he should not be trusted.

The author of the letter found in the family papers concludes his passages with an ominous statement. This statement, if taken seriously by the reader, is key to understanding the doom and gloom of the story. The author warns that Herncastle “will live to regret” stealing the Moonstone and that “if he keeps the diamond; others will live to regret taking it from him, if he gives the diamond away.[3]” The power of these remarks is intense for the author is damming his cousin, his own blood, and professing a doomed future for his family. Two intense and significant statements.

The prologue of The Moonstone draws the reader in and sets him up for a fantastic story and a perilous journey. Its literal purpose is to give the history on the stone and inform the reader of the curses, doom, and ill repute the diamond has cause and it predicts some stormy weather for the diamond in the future. Is this all true? Read The Moonstone for the answers.

[1] Collins, Wilkie. p1
[2] Ibid p2
[3] Ibid p6