The Moonstone

Rachel Verinder is a wealthy and beautiful young woman who is initially quite sheltered and innocent. She is the niece of John Herncastle, who leaves her the Moonstone diamond in his will. After her birthday celebration, the Moonstone goes missing, setting the mystery of the novel in motion.

As an only child and heiress, Rachel is accustomed to having her own way and is quite stubborn: Betteredge describes disapprovingly how “she judged for herself […] never asked for your advice, never told you beforehand what she was going to do; never came with secrets and confidences to anybody” (58). These character traits of stubbornness, self-reliance, and secrecy play a major role in the conflict of the plot, since Rachel refuses to tell anyone about what she saw on the night the diamond disappeared.

Rachel shows her love for Franklin Blake by trying to protect him, but her approach leads to confusion and suffering for many other people. Rachel shows her caring and sweet nature by immediately reconciling with Franklin as soon as she learns that he was not acting of his own free will when he took the diamond. Over the course of the novel, Rachel develops to embody the Victorian feminine ideal, becoming loving, docile, and much more domestic as a wife and mother.

Gabriel Betteredge is employed by the Verinder family and effectively oversees the entire household. He has access to key information related to the theft, and to important contextual information, such as the personalities of Rachel and Rosanna Spearman.

Betteredge is a household servant, but he occupies a somewhat liminal class position. He holds significant responsibility and is also treated as a respected confidante and advisor by Lady Verinder. Particularly because the Verinder household consists of a widowed woman and her young, unmarried daughter, Betteredge functions as a surrogate for the typical patriarchal authority figure within the family. Betteredge is generally thoughtful and observant; however, he also shows humility when he makes mistakes. For example, Betteredge initially thinks it is completely unbelievable that Rosanna could be in love with Franklin Blake, but when he realizes that his assumptions were wrong, he shows sincere repentance and regret. Betteredge shows deep care and compassion for a variety of young women, including his own daughter Penelope, Rachel, and Rosanna, functioning as a kind of surrogate father to several young women who are left largely unprotected in the absence of a male guardian.

Betteredge is also somewhat comical, especially in his devotion to relying on the novel Robinson Crusoe as a divining tool. He retorts triumphantly at the end of the novel, “[Y]ou are welcome to be as merry as you please over everything else I have written. But when I write of Robinson Crusoe, by the Lord it’s serious” (473). However, Betteredge’s loyalty and consistency provide significant support to the Verinder family and contribute to the resolution of the plot. His integrity and sense of responsibility show that these characteristics can be embodied by any character, regardless of their social position.

Rosanna is a young woman who works as a maid in the Verinder household. She falls in love with Franklin Blake despite the vast difference in their social positions, and tries to protect him by concealing evidence that would incriminate him in the diamond theft. Rosanna eventually dies by suicide after she realizes that Franklin is never going to return her feelings.

In addition to a criminal past and working as a servant, Rosanna has a deformed shoulder, which symbolizes how others focus on her external circumstances and often can’t see her interior qualities. Rosanna is a sensitive and somewhat melancholy young woman; she is haunted by her past as a petty thief and finds it hard to fit in with the other servants in the Verinder house. Early in the novel, Betteredge is unsettled by Rosanna explaining that, to her, the sea resembles “hundreds of suffocating people” (30), which reveals her tendency to be melancholy and hopeless.

However, in the aftermath of the diamond’s disappearance, Rosanna shows keen intelligence, resourcefulness, and judgment. She works tirelessly to conceal that Franklin’s nightgown was stained with paint, and hides the stained garment. Ironically, Rosanna is so skilled at concealment that even Franklin has no idea what she is doing on his behalf. Rosanna’s isolation leads to greater complications than her honesty would have, and it also leads her to be so unhappy that she decides to bid “good-bye to the world which has grudged [her] the happiness that it gives to others” (338). Rosanna does not have the chance to develop as a character because the world she lives in is too constrained to consider the possibility of a (legitimate) relationship between herself and Franklin Blake, and because she cannot see beyond the intense suffering of unrequited love.

Ezra Jennings becomes a significant character in the later part of the novel, taking a leading role in uncovering how and why Franklin Blake took the diamond. Jennings is the assistant to Mr. Candy, the local doctor in Yorkshire. He is suffering from a painful and fatal illness, and consumes large amounts of opium to manage his pain.

In addition to his physical sickness, Jennings has a tragic past: He was falsely accused of an unspecified crime as a young man, and rumors of his guilt haunted him throughout his life. As a result, he was socially ostracized and lost the woman he loved. Due to his past, Jennings is determined to help Franklin Blake, as he does not want to see Franklin suffer in similar ways and lose his relationship with Rachel. Jennings also has nothing else to live for and wants to do something meaningful before he dies, explaining to Franklin, “I am a man whose life is a wreck, and whose character is gone” (386).

Jennings is very shrewd, observant, and intelligent. He is able to deduce the hypothesis that Franklin may have been acting under the influence of opium, and then he cleverly proposes the idea of recreating the events from the night on which the diamond was stolen. While he has a different professional identity than Sergeant Cuff, Jennings provides another example of an intelligent and conscientious professional who uses empirical observation and logic to contribute to solving the crime.

Jennings does not develop as a character, but he is able to find peace and meaning before he dies. Mr. Candy recounts how Jennings was “a great man—though the world never knew him. He bore a hard life bravely” (471).