Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | Sign In

Review of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone

A Classic Detective Novel that is Impossible to Put Down!

Apr 4, 2009 Tristania Currie

'The Moonstone', a tightly woven tale of the theft of a valuable jewel and the subsequent quest to recover it, is a critically acclaimed masterpiece of mystery.

Poet and critic T S Eliot described this classic detective novel as 'The first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels.' Along with The Woman in White, The Moonstone is the most well-known of Wilkie Collins' novels.

The Original Classic Detective Novel

The concept of the detective in fiction had been masterfully conceived by Charles Dickens in the character of Inspector Bucket (Bleak House) published some ten years previously. However, it can be said that The Moonstone is the first novel to include all what we would consider to be essential ingredients in classic detective fiction; a country house, blundering local policemen, red-herrings and a twist at the end of the tale. Collins' certainly influenced other well-known proponents of the form: Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

In the character of Sergeant Cuff who is called in from London to lead the investigation, Collins establishes the tradition of the loner detective as philosophical observer of the human condition. His bloodhound-like ability to stay on the scent of a clue is tempered by his passion for roses - a hobby he looks forward to pursuing in retirement.

Popular Characters in The Moonstone

Rachel Verinder, the heroine who is the victim of the jewel theft, follows in the Collins tradition of a strong, confident female protagonist who has the wit and confidence to act on her own impulses. Collins often compares favourably to his contemporaries in the delineation of female characters, giving them a solid, intelligent presence that is often lacking in literary heroines of the period.

Gabriel Betteridge, the loyal servant, is brought to life by sympathetic touches that make him an interesting, credible narrator. During times of crisis, Betteridge reads Robinson Crusoe to derive strength from the wisdom uttered by that famous character; 'Now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.' This example, taken from the beginning of the novel, could apply with equal measure to each major character.

An Eerie, Evocative Setting in The Moonstone

The Shivering Sands maintains an ominous presence in the novel, as strong as any human character. It has been suggested that Collins' knowledge of art, his father was a landscape painter, influenced the atmospheric, description of the 'desolate place' that jealously guards its gruesome secrets.

This article on the classic detective novel, The Moonstone, is linked to a series of articles about the work of Wilkie Collins.

Sources and acknowledgements:

Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, in Penguin Classics with notes by J I M Stewart.

Andrew Gasson, The Wilkie Collins Society

The copyright of the article Review of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone in British/UK Fiction is owned by Tristania Currie. Permission to republish Review of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.