The Moonstone Study Guide

The Moonstone

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone is an epistolary novel by Wilkie Collins about Rachel Verinder, who inherits an Indian diamond from her corrupt uncle who served in the army in colonial India. The diamond is not only very valuable, but has Hindu religious significance and priests have been trying to recover it. After flaunting the jewel at her eighteenth birthday party, Rachel finds that the jewel has been stolen. A long string of misfortunes and plot-lines from multiple perspective ensue until the diamond is returned to its rightful Indian owners.

The Moonstone Characters

Table of Contents
  • Rachel Verinder – the heroine of the story, a young heiress; on her eighteenth birthday she inherits the Moonstone
  • Lady Verinder – her mother, a wealthy widow, devoted to her daughter
  • Colonel Herncastle – Lady Verinder's brother, suspected of foul deeds in India; gained the Moonstone by unlawful means
  • Gabriel Betteredge – a venerable man, the Verinders' head servant, first narrator
  • Penelope Betteredge – his daughter, also a servant in the household
  • Rosanna Spearman – second housemaid, once in a penitentiary for theft, suspected of the theft
  • Drusilla Clack – a poor cousin of Rachel Verinder, an unpleasant hypocritical Christian evangelist and meddler, second narrator
  • Franklin Blake – an adventurer, also cousin and suitor of Rachel
  • Godfrey Ablewhite – a philanthropist, another cousin, and suitor, of Rachel
  • Mr. Bruff – a family solicitor, third narrator
  • Sergeant Cuff – a famous detective with a penchant for roses
  • Dr. Candy – the family physician, loses the ability to speak coherently after recovering from a fever
  • Ezra Jennings – Dr. Candy's unpopular and odd-looking assistant, suffers from an incurable illness and uses opium to control the pain, fourth narrator
  • Mr. Murthwaite – a noted adventurer who has travelled frequently in India; he provides the epilogue to the story
  • The Indian jugglers – three disguised Hindu Brahmins who are determined to recover the diamond.

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