The narration within Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone is not synonymous with the majority of the detective genre. The Moonstone is written in the epistolary form, and has more than one narrator. The use of multiple narratives within The Moonstone is a modern and innovative approach to detective fiction as a genre. It is very useful in order to uncover the events that only certain characters have witnessed. The narrators of The Moonstone write their accounts of events in the same way: by use of the first person narrative. There are some negative aspects associated with this type of narration. Despite Collins’s innovative multiple narrations approach to the novel, the narrators are filled with subjectivities and biases. Multiple narratives, despite including the subjectivities and biases associated with the first person point of view, is much needed in order to uncover events the characters have witnessed in order to solve the crime in The Moonstone.
The Moonstone opens up with the reason Collins uses multiple narrators:
“We have certain events to relate,” Mr. Franklin proceeded; “and we have certain persons concerned in those events who are capable of relating them. Staring from these plain facts, the idea is that we should all write the story of the Moonstone in turn—as far as our own personal experience extends, and no further” (12).
Blake’s statement puts forth the premise for the multiple narrators; where in each of their narrations have the opportunity to share the “plain facts... as far as [their] own personal experience stands, and no further,” (12) in order to get to the bottom of the mystery regarding the Moonstone. Despite the “plain facts” (12) that Franklin urges the narrators to use, the respective narrators, more so Ga...
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...he reader to wonder why Godfrey acted as he did.
In conclusion, the modern and innovative use of multiple narrators by Wilkie Collins in The Moonstone allows for a very thrilling, exciting, and suspenseful read. Due to the fact that there is not one omniscient narrator, which would take away from the suspense and excitement associated with detective fiction as a genre, but multiple narrators, the story is unfolded piece-by-piece, and later assembled in the correct order. This unraveling of the narratives is consequential in order to solve the mystery of the missing Diamond. In essence, the multiple narratives, despite the consistent subjectivities and biases present within them, is a mandatory and important narration strategy for the novel to progress and come to its conclusion.
Works Cited
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. New York: Modern Library, 2001. Print.
“The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson: A True Story of Love and Murder” is studied as a historical non-fiction novel, in which Lois Simmie shows the reader the actions of a man who sets his life up in a series of lies and betrayal. Her purpose is clear, to intrigue the audience with a true story of the murder of Polly Wilson, which had not yet been heard. Though not a lot of people had ever heard of John Wilson, the first ever Saskatchewan RNWMP officer who was found guilty of a crime, being that he killed his wife, and hung to his death. She writes her novel that is not only entertaining to her audience but also serves the purpose of educating fellow Canadians about the true life events that followed John Wilson and his fellow RNWMP officers.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of this novella has written it very cleverly, with certain techniques used that have a greater impact on the reader and ones that make it more than just any thriller/shocker. Every novella has a purpose to it and so does this story, the purpose of this novella has been made to narrative the reader and it is quite clearly reflecting the genre of the thriller/shocker. As well as this the novella has been made as a shilling shocker which depends on sensationalism and represents an immoral lifestyle that may include violence in extremity.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
“It was a new discovery to find that these stories were, after all, about our own lives, were not distant, that there was no past or future that all time is now-time, centred in the being.” (Pp39.)
In Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, we see the themes of greed and selfishness. These are primarily demonstrated through John Herncastle.
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.
Truth is constantly sought out in Fountain and Tomb. Our young narrator is often like a detective, listening attentively to conversations, making keen observations of situations, and seeking out answers to questions he doesn’t know. “The day is lovely but redolent with mystery,” our narrator says, identifying all the unknowns in the world around him (Mahfouz, 15).
No one can be trusted. In Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, the ambivalent nature of the novella causes suspicion of the sanity of his narrator, the Governess. The characters of the Governess, the children, and the apparitions, as villains and victims, cannot be told apart. Henry James impeccably makes use of ambiguity to create mystery and suspense through the dubiety roles of his main characters and the liability of the narrator.
Having Christopher narrating the book in first person is important because it is easier for the reader to understand his written account of the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Sheers dog (Wellington); A step by step investigation is projected and shown to the reader when narrated in first person.
The Ways in Which Wilkie Collins Builds Up a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in His Short Stories
A narrative is constructed to elicit a particular response from its audience. In the form of a written story, authors use specific narrative strategies to position the ‘ideal reader’ to attain the intended understanding of the meanings in the text. Oliver Sacks’ short story The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an unusual short story because it does not display conventional plot development; the story does not contain conflict or resolution of conflict. The genre of the story is also difficult to define because it reads as an autobiographical account of an experience Sacks had with a patient while working as a neurologist. Although it is arguable that the narrative is a work of non-fiction, it is nevertheless a representation, distinct from a reflection of the real events. It is a construction, Sacks chose the elements that were included and omitted in the narrative and used narrative strategies to position readers to process the signs in the text and produce reach the dominant understanding. This blurring of truth and fiction is similar to that in the genre of ‘new journalism’. Although, rather than being a journalist writing a fictional piece of journalism, Sacks is a doctor writing a fictional medical analysis. To influence readers’ comprehension of the narrative, Sacks utilised the point of view strategy of subjective narration, atypical in this short story in that a characterisation or representation of Oliver Sacks is the narrator and Oliver Sacks the person is the real author. The story is character-driven rather than plot-driven and regardless of how accurate a depiction of the real people the characters are, they are constructions. Sacks gave the characters of Doctor P. and his namesake admirable and sympathetic trait...
The Moonstone Essay The Moonstone, written in 1868 by Wilkie Collins, is a mystery novel about a gem called "The Moonstone". The moonstone is a symbol of what everyone strives for, beauty and power. In the book, justice plays a huge role in terms of doing what is fair and morally right through action and attitude. Although the moonstone is overbearingly beautiful and breathtaking, like all beautiful things, it has a history "..that crime brings its own fatality with it" (Ch. IV. The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid With such great beauty, the moonstone almost takes power and control over people, making them act out in such ways just to get their hands on it.
Maupassant, Guy de. "The Necklace." Understanding Fiction. 3rd ed. Eds. Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. 66-72.
The story weaves in and out of each of the three narratives and simultaneously between real and fantasy. One moment the story will be taking place in the modern present day and the next moment it will be taking place in another dimension of space on a fantasy planet called Zycron. The story is told by the sole survivor of the once rich and powerful Canadian family, Iris Chase Griffen, who gives her account on past events through a personal memoir. She attempts to retell her family’s past, with her focus geared towards her arranged husband and the death of her sister Laura Chase. Iris begins her narrative during the historical time period of the two World Wars and the Depression era near the end of the nineteen century, providing the foundation for the second narrative. Writing from her own personal record, Iris ties family history from both the Chase and Griffen families, as she attempts to unfold the causes and events that led to her sister Laura’s suicide. The second narrative we are provided with is supposedly written by Laura Chase and published after her death by her sister Iris. This novel within a novel is called, “The Blind Assassin,” which is a story about two anonymous lovers, a woman of high social class and a young runaway who secretly meet in these dreary backstreet rooms. The third narrative is a science fiction tale interwoven into the novel within a novel narrative, told by the anonymous man while in the backstreet rooms, about an assassin and a crippled girl in this fairy tale city of Sakiel Norm on planet Zycron. Along with all of the different narratives, there are multiple articles from local newspapers and magazines scattered throughout the chapters of Iris’s personal memoir. Near the end of the novel, a big plot twist happens, when the readers find out that Iris is actually the author of the narrative, “Blind Assassin”