The Moonstone Foreignness and 'the Other'

Betteredge describes the three Indian men as "mahogany-coloured." Mahogany is a dark-colored hardwood that grows in tropical areas – primarily in Central and South America, although some trees from the South Pacific are also called mahoganies. No, this isn't just a random fun fact about trees: it shows that Betteredge's description goes beyond a (racist) reference to the skin color of the three Indian men. He also objectifies them by associating them with a kind of wood that was expensive and exotic – and obtained only by trade with British colonies – during the nineteenth century. He's associating them with exotic luxury commodities.

Generally, when a person starts to say, "Now I'm not racist, BUT," the alarm bells should start going off. But Betteredge claims, at least, that he feels suspicious, not because of the skin color of the three Indians, but because a) they're "strangers," and he doesn't like things that are strange or new, and because b) their "manners are superior" to his, which suggests that they are of a higher social class than they appear to be. All in all, Betteredge doesn't know what to make of them.

This seems like a strange statement. After all, the Moonstone is just a rock. Betteredge is personifying it when he says that it is "invad[ing]" the house. And he doesn't just refer to it as "the Moonstone"; he calls it "a devilish Indian Diamond." By emphasizing the nationality of the gem, and the nationality of the English house, Betteredge is suggesting that there's more going on here than simply the presence of a troublesome piece of jewelry in his home. The "English house" could be read as a metonymic symbol for all of England, and the "Indian Diamond" is often interpreted as a symbol for India. So for him to say that the diamond is "invad[ing]" the house could perhaps represent the anxiety of many British citizens that the people they were colonizing and oppressing in other countries might actually come back to England and invade them.

Franklin says that he doesn't "want to force my opinion on" Betteredge, but then he goes on to give a very opinionated and self-confident set of stereotypes about all "Oriental races." He sounds almost like an anthropologist, as though the Indians were an object of scientific study.

Betteredge doesn't speak any foreign languages, and hasn't studied foreign cultures like Franklin Blake has, so he keeps his mouth shut – but does it "in plain English."

Gabriel Betteredge is obviously using a figure of speech when he says that Franklin Blake was sent to be educated in foreign countries at an "age when we are all of us most apt to take our colouring." What he means is that Franklin was sent abroad at an impressionable age. But he keeps using that word, "colouring," to describe the foreign influence Franklin was given by being educated in other countries. It's possible that he might want to suggest that all of this foreign influence, or "colouring," has somehow made Franklin less English.

Betteredge thinks that Franklin Blake's foreign education gave him some comical form of multiple personality disorder: Franklin has a French side, and a German side, and an Italian side, and, deep down, an English foundation.

Mr. Murthwaite was a relative stranger to the family before they invited him to Rachel's birthday party. But he's a famous guy, so they invited him to join them. Murthwaite made himself famous by "penetrate[ing] in disguise" into areas of India that no other white people had ever visited. Apparently Murthwaite, a white Englishman, is capable of passing himself off as a native Indian, and this ability to act like a chameleon in India has made him famous back in England.

Betteredge thinks that Franklin Blake's "foreign sides" are more likely to appear when Franklin has nothing to do. When he's busy, he acts very "English" and business-like. According to Betteredge, "idle time" is associated with foreignness.

Betteredge's stereotype of Italians is that they only talk about their problems, rather than act. So when Franklin's "Italian side" comes out, he just wants to talk about his "troubles," instead of doing anything about them.