The Moonstone

The Moonstone

by

Wilkie Collins

Rosanna Spearman Character Analysis

A maid at the Verinder estate, an ex-petty criminal who met and found work with Lady Julia after she was sent to a reformatory. Her shameful “past life,” deformed shoulder, and propensity to randomly fall ill belie her fundamental benevolence and sincerity; in fact, she believes she does not deserve the “too quiet and too good” life she gets working for the Verinders. She falls tragically in love with Franklin Blake, who essentially never notices her during his more-than-month at the Verinder estate. After she finds Franklin’s smeared nightgown on his bed, she buries it in the Shivering Sand (her favorite place) and makes him a new one as a gesture of her love; when Sergeant Cuff and Betteredge discover her unusual behavior, she becomes the theft’s prime suspect. When she learns this and finds that Franklin continues to ignore her, she writes him a long letter and commits suicide at the Shivering Sand, foregoing her plans to move to London with Limping Lucy and start a new, independent life. Like Ezra Jennings, Rosanna’s character shows the disconnect between people’s true nature and others’ perception of them; Collins’s sympathetic, multidimensional, and attentive portrait of a poor servant girl also demonstrates his sense of the arbitrariness of class hierarchy.

Rosanna Spearman Quotes in The Moonstone

The The Moonstone quotes below are all either spoken by Rosanna Spearman or refer to Rosanna Spearman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Detective Methods and Genre Standards Theme Icon
).
The Loss of the Diamond: 4 Quotes

“Do you know what it looks like to me?” says Rosanna, catching me by the shoulder again. “It looks as if it had hundreds of suffocating people under it - all struggling to get to the surface, and all sinking lower and lower in the dreadful deeps! Throw a stone in, Mr Betteredge! Throw a stone in, and let's see the sand suck it down!”
Here was unwholesome talk! Here was an empty stomach feeding on an unquiet mind!

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Rosanna Spearman (speaker), Franklin Blake
Related Symbols: The Shivering Sand
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 16 Quotes

“Do you mean to tell me, in plain English,” I said, “that Miss Rachel has stolen her own Diamond?”

“Yes,” says the Sergeant; “that is what I mean to tell you, in so many words. Miss Verinder has been in secret possession of the Moonstone from first to last; and she has taken Rosanna Spearman into her confidence, because she has calculated on our suspecting Rosanna Spearman of the theft. There is the whole case in a nutshell. Collar me again, Mr. Betteredge. If it's any vent to your feelings, collar me again.”

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Sergeant Cuff (speaker), Miss Rachel Verinder, Rosanna Spearman
Related Symbols: The Moonstone
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 20 Quotes

People in high life have all the luxuries to themselves—among others, the luxury of indulging their feelings. People in low life have no such privilege. Necessity, which spares our betters, has no pity on as. We learn to put our feelings back into ourselves, and to jog on with our duties as patiently as may be. I don't complain of this—I only notice it.

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Franklin Blake , Miss Rachel Verinder, Sergeant Cuff, Rosanna Spearman, Penelope Betteredge
Page Number: 167-8
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 23 Quotes

“Where’s this gentleman that I mustn’t speak of, except with respect? Ha, Mr. Betteredge, the day is not far off when the poor will rise against the rich. I pray Heaven they may begin with him. I pray Heaven they may begin with him.”

Related Characters: Limping Lucy (speaker), Franklin Blake , Gabriel Betteredge, Rosanna Spearman, Mrs. Yolland
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Discovery of the Truth 3: 3 Quotes

“Do you feel an uncomfortable heat at the pit of your stomach, sir? And a nasty thumping at the top of your head? Ah! not yet? It will lay hold of you at Cobb's Hole, Mr. Franklin. I call it the detective-fever; and I first caught it in the company of Sergeant Cuff.”

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Franklin Blake , Sergeant Cuff, Rosanna Spearman
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:

The nightgown itself would reveal the truth; for, in all probability, the nightgown was marked with its owner's name.

I took it up from the sand, and looked for the mark.

I found the mark, and read —

MY OWN NAME.

Related Characters: Franklin Blake (speaker), Rosanna Spearman
Related Symbols: The Shivering Sand
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rosanna Spearman Quotes in The Moonstone

The The Moonstone quotes below are all either spoken by Rosanna Spearman or refer to Rosanna Spearman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Detective Methods and Genre Standards Theme Icon
).
The Loss of the Diamond: 4 Quotes

“Do you know what it looks like to me?” says Rosanna, catching me by the shoulder again. “It looks as if it had hundreds of suffocating people under it - all struggling to get to the surface, and all sinking lower and lower in the dreadful deeps! Throw a stone in, Mr Betteredge! Throw a stone in, and let's see the sand suck it down!”
Here was unwholesome talk! Here was an empty stomach feeding on an unquiet mind!

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Rosanna Spearman (speaker), Franklin Blake
Related Symbols: The Shivering Sand
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 16 Quotes

“Do you mean to tell me, in plain English,” I said, “that Miss Rachel has stolen her own Diamond?”

“Yes,” says the Sergeant; “that is what I mean to tell you, in so many words. Miss Verinder has been in secret possession of the Moonstone from first to last; and she has taken Rosanna Spearman into her confidence, because she has calculated on our suspecting Rosanna Spearman of the theft. There is the whole case in a nutshell. Collar me again, Mr. Betteredge. If it's any vent to your feelings, collar me again.”

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Sergeant Cuff (speaker), Miss Rachel Verinder, Rosanna Spearman
Related Symbols: The Moonstone
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 20 Quotes

People in high life have all the luxuries to themselves—among others, the luxury of indulging their feelings. People in low life have no such privilege. Necessity, which spares our betters, has no pity on as. We learn to put our feelings back into ourselves, and to jog on with our duties as patiently as may be. I don't complain of this—I only notice it.

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Franklin Blake , Miss Rachel Verinder, Sergeant Cuff, Rosanna Spearman, Penelope Betteredge
Page Number: 167-8
Explanation and Analysis:
The Loss of the Diamond: 23 Quotes

“Where’s this gentleman that I mustn’t speak of, except with respect? Ha, Mr. Betteredge, the day is not far off when the poor will rise against the rich. I pray Heaven they may begin with him. I pray Heaven they may begin with him.”

Related Characters: Limping Lucy (speaker), Franklin Blake , Gabriel Betteredge, Rosanna Spearman, Mrs. Yolland
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Discovery of the Truth 3: 3 Quotes

“Do you feel an uncomfortable heat at the pit of your stomach, sir? And a nasty thumping at the top of your head? Ah! not yet? It will lay hold of you at Cobb's Hole, Mr. Franklin. I call it the detective-fever; and I first caught it in the company of Sergeant Cuff.”

Related Characters: Gabriel Betteredge (speaker), Franklin Blake , Sergeant Cuff, Rosanna Spearman
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:

The nightgown itself would reveal the truth; for, in all probability, the nightgown was marked with its owner's name.

I took it up from the sand, and looked for the mark.

I found the mark, and read —

MY OWN NAME.

Related Characters: Franklin Blake (speaker), Rosanna Spearman
Related Symbols: The Shivering Sand
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis: