Introduction

148
Sabina Fazli
legal complications and her lies estrange her from her late husband’s family and
gain Lizzie Eustace a bad reputation in society. In the end, the diamonds do not
secure her social status but destroy it.
In the texts, inheritance is addressed as an unproblematic and positive way of
securing a place in society. An heirloom is exempt from “the world of commodity
exchange” (Lindner 83) and gains a special and fixed status. As such it confers
identity, it becomes “domestic” (Daly 70) and thus characterises its wearer (Tetzeli
299). The incorporation of the diamonds into this same pattern marks, as Christopher
GoGwilt observes, “the disintegration of (Indian) culture into (British)
goods” (81). Yet, the diamonds’ history of theft and murder is contrary to the
‘English’ inheritances. Furthermore, they cannot stand for uninterrupted succession.
Their legal status is as insecure as their ownership and they disrupt the stabilising
effect of the domestic bequests.
The strong link between material inheritance and national economy is stressed
by Allan Hepburn: “Especially in nineteenth-century novels, property ownership
functions within the dual framework of personal and national heritages” (9). Together
with the diamonds their history is inherited, the nation’s involvement in
colonialism. Considered as national rather than private objects, the possession of
the diamonds raises the question whether , “a nation inherit[s] the evil of its forebears
if it accepts the benefits derived from the crime?” (Reed 287) The texts
unanimously suggest that the inheritance of colonial wealth is problematic and
potentially threatening.
In addition, the diamonds’ heirs are all women – a fact which further seems to
stress the insecurity of the transference of wealth – and their inability to keep
them is emphasised. Women are not only more prone to lose the diamonds to a
third party, but the pattern that an heirloom “usually descends to the eldest son”
is disturbed. The presence of future male heirs in The Moonstone and The Eustace
Diamonds relieves this anxiety.
Women as Owners of Diamonds
Mary Morstan and Rachel Verinder are the inheritors of the Moonstone and the
Agra treasure respectively. Lizzie Eustace styles herself as the wronged widow
who fights for her inheritance of the Eustace Diamonds, and she tries to manipulate
her intermediaries to argue for her ownership of the diamonds. Eventually, all
her attempts are in vain when the diamonds are stolen. Mary Morstan’s and Rachel’s
inheritances, as well, are stolen from them or their claims are refused. In all
of these texts, women are the victims of theft, and their ownership of the diamonds
is presented as insecure and contested which is partly due to the disruption
of male inheritance which I have already discussed. Yet, Mary Morstan and Rachel
Verinder are threatened in their inheritance and ownership of the treasures by