Introduction

Indian Diamonds 149
some lurking dark forces represented by the three Indians and Jonathan Small and
Tonga who break into their domestic security.
In The Moonstone and The Sign of Four the history of the diamonds is bound up
with the Mutiny. The most enduring image of the Mutiny was the Well of Cawnpore.
The event influenced the ideological discourse and underpinned counter
insurgent aggression. The representation of women and children as the major
victims of the Mutiny and the depiction of the rebels as criminal sexual perverts
directed the focus on the endangered ideal of the peaceful Victorian home as the
main point of attack. The lasting theme in writing on the Mutiny became “white
womanhood threatened by dark natives” (Mehta 646) and the projection of devilish
and deviant impulses on Indians (Brantlinger, Rule 210). The diamonds bring
the violence and irrationality of the Mutiny to England, in their history and their
surrounding conspiracies. In threatening domesticity in their eruption into the
“quiet English house” (Collins, Moonstone 43), they first and foremost threaten
women in their position as keepers of the Victorian ideal of the peaceful home.
The constellation, moreover, reflects the preset stereotypical depiction of Mutiny
violence. In The Moonstone, the danger which Rachel incurs is spelled out: First
Murthwaite affirms that she would be in great danger in India (74) and later, she
actually is the object of the Indians’ threatening gaze: “[T]here she stood, innocent
of all knowledge of the truth, showing the Indians the Diamond in the bosom of
her dress” (78). It is suggested that Rachel is especially vulnerable and thus unable
to securely guard her diamond as property. The Sign of Four addresses the Mutiny
directly, and Jonathan Small, in his confession, describes the violence of the rebels
in their assault on the Indigo farm: The book-keeper’s wife is “all cut into ribbons,
and half eaten by jackals and native dogs” (Doyle, Sign 215). He also mentions
Cawnpore and the danger that women and children incur (218) in the hands of the
mutineers.
The Eustace Diamonds alludes to another Indian crime against women which attracted
sensational coverage in the nineteenth century. “Suttee propensities of all
sorts, from burning alive down to bombazine and hideous forms of clothing, are
becoming less and less popular among the nations,” (Trollope 229) the narrator
ironically comments on Lizzie’s longing for entertainment. Frank Greystock also
refers to “suttee” when he explains “the burning of Indian widows” with the unconscious
Indian realisation of the “unfitness of women for solitude” (258).
Lizzie’s situation as a young widow thus evokes sati, phrased ironically by the narrator
and more seriously by Frank. Lizzie, however, obviously wants to avoid the
renunciation which society demands from her, symbolised through sati, the
mourning and giving up of the jewels, which are so important to her identity. The
association of Lizzie’s situation with sati articulates the threat to her life and identity,
which rests in the diamonds. This threat is represented through an Indian
practise.