Question from The Moonstone...

The form of the novel began to change in the nineteenth century and gave fear to the kinds of issues being presented (adultery and sex) in the novel. The Moonstone was initially a serialized fiction and through this, it became increasingly popular within the middle class. Pykett further states, “Collins’s novels also focus on marriage as a mean of regulating sexuality and explore sexual mores on the fringes of and outside marriage” (77). Collins present many contemporary social issues in The Moonstone that engages with how race and power are perceived in society. By presenting these issues, Collins is investigating the hypocrisies and modes of the ‘respectable’ Victorian society and conjoins it with the evils corrupting society.