Godfrey Ablewhite is a character in Wilkie Collins' 1868 novel The Moonstone.[1] A vocal philanthropist, he is one of the rival suitors of Rachel Verinder, to whom he is briefly engaged before his mercenary motives are revealed.
| Godfrey Ablewhite | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Wilkie Collins |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Mr Ablewhite, Senior (father) Caroline Ablewhite (mother) 3 sisters |
| Relatives |
|
| Nationality | British |
Religiosity challenged?
editGodfrey is explicitly and repeatedly linked to Exeter Hall, site of the most theatrical elements in evangelical preaching:[2] "Exeter Hall again....the performance with the tongue".[3] His unmasking as the villain of the piece has therefore been taken by some as a literal demonstration on the author's part of the hypocrisy inherent in sermonising - the gap between words preached and actual actions.[4] Others, however, point out that Collins has softened his attack on Victorian morality in at least two ways: he changed his mind about making Ablewhite (initially) a member of the clergy;[5] and, by making him an overt hypocrite, philanthropist by day, philanderer by night, he distracted attention from the inherent hypocrisy in the moralistic position.[6]
The result is to leave Godfrey as a rather bland, externalised figure - though arguably one who serves the book's purposes as villain rather better than did the more flamboyant Count Fosco in The Woman in White.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Collins, Wilkie (1868). The Moonstone.
- ^ B. Hilton, A Bad, Mad, & Dangerous People? (Oxford 2008) p. 627
- ^ W. Collins, The Moonstone (Oxford 1999) p. 275 and p. 65
- ^ R. Ellison, A New History of the Sermon (2010) p. 329
- ^ S. Knight, Secrets of Crime Fiction Classics (2014)
- ^ N. Rance, Wilkie Collins and Other Sensation Novelists (1991) p. 135
- ^ M. Bachman, Reality's Dark Light (2003) p. 216
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