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Miss Drusilla Clack
An aloof and pessimistic but brilliant, polite, and loyal opium-addicted doctor who serves as Mr. Candy’s assistant. Haunted by his mixed-race background, childhood in an overseas British colony, and “a horrible accusation” that has cost him his reputation—not to mention his addiction and bizarre appearance (he is described as physically hideous), which Franklin Blake says makes him “look old and young both together”—the terminally ill Jennings feels hopelessly misunderstood and persecuted by the world, and takes delight in caring for Mr. Candy when he falls ill. During this time, Jennings develops a scientific theory about the relationship between “the faculty of speaking connectedly” and “the faculty of thinking connectedly” by noting that Mr. Candy’s disconnected words actually represent underlying, connected thoughts; this leads him to realize that Mr. Candy had drugged Franklin Blake with laudanum (opium) on the night of the Diamond’s theft. Based on his own extensive experiences with the drug (which are in turn a fictionalization of the author’s), Jennings spearheads the “experiment” that proves Franklin stole the Diamond unwittingly while under the laudanum’s influence. He sees the chance to help bring Franklin and Rachel together as an opportunity to create “a last gleam of sunshine” and prove his moral character to the world. His journal is the only part of the novel narrated in present tense, and he dies in Mr. Candy’s arms some time after the novel’s protagonists solve the mystery of the Moonstone’s disappearance. Incorporating both caricatured features of a Gothic villain or mad scientist—his ugliness, isolation, and brilliant experiment—and autobiographical details—Collins’s terminal illness and laudanum addiction—the tragic figure of Ezra Jennings, like Godfrey Ablewhite, allows Collins to illuminate the contrasts between the internal and external dimensions of character (intentions and reputation, respectively).
Ezra Jennings Quotes in The Moonstone
The The Moonstone quotes below are all either spoken by Ezra Jennings or refer to Ezra Jennings. 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:
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The Discovery of the Truth 3: 9
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He had suffered as few men suffer; and there was the mixture of some foreign race in his English blood.
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The Discovery of the Truth 4
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“Speaking as a servant, I am deeply indebted to you. Speaking as a man, I consider you to be a person whose head is full of maggots, and I take up my testimony against your experiment as a delusion and a snare. Don’t be afraid, on that account, of my feelings as a man getting in the way of my duty as a servant! You shall be obeyed. The maggots notwithstanding, sir, you shall be obeyed. If it ends in your setting the house on fire, Damme if I send for the engines, unless you ring the bell and order them first!”
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“If Mr. Jennings will permit me,” pursued the old lady, “I should like to ask a favour. Mr. Jennings is about to try a scientific experiment to-night. I used to attend scientific experiments when I was a girl at school. They invariably ended in an explosion. If Mr. Jennings will be so very kind, I should like to be warned of the explosion this time. With a view to getting it over, if possible, before I go to bed.”
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“I wish I had never taken it out of the bank,” he said to himself. “It was safe in the bank.”
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Ezra Jennings Quotes in The Moonstone
The The Moonstone quotes below are all either spoken by Ezra Jennings or refer to Ezra Jennings. 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:
).
The Discovery of the Truth 3: 9
Quotes
He had suffered as few men suffer; and there was the mixture of some foreign race in his English blood.
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The Discovery of the Truth 4
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“Speaking as a servant, I am deeply indebted to you. Speaking as a man, I consider you to be a person whose head is full of maggots, and I take up my testimony against your experiment as a delusion and a snare. Don’t be afraid, on that account, of my feelings as a man getting in the way of my duty as a servant! You shall be obeyed. The maggots notwithstanding, sir, you shall be obeyed. If it ends in your setting the house on fire, Damme if I send for the engines, unless you ring the bell and order them first!”
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“If Mr. Jennings will permit me,” pursued the old lady, “I should like to ask a favour. Mr. Jennings is about to try a scientific experiment to-night. I used to attend scientific experiments when I was a girl at school. They invariably ended in an explosion. If Mr. Jennings will be so very kind, I should like to be warned of the explosion this time. With a view to getting it over, if possible, before I go to bed.”
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“I wish I had never taken it out of the bank,” he said to himself. “It was safe in the bank.”
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