The Moonstone

The Shivering Sands is a mysterious and sinister patch of quicksand on the Yorkshire coast, close to the Verinder estate. Rosanna drowns herself near the Sands, and also hides the box containing the stained nightdress there. The Sands symbolize the temptation to hide events from the past, but also the impossibility of doing so.

In the early part of the novel, the Sands are associated with Rosanna’s character: She tends to go there to brood, and she first lays eyes on Franklin Blake near the Sands. Even before she meets Franklin, Rosanna is tormented by her past as a petty thief, but she also tries to conceal it. Rosanna falls in love with Franklin despite the vast difference in their class and social position, and she vacillates between hoping they can somehow find a way to be together and despair at the unlikelihood of this possibility.

However, even after her death, Rosanna’s actions mean that the Sands continue to be important to the plot. With the help of Betteredge, Franklin uncovers the secret box that Rosanna hid. This box contains crucial information that helps Franklin to understand the role he played in the disappearance of the diamond. The concealment and discovery of these items near the Shivering Sands shows that the past will inevitably resurface, even when it is buried.

Another layer is added to the symbolism surrounding the burying and resurfacing of the past due to the psychological mystery of Franklin himself having unknowingly stolen the diamond. Franklin has effectively buried his own memories of those events in his subconscious, and they can only be retrieved by replicating the precise condition of the original events. Franklin not only has to drag the box containing the stained nightgown out of the physical depths of seawater, but he also has to dredge forgotten events out of his own mind.