Moonfleet
Plot summary
In
1757, Moonfleet is a small village along the coast of southern England. The
village takes its name from a formerly prominent local family, the Mohunes. The
main character is John Trenchard, an orphan who lives with his aunt, Miss
Arnold. The village church includes the sexton Mr. Ratsey, and the Parson Glennie, who also teaches in the
village school. Elzevir Block, is the landlord of the Mohune Arms. This
inn is nicknamed the Why Not?, a pun on the Mohune coat
of arms, which includes a cross-pall in the shape of the letter "Y". Mr. Maskew, is
the local magistrate,
who has a daughter: Grace. Village legend tells of the notorious Colonel John
"Blackbeard" Mohune who is buried in the family crypt under the
church. He is reputed to have stolen a diamond from King Charles I
and hidden it. His ghost is said to wander at night looking for it and the
mysterious lights in the churchyard are attributed to his activities.[3]:9–14,17–18,27–28,38
As
the main part of the story opens, Block's youthful son, David, has just been
killed by Maskew during a raid by the Maskew and other authorities on a smuggling boat. One night a bad storm hits the village and there is a
flood. While attending the Sunday service at church, John hears strange sounds
from the crypt below. He thinks it is the sound of the coffins of the Mohune
family. The next day, he finds Elzevir and Ratsey against the south wall of the
church. They claim to be checking for damage from the storm, but John suspects
they are searching for Blackbeard's ghost.
Later
John finds a large sinkhole
has opened in the ground by a grave. He follows the passage and finds himself
in the crypt with coffins on shelves and casks on the floor. He realises his
friends are smugglers and this is their hiding place. He has to hide behind a
coffin when he hears Ratsey and Elzevir coming. When they leave, they fill in
the hole, inadvertently trapping him. John finds a locket in the coffin that he
hid behind (it turns out to be that of Blackbeard himself),which holds a piece
of paper with verses from the Bible. John eventually passes out after drinking
too much of the wine while trying to quench his thirst, having not eaten or
drunk for over 24 hours. Later he wakes up in the Why Not? inn - he has
been rescued by Elzevir and Ratsey. When he is better, he returns to his aunt's
house, but she, suspecting him of drunken behaviour, throws him out. Elzevir
takes him in.
But
when Block's lease on the Why Not? comes up for renewal, Maskew bids
against him in the auction and wins. Block must leave the inn and Moonfleet but
plans one last smuggling venture. John feels honour-bound to go with him, and
sadly, says goodbye to Grace Maskew, whom he loves and has been seeing in
secret, and is given his mother's prayer book by his aunt—her last hope to
influence John towards piety. The excisemen and Maskew are aware of the planned
smuggling run but do not know exactly where it will occur. During the landing
Maskew appears and is caught by the smugglers. Elzevir is bent on vengeance for
his son by killing Maskew, and while the rest land the cargo and leave, he and
John keep watch over Maskew. Just as Block prepares to shoot Maskew the
excisemen attack. They wound John and unintentionally kill Maskew. Block
carries John away to safety and they hide in some old quarries. While there,
John inadvertently finds out that the verses from Blackbeard's locket contain a
code that will reveal the location of his famous diamond.
Once
John's wound heals, he and Block decide to recover the diamond from Carisbrooke Castle.
After a suspenseful scene in the well where the jewel is hidden, they succeed
in escaping to Holland where they try to sell it to a Jewish diamond merchant
named Krispijn Aldobrand. The merchant cheats them, claiming the diamond is
fake. Elzevir falls for the deceit and angrily throws the diamond out of the
window. John, however, knows they have been duped, and suggests they try to
recover the diamond through burglary. The attempt fails and, they are arrested
and sentenced to prison. John curses the merchant for his lies.
John
and Elzevir go to prison for life. Eventually they are separated. Then,
unexpectedly, ten years later, their paths cross again. They are being transported,
and board a ship. A storm blows up, and by a strong coincidence, the ship is
wrecked upon Moonfleet beach. While trying to reach the beach Elzevir helps
John to safety, but is himself dragged under by the surf and drowned.
John
arrives where he originally started, in the Why Not?, and is reunited
with Ratsey. He is also reunited with Grace. She is now a rich young lady,
having inherited her father's money. However, she is still in love with John.
John tells her about the diamond and his life in prison. He regrets having lost
everything, but she says, rich or not, she loves him.
Then
Parson Glennie visits and reveals he had received a letter from Aldobrand. The
merchant, suffering a guilty conscience and in an attempt to make amends, had
bequeathed the worth of the diamond to John.
John
gives the money to the village, and new almshouses are built, and the school and the church renovated. John
marries Grace and becomes Lord of the Manor and Justice of the Peace. They have
three children, including their first-born son, Elzevir. They grow up and the
sons go away to "serve King George on sea and land" and their
daughter, too it seems, has married away. But John and Grace themselves do not
leave their beloved Moonfleet ever again.
Backgammon
A
feature of the narrative is a continuing reference to the boardgame of backgammon
which is played by the patrons of the Why Not? on an antique board which
bears a Latin inscription Ita in vita ut in lusu alae pessima jactura
arte corrigenda est (translated in the book as As in life, so in a game
of hazard, skill will make something of the worst of throws).[3]
Geography of the book
Falkner
uses the local geography of Dorset and the Isle
of Wight in the book, only changing some of
the place names. The village of Moonfleet is based on East
Fleet in Dorset by Chesil
Beach. The headland in the book called The
Snout is Portland Bill.
Adaptations in other media
The
book was filmed by Fritz Lang
in 1955 and released under the same name,
with a screenplay adapted by Jan Lustig [de] from the novel. A handful of scenes
from the book survived, including John's ordeal in the church crypt with the
remains of Blackbeard (here renamed Redbeard), and his descent into the well to
retrieve the diamond, but the movie altered the novel's plot substantially.
Among other major changes, its young hero was given the newly invented rogue
gentleman Jeremy Fox for a mentor (played by Stewart
Granger), while the role of the working
class Elzevir Block was reduced to leading a group of the smugglers seeking to
kill John. Lang's film has enjoyed some cachet among French film critics.
In
1963 the BBC aired a 5-episode radio series of Moonfleet adapted by Morna
Stuart and produced by Brandon Acton-Bond.[4]
In
1964 the BBC filmed a 6-episode TV adaptation under the title Smugglers' Bay,
starring future Doctor Who
stars Frazer Hines
and Patrick Troughton
as John Trenchard and Ratsey, respectively. It started airing on BBC1 on 12
July 1964.[5]
In
1984 a TV mini-series was filmed, starring Adam
Godley and David
Daker. There is also a 90-minute BBC
radio version, starring Richard Pearce (from BBC Radio's The Adventures of Tintin, as well) as John Trenchard.
The
Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air released a 300 min. production of the book in
May 2009, Starring Jerry Robbins,
David Ault, and Rob Cattell. It was dramatised by Deniz Cordell, and produced by M. J. Cogburn.
Angel
Exit Theatre Company devised a production which toured
the UK in 2009.
In
2010 Chris de Burgh
released an album of songs called Moonfleet &
Other Stories featuring a story based on the
book.
Sky1 filmed a two-part TV adaptation in Ireland in 2013 starring
Ray
Winstone, Aneurin
Barnard and Karl McCrone. This was aired 28 December 2013 and 29 December 2013 [6] Though more of the plot of the book remains than in the
1955 film, it still bears little relation; John is in his mid-twenties, Maskew
has become an aristocrat and tyrannical descendant of Blackbeard, and Elzevir
Block the leader of a brothel-frequenting, knife-fighting band of gangsters.
In
2017 the Salisbury Playhouse
announced a major new musical adaptation of Moonfleet with book and lyrics by Gareth Machin and music by Russell Hepplewhite. The show was scheduled to opened in April 2018, but it did
not receive a good review.[7]
References
· Adrian
Harrington Rare Books Archived 23 April 2007 at the Wayback
Machine Winter Catalogue 2006–2007
· · "Moonfleet
Teacher's Notes, Penguin Readers"
(PDF). Pearson Education Limited. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
· · RTÉ (10 June
2013). "Sky
adventure to shoot in Ireland – RTÉ Ten". Rte.ie. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
·
Moonfleet review at Salisbury Playhouse – 'a clunky
new musical',
Mark Shenton, The Stage, April 24, 2018
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