Stella’s Beauty
The first thing the reader learns of Stella is that she is a stunner at age nineteen with her blue eyes, black hair, alabaster complexion, and ruby red lips. Eight years immediately pass and the next description of her arrives through the same eyes but now with a notable corrective to its focus: “There was more of character in the face now, less, much less, of youth and none of the old gaiety. The open frankness had gone.” The transformation of Stella’s beauty is symbolic of the interior transformation which the intervening eight years have brought upon her.
Necklace
When Henry sees Stella for the first time in eight years, she seems curiously obsessed with covering her throat. Her husband even pressures her to wear a particularly unbecoming necklace with just one redeeming virtue: it is large enough to cover much of her throat. When she finally rips the necklace from her neck in a fit of angry pique, Henry discovers the reason for its existence: covering up the bruises her brute of a spouse has made upon her throat. The necklace thus becomes a symbol for the deceit lying at the heart of their marriage.
Stella’s Rook-Rifle
The instrument of Stella’s liberation from her abusive marriage is the rook-rifle which discharges the fatal bullet. A rook-rifle is small, light enough to carry on leisurely walks in case any game is spotted, and is constructed as a single-shot mechanism. In other words, it is intended entirely for the purpose of putting just one single deadly shot into animals like birds and rabbits. The symbolism of this being the weapon which brings down an abusive military officer is profoundly ironic.
Vocal Intonation (Voice)
Right at the outset, voice—specifically the manner of vocal intonation used to speak—is situated as symbolic of character. Henry’s mother is described in the second paragraph as speaking to him in “hard practical voice” which symbolizes her sense of self-identity. Ballantyne’s paranoia toward the natives of India and Stella’s shame at being abused by himself are characterized by frequent use of “whispering” to describe their speech. By contrast, the relationship between Stella and her most recent conquest is characterized by the less negative connotations of “murmuring.”
Parliament
Henry is a member of Parliament, the national legislative body of the U.K. While the word itself is mentioned by name less than ten times in the book, its presence is a symbolic specter hanging over everything and guiding much of the action. Being elected to Parliament is first a symbol of Henry’s independence from his parents, especially his mother. When Henry chooses to commit perjury in order to help Stella’s case, it also becomes symbolic of his success in another way. Earlier, on the rise up, he had been willing to sacrifice Stella to achieve financial independence and here he seems willing to risk his career—should it ever come out—for the sake of Stella.
