Questioning the White Man’s Moral Code: A Study of Kipling’s Lispeth (1886) and Beyond the Pale (1888)

Abstract

Unanimously acknowledged as the Poet of the Empire, Rudyard Kipling sometimes sketches non-White characters who serve as counterpoints to unmask the misdeeds of their White counterparts. These misdeeds refuse to remain confined to master-servant plane and often penetrate the deep psychological spherewhere resides the tender instincts of human beings.Through these Kipling makes the White man betray his inhumanity in a two-fold manner. First being a bully and an arrogant overlord he proves himself an unjust ruler. But the more intricate form of cruelty occurs when the White man betrays a non-White, especially a woman, inspite of the latter’s unquestioned allegiance and faith upon him. When stories like The Man Who Would Be King (1888) or “The Mark of the Beast” (1890) conform to the former pattern, “Lispeth” or “GeorgiePorgie” (1888) may be viewed from the second perspective. The modest object of this paper is to analyze two short narratives — “Lispeth” and “Beyond the Pale” in the light of the above discourse.