The Mark Of The Beast

Kipling’s biographical details and the story’s historical context are relevant to understanding the colonialist viewpoint in “The Mark of the Beast.” Born in Bombay, India in 1865 to English parents, Kipling grew up during the British Raj, or the time period during which the British Empire ruled India. Known as the “jewel” in the English crown, India had great economic value for the Empire. Kipling believed that England had a moral imperative—the “white man’s burden,” he calls it in his 1899 poem of the same title—to civilize and improve the lives of its Indian subjects. Kipling’s imperialist beliefs were in keeping with the morality of the historical time, and his writing is typically understood as pro-colonialist. Kipling’s works were highly popular in Britain, which enabled England to see India through Kipling’s eyes. Despite his imperialist beliefs, Kipling appreciated the diversity to which he was exposed while living in India; he grew up wearing native clothing and speaking Hindustani. This short story reveals both his support and his criticism of British rule; in this story, Kipling highlights the imbalance of power and the disconnect that often exist between the colonizer and the colonized, or, in this case, the English and the Indians.