The Mark Of The Beast

British author Rudyard Kipling is perhaps best known for his children’s works like The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories and for his adventure writing, like the short story “Gunga Din” and the novel Captains Courageous. Kipling’s short story “The Mark of the Beast” can be classified within the horror genre as well as a representative work of colonial literature. When first published in 1890, critics found “The Mark of the Beast” both fascinating and “loathsome,” according to notes from the Kipling Society (http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_markbeast1.htm).

An unnamed first-person narrator opens “The Mark of the Beast” with a “native,” or an East Indian proverb, that rhetorically asks whether one knows which gods are strongest. The narrator suggests that in India, the Englishman’s god yields power to the “Gods and Devils of Asia” (241). This idea helps to inform the remarkable, but true, tale he is about to recount.

The narrator assures the reader that both he and his friend Strickland, a policeman and long-time resident of India, and the local doctor Dumoise can corroborate the facts of the story; despite Dumoise’s ability to corroborate, his incorrect reading of the facts leads to his misinformed conclusion.

Fleete, a large “inoffensive man” (241), has come to India to finance some land he inherited from his uncle. Unlike Strickland, who has a thorough understanding of the Indian people and their culture, Fleete has little knowledge or respect for Indian customs. Fleete stays with Strickland. On New Year’s Eve, the two men and the narrator celebrate at the club of their local colonial station. Fleete drinks heavily, and when the trio leaves in the cold, early morning, he is too drunk to mount his horse. Strickland and the narrator help Fleete walk home.

On their way, they pass a temple to the monkey-god, Hanuman. The narrator recognizes that this deity is important to the Indian people and “worthy of respect” (242). The temple is occupied by worshippers. Fleete runs into the temple and grinds out his cigar on the forehead of Hanuman’s image. Slurring, he proudly declares that he has made the “Mark of the B—beasht” (242). The priests are irate, and the temple crowds with people. Strickland and the narrator try to remove Fleete, but before they can leave, a naked, faceless leper—known as a Silver Man—emerges from behind the statue and, grabbing Fleete, “nuzzles” his chest. This action calms the priests, and the three men depart.

Fleete becomes ill; he sweats, shivers, and claims that he smells blood. Strickland puts Fleete to bed and uneasily confides to the narrator that he does not know why the three of them were not “mauled” for Fleete’s offensive gesture. The narrator returns to Strickland’s the next afternoon. He finds Fleete demanding bloody chops from the cook and eating them strangely: Fleete jerks his head back while eating and snaps at the meat. Fleete also sports a strange mark on his left breast that looks like the black rosette pattern of a leopard’s spot. Strickland is concerned about the mark and asks the narrator to spend the night.

The three men check their horses before going for a ride, and Fleete’s presence drives the animals “mad with fear” (245). Strickland does not yet want to tell the narrator what he thinks may be happening because he fears that the narrator would think he is insane. Strickland asks the narrator to stay a few more days and to watch Fleete.

Fleete stays behind to eat while Strickland and the narrator go riding. As they pass the temple of Hanuman, the Silver Man emerges and makes “mewing” sounds at them. Returning after dark, they are startled to find Fleete crawling around the garden. Alarmed, they get him inside. Strickland warns the narrator that there will be trouble that night. Fleete is covered with dirt, and a greenish light glows behind his eyes. Fleete goes to his room, and shortly after Fleete exits, Strickland and the narrator hear a wolf’s howl from inside the house. 

Terrified, the two men hear an answering call from outside. They barge into Strickland’s room and find Fleete snarling, spitting, and trying to climb out the window. They subdue Fleete and are chilled to hear a mewing sound outside the house. They send for Doctor Dumoise, who announces that Fleete has a terrible, fatal case of hydrophobia.

When Dumoise departs, Strickland informs the narrator he believes the Silver Man bewitched Fleete for desecrating Hanuman’s temple. Strickland ignores the narrator’s rationalizing and orders him to help. The two men ambush the Silver Man who is circling the house, and, after a violent struggle, they tie him up and torture him. Near dawn, the Silver Man accedes to his torturers’ demands and removes the curse by putting his hand over the mark on Fleete’s left breast. Strickland and the narrator see humanity return to Fleete’s eyes.

Strickland and the narrator send the Silver Man away. When Fleete awakens a few hours later, the mark on his chest is gone, and he has no memory of what happened. Instead, he thinks he drank too much. Dumoise arrives expecting to find Fleete dead and is disconcerted to find him alive and recovered. Strickland visits Hanuman’s temple to apologize and to make reparations for Fleete’s insult, but the priests tell him that “no white man” (250) had ever touched the statue and Strickland must be mistaken.

When Fleete complains about a pervasive odor of dog in Strickland’s home, both Strickland and the narrator dissolve into hysterical laughter. The two never tell Fleete what they did for him. Years later, Strickland suggests to the narrator that he publish an account of the story and see what the public thinks. The narrator does not believe that publication will clarify anything because first, no one would believe him, and second, every “right-minded man” (250) knows that heathen gods are false.

Pagination in this study guide refers to the 1956 Doubleday edition of Kipling: A Selection of His Stories and Poems, Volume 2.