What is the moral of the story "The Mark of the Beast"?

"The Mark of the Beast" by Rudyard Kipling is a horror story that takes place in northern India. It tells of an Englishman named Fleete who gets extremely drunk at the Club on New Year's Eve. When he leaves the Club, he is accompanied by the narrator of the story and Strickland, a policeman with whom Fleete is staying. They pass a temple devoted to Hanuman the Monkey God, and in his drunkenness, Fleete desecrates the idol inside. As punishment, a leper curses Fleete.

At Strickland's home, Fleete begins to act like a beast, craving raw meat, moaning and howling, and frightening the horses. Strickland and the narrator summon a doctor named Dumoise, who diagnoses hydrophobia, or rabies, and predicts that Fleete will certainly die. Eventually Fleete starts to assume the appearance of an animal. Strickland and the narrator capture the leper and torture him until he agrees to undo the curse. Soon after they release the leper, Fleete reverts back to his normal human form.

Kipling obviously wrote this as a horror story simply to shock and entertain his readers. However, the moral would be that you should not interfere with, meddle with, and belittle what you don't understand. Fleete scorns the superstitions of the worshipers at the Monkey God's temple. He doesn't imagine that there is any truth to their beliefs. Due to his ignorance and disdain, he receives a curse. He should not have trespassed where he didn't belong or lightly dismissed the beliefs of others.

APPROVED BY ENOTES EDITORIAL TEAM"The Mark of the Beast," one of Rudyard Kipling's few horror stories, contains a warning as its moral. Fleete has arrived in India with no notion or concern for local customs and beliefs. While outrageously drunk, he pollutes the temple of Hanuman. This brings a curse upon the Englishman that temporarily turns him into a beast.

Kipling opens this story by stating that the protections of the Christian god cannot be counted on in foreign lands. In India, the local gods hold power, and to offend them is done at your peril. This accounts for many of the mysteries of this land. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the local beliefs, as the character of Strickland seems to.

Fleete has newly arrived in India and does not seem to be at all interested in learning about the local customs and beliefs. Even more, he shows them his disdain by degrading the local god. The resulting supernatural punishment is the consequence of his behavior. Hence, the moral can be that people in foreign lands must respect local beliefs because their own beliefs may not hold any power where they are.

APPROVED BY ENOTES EDITORIAL TEAM

INUK LEE| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

[url=][/url]

Let me also fill you in about the original context of the mark of the beast. It comes from the last book of the New Testament and the mark of the beast is 666. There are a lot of theories about this number, but it is probably best to interpret it in two ways.

1. Like the previous post, the mark of the beast is probably referring to an empire, or better yet, the memebers of that empire.

2. The mark of the beast should also be seen in contrast to the number of God in the book of revelation - 777. I think what the book of revelation is trying to say is that the number of the beast will always fall short of the number of God. In the end, God's kingdom will win.

APPROVED BY ENOTES EDITORIAL TEAM

I would say that the moral of this story is that taking an empire and trying to rule it (as the British did in India and elsewhere) is nearly impossible to do well and is harmful to the people who take the empire.

In this story, the British characters, and especially Fleete, are completely ignorant of the empire they are supposed to rule.  Because of this, Fleete does something really stupid without necessarily understanding that it was.  It is hard to run an empire when you don't/can't understand the ways of the people you're trying to rule.

It is also clear from the story that power has corrupted the Englishmen.  Because they are the colonizers, they feel that they are so superior that they can do whatever they want.

In the story, ignorance and arrogance lead to terrible consequences.  Kipling seems to be saying that this will be the case in real life as well.