Title: The Mark of the Beast
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Setting: Colonial India during the late nineteenth century, New Year’s Eve
Character(s): Fleete (main character), Kipling (author, narrator), Strickland (friend)
Point of View: Narrator
Central Conflict the protagonist is facing:
He got drunk and desecrated the temple of Hanuman the Monkey God by putting out a cigar on the ape’s forehead. A Leper Priest (a “Silver Man”) then bites Fleete on the breast, and he is warned by a second priest that the incident is not over yet. It soon became clear that Fleete is affected by the bite, and he craves for flesh and howls like a wolf. A doctor believes that he contracted rabies but his friend believes otherwise that he was struck by an unexplained force at work. Fleete’s friends kidnap the Leper priest force him to take away the spirit. A touch was all that was needed and Fleete fell asleep. When he wakes, he returns to normal and remembers nothing of the time spent since his drunken evening.
Describe four ways the protagonist’s personality is revealed and develops:
In the beginning of the plot, he was described as “He was a big, heavy, genial, and inoffensive man.” He was also a newcomer to India and he complained of the difficulties of the native’s language. As the plot continues, he drinks in a pub with his friends, and he was entirely a different man. He didn’t respect the religious views of India’s temple and even claimed that Hanuman was a “soft pillow” so he’s just going to sleep there.
Introduction:
It tells a story of a newcomer, Fleete, to India. To celebrate New Year’s Eve, Fleete and his friends went to a pub to drink. He was drunk by half past three in the morning, and as he went home, guided by his friends.
Body:
He noticed a temple, and dashed to it, not knowing it was wrong, he offended the religious views of the temple as he burned his cigar butt into the forehead of the red stone image of the great Hanuman, and