Perspectives

Literary period

The short story “Beyond the Pale” by Rudyard Kipling belongs to the literary period known as Victorian literature. The name comes from Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901). Victorian literature was often realistic and was frequently concerned with social status but also with progress and women’s role in society.

Like other examples from Victorian literature, “Beyond the Pale” explores the issue of class in the realistic setting of the British Raj looking at both the caste system in India and the status differences between the English and Indians. The story is also made realistic by the ending. During that time, Indian widows who saw other men would indeed sometimes be punished by having their hands cut off or something similar, while an English man could get away more easily with an interracial affair. The third-person narrator occasionally switching to first perso...