The Englishman

Outer characterisation

The Englishman is an unnamed traveller in the short story “Lispeth” by Rudyard Kipling. His outer characterisation reveals that his home is in England where he is supposed to marry an English girl (p. 267, ll. 26-27). Initially he is hurt, “...cut to the bone by something jagged” (p. 266, l. 42).

The narrator depicts him with some irony as a “globetrotter” and a hunter of “plants and butterflies”, suggesting he had no real occupation, indulging himself in travels: “He was a traveller in the East, he said - they never talked about ‘globetrotters’ in those days […] and had come from Dehra Dun to hunt for plants and butterflies among the Simla Hills.” (p. 267, ll. 14-17)

Inner characterisation

The Englishman’s inner characterisation is mostly conveyed in relation to Lispeth. Though he likes Lispeth, he does not see her as an equal human being. Lispeth “amused” him (p. 267, l. 34), and he considered her “a perfect idyl of th...