Beyond the Pale. Artist and engraver: William Strang. 1901. Steel plate etching. A Series of Thirty Illustrations by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling (1901), plate 29. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
This deeply disturbing text narrates the story of the widow Bisesa and Trejago, the white man who, despite breaking the boundaries of propriety in imperial India, makes advances to her. The illustration shows the horrifying moment when, at their usual liaison at the window, Bisesa shows the price she has paid for her trangressive relationship, having had her hands cut off. Kipling passes it off as a cautionary or didactic tale, but once again the main focus is on visceral horror. Strang depicts the very moment of Trejago's realization of what has happened, and shows the female character as a sort of disfigured monster, much in the vein of Goya.
Image scan, text and formatting by Simon Cooke. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
Kipling, Rudyard. A Series of Thirty Etchings by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling. London: Macmillan, 1901.
Created 30 September 2025