The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
"The Man Who Would Be King" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling that explores themes of ambition, colonialism, and the nature of power. The narrative is presented through a first-person perspective of a young newspaperman in India who encounters Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot, two adventurous vagabonds. Seeking to escape their mundane lives, the duo concocts a plan to become kings of a remote region called Kafiristan. They initially succeed, using trickery and Masonic rites to convince the local populace that they are divine figures.
The story contrasts the extraordinary experiences of Peachey and Dravot with the ordinary life of the narrator, highlighting the allure of adventure against the backdrop of colonial attitudes. However, their quest ultimately ends in tragedy when Dravot’s desire to marry a local woman leads to his exposure as a mortal, resulting in fatal consequences. The tale serves as a commentary on the hubris associated with imperialism and raises questions about the nature of leadership and belief. Through its blend of humor and tragedy, Kipling's work invites readers to reflect on the complexities of human ambition and the often precarious nature of power.
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The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
First published: 1888
Type of plot: Allegory
Time of work: The late nineteenth century
Locale: India and Afghanistan
Principal Characters:
An unnamed newspaperman , the narratorPeachey Carnehan , a vagabond adventurer who survives to tell the storyDaniel Dravot , his companion, who is made king of a small principality
The Story
"The Man Who Would Be King" is told by a first-person narrator who one can assume is Rudyard Kipling as a young newspaperman in India. Meeting Peachey Carnehan, an adventure-seeking vagabond, on a train, the narrator learns that Peachey and his fellow vagabond, Daniel Dravot, are posing as correspondents for the newspaper for which the narrator is a real correspondent. After the narrator returns to his office and becomes "respectable," Peachey and Dravot interrupt this respectability (characterized by the narrator's concern for the everyday reality that constitutes the subject of his work as a newsman) to tell him of their fantastic plan to make themselves kings of a small country and to try to obtain from him a factual framework for the country where they hope to achieve this incredible adventure. "We have come to you to know about this country," says Peachey. "We want you to tell us that we are fools and to show us your books." The mythic proportions of the two vagabonds, or rather their storybook proportions—for "mythic" is too serious a word for the grotesque and comic adventurers—are indicated by the narrator's amused observation that Dravot's red beard seems to fill half the room and Peachey's huge shoulders the other half.
The actual adventure of the two companions begins with Dravot, pretending to be a mad priest, marching forward with whirligigs to sell as charms to the savages. As the two vagabonds go off, they again leave the newsman-narrator to his respectability. Three years later, Peachey returns, a "whining cripple," to confront the narrator with his story: He and Dravot have been crowned kings in Kafiristan, and "you've been sitting here ever since—oh, Lord!" Peachey's story of their adventures is thus posed against the pedestrian story of the narrator's dealing with the lives and obituaries of real kings. The narrator's mundane world pales in comparison to the storylike world created by Peachey and Dravot, who have set themselves up as fictional kings in a real country.
The story Peachey tells, of Dravot being crowned king of Kafiristan, while Peachey himself was made head of the country's army, recounts how the two men, first through fighting and then through Masonic rituals, convince the local people that they are gods and kings. In a parody of British imperialism, Dravot says that he will make an empire: "These men aren't niggers; they're English. . . . They're the Lost Tribes, or something like it." His plans become so grandiose that he oversteps his bounds. Wanting to make a local woman his wife and thus reaffirm his reign through heirs, Dravot breaks the original "contrack" that he and Peachey established. When his future bride bites him and draws blood, the people watching the ceremony realize that he is human and not a god. They then kill Dravot, cut off his head, and crucify Peachey. This is the story that—along with the withered head of Dravot—the physically broken Peachey brings back to the journalist-narrator.