‘The Lobster and His Mother’, by Charles Bennett

The Lobster and His Mother

Charles Bennett

1857

Hand-coloured wood engraving by Joseph Swain.

11 x 9 inches.

Charles Bennett, The Fables of Aesop, p.19.

Bennett at his most ludicrous, this image is a moral reflection on vanity and pride, and how these two vices inevitably lead to suffering and ruin [Continued below].

Scanned image and text 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.]

The young lobster wants to become as glamorous as the bright red officer; however, Mama Lobster is well aware of the fact that his pleasing colour can only be gained as the result of getting into ‘hot water’ (p.18). This is another didactic hit on contemporary issues, although the surreal strangeness of seeing a lobster in a crinoline has the effect of obscuring the moral message. It is nevertheless a typically odd and unsettling image.

References

Bennett, Charles.The Fables of Aesop. London: Bradbury & Evans [1857].

Last modified 28 March 2014