"Betsinda Stripped by Order of the Queen" — Thirty-third illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

Betsinda Stripped by Order of the Queen

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

10.2 cm high by 7.4 cm wide (4 by 3 inches), vignetted

Thirty-third illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 356.

Descriptive headline: "See! How Woman;'s Anger Flies Out." (356).

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[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.]

Passage Illustrated: Farcical Comedy at its Most Physical

"Give her the rags she wore when she came into the house, and turn her out of it!" cries the Queen.

"Mind she does not go with MY shoes on, which I lent her so kindly," says the Princess; and indeed the Princess’s shoes were a great deal too big for Betsinda.

"Come with me, you filthy hussy!" and taking up the Queen’s poker, the cruel Gruffanuff drove Betsinda into her room.

The Countess went to the glass box in which she had kept Betsinda’s old cloak and shoe this ever so long, and said, "Take those rags, you little beggar creature, and strip off everything belonging to honest people, and go about your business"; and she actually tore off the poor little delicate thing’s back almost all her things, and told her to be off out of the house.

Poor Betsinda huddled the cloak round her back, on which were embroidered the letters PRIN. . . ROSAL. . . and then came a great rent.

As for the shoe, what was she to do with one poor little tootsey sandal? the string was still to it, so she hung it round her neck.

"Won’t you give me a pair of shoes to go out in the snow, mum, if you please, mum?" cried the poor child.

"No, you wicked beast!" says Gruffanuff, driving her along with the poker — driving her down the cold stairs — driving her through the cold hall — flinging her out into the cold street, so that the knocker itself shed tears to see her!

But a kind fairy made the soft snow warm for her little feet, and she wrapped herself up in the ermine of her mantle, and was gone! [Chapter XI, "What Gruffanuff did to Giglio and Betsinda," pp. 355-356]

Comment

Violence in pantomime is mitigated by most of it being mere threats of violence (such as royal death warrants) or sheer slapstick: nobody really gets hurt. The instigator here is the envious Gruffanuff, who is determined to punish the maid Betsinda because Giglio has just declared her his belovéd. Titmarsh reduces the old countess's anger to her being "as cross as two sticks" (355), and makes sure that readers identify with the maid by describing her as "poor little Betsinda" (355).

Bibliography

Furniss, Harry. The Rose and The Ring; or, The History of Prince Giglio and the Prince Bulbo. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 287-428.

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. London: Smith, Elder, 1855.

Created 31 July 2022