ABSTRACT
When the Native Infantry mutinied against the use of Enfield rifles, India ceased to be a mere backdrop to national prosperity-whether real or imagined-and forced herself into the consciousness of the British public. One would imagine from the host of articles attacking the cruelty and incompetence of the East India Company appearing in the early 1850s that Dickens would have been more sympathetic towards the Indian people in their uprising. He was, after all, renowned for his championship of social underdogs and his attacks on institutions that perpetuated evil. However, his response went to the other extreme as he denounced the revolt and called for its violent suppression. A large element of the Victorian outrage at the uprising may undoubtedly be attributed to the involvement of women and children in the conflict. Previous uprisings had never aroused the fury and indignation that ensued from the massacre at Cawnpore. However, the presence of the women was not the only factor behind the excesses that characterized British responses. The subcontinent was envisaged as a vast text to be interpreted by the Western gaze, and the uprising gave the lie to previous attempts to construct an exotic, passive India, easily conquered by British trading concerns.
