‘The Hare and the Tortoise’, by Charles Bennett

The Hare and the Tortoise

Charles Bennett

1857

Hand-coloured wood engraving by Joseph Swain.

11 x 9 inches.

Charles Bennett, The Fables of Aesop, p.47.

This illustration accompanies Bennett’s revision of Aesop’s text. The artist’s gloss seems to confirm the original sentiment – claiming in the aphorism that victory in ‘the race is not always to the swift’ (p.46) [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 illustration seems anything but an endorsement of the Tortoise, who is figured as a smug burgher standing outside the Guildhall, too fat and complacent to move but still finding time to step on the Hare. As in many of his images, Bennett is ironic and ambivalent: he seems to support the status quo celebrated in the writing, but undermines it in his visual commentary, which shows how privilege always wins over endeavour.

References

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

Last modified 25 March 2014