Tarzan the Untamed · Chapter
Among the Maniacs explained
Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick are captured by a tribe of mentally deranged people after being dragged from a cave where lions attacked them.
What happens
Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick are captured by a tribe of mentally deranged people after being dragged from a cave where lions attacked them. They are taken through a strange forest to a city inhabited by maniacs, where they witness horrific acts of violence and madness. Smith-Oldwick, wounded by a lion and further injured by a captor, confesses his love for Bertha, who promises to try to love him but remains uncertain. Believing Tarzan dead, they face a hopeless situation, with Bertha asking Smith-Oldwick to save a bullet for her.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the story's dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak of Bertha Kircher…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Madness and Rationality
The captors are depicted as maniacs with erratic behavior, such as laughing hysterically after violent rage, highlighting the theme of irrationality versus sanity.
- Survival and Adaptation
Bertha and Smith-Oldwick struggle to survive in a hostile environment, with Bertha using a saber to defend them and Smith-Oldwick hiding his pistol for a potential escape or mercy killing.
- Gender and Heroism
Bertha Kircher displays bravery by wrestling a saber from a captor to protect Smith-Oldwick, challenging traditional gender roles of the time.
Characters to notice
- Fräulein Bertha Kircher
Captured by maniacs after the lion attack; wrests a saber from a captor to defend Smith-Oldwick; promises to try to love him but feels only fondness.
- Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick
Wounded by a lion and further injured by a captor; confesses his love for Bertha; believes he will die in the city of maniacs.
- Tarzan
Believed dead by Bertha and Smith-Oldwick after being seen lying lifeless at the cave mouth during the lion attack.
Key passages
““Pretty mess, what?” he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his bloody and disheveled state.”
Smith-Oldwick comments dryly on his disheveled and bloody condition.
Smith-Oldwick uses understatement to acknowledge his injuries after the lion attack.
““Save one cartridge for me, please?” she begged.”
Bertha asks Smith-Oldwick to reserve a bullet for her in case they need to end their lives.
Bertha requests a means of suicide to avoid a worse fate at the hands of the maniacs.
““I don’t believe I could do it, overbalanced him and sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back.”
Smith-Oldwick hesitates to shoot Bertha, but is interrupted when a captor attacks him.
Smith-Oldwick's reluctance to kill Bertha is cut short by a violent assault.
