Title: The Island of Doctor Moreau

Author: H.G. Wells

Date of First Publication: 1896

Place of First Publication: New York, NY: Stone & Kimball

Bibliographic Reference: isfdb

Type: Novel

Keywords: BYRONIC HERO, FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; RACE and POLITICS; POSTHUMAN; ANDROID

Critical Summary: Wells focuses on the moral and philosophical questions posed by scientific discoveries of the time, most importantly from Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. The Island of Dr. Moreau follows the adventure of Edward Prendick. Prendick is lost at sea and then rescued by a ship heading to the island where Dr. Moreau conducts experiments on animals using techniques such as vivisection. Dr. Moreau attempts to create a new race of man by altering the physical characteristics of animals in order to make them more human like. This novel questions the limits of scientific research, the role of religion as a means of control, man’s descent into scientific madness, and the consequences of scientific ambition.

Prendrick is picked up by Montgomery and his assistant M’ling and taken on to the island. M’ling oddly resembles an animal and sparks Prendick’s curiosity. Once arriving on the island, Prendick begins to suspect there is something odd happening. An animal resembling a human chases down Prendick, but he is saved by the presence of Dr. Moreau. Because of this incident, Prendick begins to question the activities occurring on the island. Prendick then begins to recollect Dr. Moreau’s past scandal involving unethical scientific experiments. This leads to the moment when Prendick can no longer endure the haunting cries of pain coming from a puma Dr. Moreau uses for his research. No longer being able to sustain the sounds of anguish, Prendick flees into the jungle only to find a race of half-man-half human beast folk created by Dr. Moreau. It is in their encounter that Prendick discovers the experiments Dr. Moreau is conducting. Upon his discovery of the creatures, a rabbit is discovered half-eaten. This is the beginning of the end for Dr. Moreau, Montgomery, the creatures, and the laboratory. It is also the beginning of Prendick’s fight for survival. A battle ensues between the humans (Moreau, Montgomery, and Prendick) and the creatures. Dr. Moreau meets a violent death at the hands of the puma, his own creation. Montgomery’s fondness of the beast folk influences his demise when he gets drunk with the beast folk before his end. After the laboratory burns down and the doctors are dead, Prendick lives with the beast folk for three months. In this time span he witnesses the creatures slowly returning to their animalistic state.

            In both The Island of Dr. Moreau and Frankenstein, one scientist’s ambition leads to self-destruction in the pursuit of making a new creation that stands apart from anything ever created before. These novels both express the possibility of humanity being displaced by something of its own creation, and thus becoming obsolete.

Administrative Notes:  Diego Lopez, CSUF. edited by Molly Robertson, CSUF