The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by
H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary....
.
When the novel was written in the late 19th century, Britain's scientific community was engulfed by debates on animal
vivisectionFrom Latin vivus + sectio , Vivisection is surgery conducted upon a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to directly view living internal structure for purposes other than the health of the subject....
.
Interest groupAn interest group is an organization that seeks to influence political decisions. This can be done by explaining the benefits of a policy to the relevant politicians, by making financial contributions or incentives, or a combination of the two...
s were even formed to tackle the issue: the
British Union for the Abolition of VivisectionThe British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection group based in London, UK which campaigns for the complete abolition of all animal experiments. BUAV engages in education, research, lobbying, investigations, including undercover work in laboratories, and legal...
was formed two years after the publication of the novel.
It begins with the protagonist, an upper class gentleman named Edward Prendick, finding himself shipwrecked in the ocean.
The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by
H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary....
.
The novel
When the novel was written in the late 19th century, Britain's scientific community was engulfed by debates on animal
vivisectionFrom Latin vivus + sectio , Vivisection is surgery conducted upon a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to directly view living internal structure for purposes other than the health of the subject....
.
Interest groupAn interest group is an organization that seeks to influence political decisions. This can be done by explaining the benefits of a policy to the relevant politicians, by making financial contributions or incentives, or a combination of the two...
s were even formed to tackle the issue: the
British Union for the Abolition of VivisectionThe British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection group based in London, UK which campaigns for the complete abolition of all animal experiments. BUAV engages in education, research, lobbying, investigations, including undercover work in laboratories, and legal...
was formed two years after the publication of the novel.
Summary
It begins with the protagonist, an upper class gentleman named Edward Prendick, finding himself shipwrecked in the ocean. A passing ship takes him aboard, and a doctor named Montgomery revives him. He explains to Prendick that they are bound for an unnamed island where he works, and that the animals aboard the ship are traveling with him. Prendick also meets a grotesque, bestial native named M'ling, who appears to be Montgomery's manservant.
When they arrive on the island, however, both the captain of the ship and Doctor Montgomery refuse to take Prendick with either of them, stranding him between the ship and the island. The crew pushes him back into the lifeboat from which they rescued him. When they see that the ship truly intends to abandon him, the islanders take pity and end up coming back for him. Montgomery introduces him to Doctor Moreau, a cold and precise man who conducts research on the island. After unloading the animals from the boat, they decide to house Prendick in an outer room of the enclosure in which they live. Prendick is exceedingly curious about what exactly Moreau researches on the island, especially after he locks the inner part of the enclosure without explaining why. Prendick suddenly remembers that he has heard of Moreau, and that he had been an eminent physiologist in London before a journalist exposed his gruesome experiments in
vivisectionFrom Latin vivus + sectio , Vivisection is surgery conducted upon a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to directly view living internal structure for purposes other than the health of the subject....
.
The next day, Moreau begins working on a puma, and its anguished cries drive Prendick out into the jungle. As he wanders, he comes upon a group of people who seem human but have an unmistakable resemblance to hogs. As he walks back to the enclosure, he suddenly realizes he is being followed. He panics and flees, and in a desperate attempt of defense he manages to stun his attacker, a monstrous hybrid of animal and man. When he returns to the enclosure and questions Montgomery, Montgomery refuses to be open with him. After failing to get an explanation, Prendick finally gives in and takes a sleeping draught.
Prendick awakes the next morning with the previous night's activities fresh in his mind. Seeing that the inner door has been left unlocked, he walks in to find a humanoid form lying in bandages on the table before he is ejected by a shocked and angry Moreau. He believes that Moreau has been vivisecting humans and that he is the next test subject. He flees into the jungle, where he meets an Ape Man who takes him to a colony of similarly half-human/half-animal creatures. The leader, a large gray thing named the Sayer of the Law, has him recite a strange litany called the Law that involves prohibitions against bestial behavior and praise for Moreau. Suddenly, Moreau bursts into the colony, and Prendick escapes out the back into the jungle. He makes for the ocean, where he plans to drown himself rather than allow Moreau to experiment on him. Moreau and Montgomery confront him, however, and Moreau explains that the creatures, the Beast Folk, are animals he has vivisected to resemble humans. Prendick goes back to the enclosure, where Moreau explains to him that he has been on the island for eleven years now, striving to make a complete transformation from animal to human. Apparently, his only reason for the pain he inflicts is scientific curiosity. Prendick accepts the explanation as it is and begins life on the island.
One day, as he and Montgomery are walking around the island, they come across a half-eaten rabbit. Eating flesh and tasting blood is one of the strongest prohibitions in the Law, so Montgomery and Moreau become very worried. Moreau calls an assembly of the Beast Men. He identifies the Leopard Man (the same one that chased Prendick the first time he wandered into the jungle) as the transgressor. The Leopard Man flees, but when the group corners him in some undergrowth, Prendick takes pity and shoots him, sparing him a return to the operating table in Moreau's "House of Pain". Moreau is furious but can do nothing about the situation.
As time passes, Prendick begins to deaden himself to the grotesqueness of the Beast Folk. One day, however, he is shaken out of this stagnation when the puma rips free of its restraints and escapes from the lab. Moreau pursues it, but the two end up killing each other. Montgomery falls apart, and having gotten himself quite drunk, decides to share his alcohol with the Beast Men. Prendick tries to stop him, but Montgomery threatens violence and leaves the enclosure alone with bottle in hand. Later in the night, Prendick hears a commotion outside; he rushes out, and sees that Montgomery appears to have been involved in some scuffle with the Beast Folk. He dies in front of Prendick, who is now the last remaining human on the island. After the death, Prendick notices the sky behind him grow brighter and sees that the enclosure is on fire. He realizes that he had knocked over a lamp while rushing out to find Montgomery and that he has no chance of saving any of the provisions located inside the enclosure. He suddenly decides to flee from the island but notices that Montgomery has burnt the only boats, in order to prevent their return to mankind.
He does not attempt to claim Moreau's vacant throne on the island, but he instead settles for living with the Beast Folk as he attempts to build and provision a raft with which he intends to leave the island. He lives on the island for 10 months after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery. As the time goes by, the Beast Folk increasingly revert to their original animalistic instincts, beginning to hunt the island's rabbits, returning to walking on all fours and leaving their shared living areas for the wild. They also gradually cease to follow Prendick's instructions and eventually kill his faithful companion, a Beast-Man created from a dog. Luckily for him, eventually a ship inhabited by two corpses drifts onto the beach. Prendick dumps the bodies, gets supplies, and leaves the next morning.
He is picked up by a ship only three days later, but when he tells his story the crew thinks he is mad. To prevent himself from being declared insane, he pretends to have no memory of the year he spent between the first shipwreck and his final rescue. When he gets back to England, however, he finds that he is rigidly uncomfortable around other humans, because he has an irrational suspicion that they are all Beast Folk in danger of sudden and violent reversion to animalism. He contents himself with solitude and the study of chemistry and astronomy, finding peace above in the heavenly bodies.
Adaptations
The novel has been made into a movie on three occasions:
- Island of Lost Souls (1933 film)
Island of Lost Souls is a sci-fi/horror film starring Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi. Produced by Paramount Pictures in 1933 from a script co-written by science fiction legend Philip Wylie, the movie was the first film adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, which Wells...
with Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and two-time director.While best known for his historical roles in films, he started his career as a remarkable stage actor...
and Bela LugosiBéla Lugosi was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen, well known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version...
.
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is the second movie version of the H. G. Wells science fiction novel about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people, starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera, and Richard Basehart...
with Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor and star, noted for his athletic physique, distinct smile and, later, his willingness to play roles that went against his initial "tough guy" image...
and Michael YorkMichael York, OBE is an English actor. He is more recently known among mainstream audiences for his role as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers series of comedy films.-Early life:...
.
- This was turned into a novel
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
by Joseph Silva and published by Ace.
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, a science fiction horror story about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people. The film stars Marlon Brando, features Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, David Thewlis...
with Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and part of Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century He is widely considered one of the...
and Val KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role...
Other
- The Art of H. G. Wells, by Ricardo Garijo
Ricardo Garijo is an award winning author and artist from Argentina, best known for his long career in comics.-Biography:Garijo became known outside his homeland in the early 1980s through his work at D. C...
, is a 2006 trading cardA trading card is a small card, usually made out of cardboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
adaptation of three stories by Wells, the second of which is The Island of Dr Moreau.http://www.monsterwax.com/scarywells.html
External links