The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896science fictionnovel by English authorH. G. Wells. It was published on 1 January 1896. The novel is set between 1 February 1887 and 5 January 1888. The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, amad scientist who createshuman-like hybrid beings from animals viavivisection. The novel deals with a number of themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity,human interference with nature, and theeffects of trauma.[2] Wells described it as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy."[3]
The Island of Doctor Moreau is a classic work of early science fiction[4] and remains one of Wells's best-known books. The novel is the earliest depiction of the science fiction motif "uplift" in which a more advanced race intervenes in the evolution of an animal species to bring the latter to a higher level of intelligence.[5] It has been adapted to film and other media on many occasions.[6]
Edward Prendick is a youngscientist fromVictorianEngland who survives a shipwreck of his boat, the Lady Vain, in thesouthernPacific Ocean. A passing ship calledIpecacuanha takes him aboard and a man named Montgomery revives him. Prendick also meets a grotesque bestial native named M'ling who appears to be Montgomery'smanservant. The ship is transporting a number of animals which belong to Montgomery's employer, most strangely apuma. As they approach theisland which is Montgomery's destination, the captain demands Prendick leave the ship with Montgomery. Montgomery explains that he will not be able to host Prendick on the island. Despite this, the captain leaves Prendick in adinghy and sails away. Seeing that the captain has abandoned Prendick, Montgomery takespity and rescues him. As ships rarely pass the island, Prendick will be housed in an outer room of an enclosed compound.
The island belongs to Dr Moreau. Prendick remembers that he has heard of Moreau; formerly an eminentphysiologist inLondon whose gruesome experiments invivisection had been publicly exposed by ajournalist, and who fledEngland as a result of his exposure.
The next day, Moreau begins working on the puma, eventually revealed as being experimented into a woman. Prendick gathers that Moreau is performing a painful experiment on the animal and its anguished cries drive Prendick out into the jungle. While he wanders, he comes upon a group of people who seem human but have an unmistakable resemblance toswine. As he walks back to the enclosure, he suddenly realises he is being followed by a figure in the jungle. He panics and flees, and the figure gives chase. As his pursuer bears down on him, Prendick manages to stun him with a stone and observes that the pursuer is a monstrous hybrid of animal and man. When Prendick 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 asleeping draught.
Prendick awakes the next morning with the previous night's activities fresh in his mind. Seeing that the door to Moreau's operating room 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 to turn into half-animals, and that he is the next test subject. He flees into thejungle where he meets anApe-Man who takes him to a colony of similarly half-human/half-animal creatures including aSloth-Man. Their leader is a large grey unspecified creature named the Sayer of the Law who has him recite a strange litany called theLaw that involves prohibitions against bestial behaviour and praise for Moreau:
Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to eatFish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to claw the Bark ofTrees; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men?[7]
Suddenly, Moreau bursts into the colony looking for Prendick, but Prendick escapes to the jungle. He makes for the ocean where he plans to drown himself rather than allow Moreau to experiment on him. Moreau explains that the creatures called theBeast Folk were not formerly men, but rather animals. Prendick returns to the enclosure where Moreau explains that he has been on the island for eleven years and has been striving to make a complete transformation of an animal to a human. In some cases, he even combined parts of other animals. He explains that while he is getting closer to perfection, his subjects have a habit of reverting to their animal form and behaviour. Moreau regards the pain he inflicts as insignificant and an unavoidable side effect in the name of his scientific experiments. He also states that pain is an animalistic instinct that one who is truly human cannot have, cutting his thigh with apenknife with no apparent reaction, to further prove his point.
One day, Prendick and Montgomery encounter a half-eatenrabbit. Since eating flesh and tasting blood are strong prohibitions, Moreau calls an assembly of the Beast Folk and identifies theLeopard-Man (the same one that chased Prendick the first time he wandered into the jungle) as the transgressor. Knowing that he will be sent back to Moreau's compound for more painful sessions of vivisection, the Leopard-Man flees. Eventually, the group corners him in some undergrowth, but Prendick takes pity and shoots him to spare him from further suffering. Prendick also believes that although the Leopard-Man was seen breaking several laws, such as drinking water bent down like an animal, chasing men (Prendick), and running on all fours, the Leopard-Man was not solely responsible for the deaths of the rabbits. It was also theHyena-Swine, the next most dangerous Beast Man on the island and one of the hybrid creations. Moreau is furious that Prendick killed the Leopard-Man, but can do nothing about the situation.
As time passes, Prendick becomes inured to the grotesqueness of the Beast Folk. However one day, the half-finished puma woman rips free of her restraints and escapes from the lab. Moreau pursues her, but the two end up fighting each other, leading to their mutual deaths. Montgomery breaks down and decides to share his alcohol with the Beast Folk. Prendick resolves to leave the island, but later hears a commotion outside in which Montgomery, his servant M'ling, and the Sayer of the Law die after a fight with the Beast Folk. At the same time, the compound burns down because Prendick has knocked over a lamp. With no chance of saving any of the provisions stored in the enclosure, Prendick realizes that Montgomery has also destroyed the only boats on the island during the night.
Prendick lives with the Beast Folk on the island for months after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery. As the time goes by, the Beast Folk increasingly revert to their original animal instincts, beginning to hunt the island's rabbits, returning to walking on all fours, and leaving their shared living areas for the wild. They cease to follow Prendick's instructions. Eventually, the Hyena-Swine kills Prendick's faithful Dog-Man companion created from a St Bernard. With help from the Sloth Creature, Prendick shoots the Hyena-Swine in self-defence.
Prendick's efforts to build a raft have been unsuccessful. Luckily for him, a lifeboat that carries two corpses drifts onto the beach (perhaps the captain of the ship that picked Prendick up and a sailor).[8] Prendick uses the boat to leave the island and is picked up three days later. When he tells his story, he is thought to be mad, so instead he feigns amnesia.
Upon his return to England, Prendick is no longer comfortable in the presence of humans, all of whom seem to him to be about to revert to an animal state. He leaves London and lives in near-solitude in the countryside, devoting himself tochemistry andastronomy in the studies of which he finds some peace.
Dr Moreau – Amadvivisectionist who has fled upon his experiments being exposed and has moved to a remote island in thesouthernPacific Ocean to pursue his research of perfecting his Beast Folk
Montgomery – Moreau's assistant and Prendick's rescuer. A physician who enjoyed a measure of happiness in England, he is analcoholic who feels some sympathy for the Beast Folk.
TheBeast Folk are animals which Moreau has experimented upon, giving them human traits via vivisection for which the surgery is extremely painful. They include:
M'ling – Montgomery's servant who does the cooking and cleaning. Moreau combined a bear, a dog, and an ox to create him. As Prendick describes M'ling, he states that M'ling is a "complex trophy of Moreau's skill, a bear, tainted with dog and ox, and one of the most elaborately made of all the creatures". He has glowing eyes and furry ears. M'ling later dies protecting Montgomery from the other Beast Folk on the beach.
Sayer of the Law – A large, grey-haired animal of unspecified combinations (though Edward notices its gray hair is similar to that of aSkye Terrier as well as sporting talons) that recites Dr. Moreau's teachings about being men to the other Beast Folk. The Sayer of the Law serves as a governor and a priest to the Beast Folk. He is later killed in an unseen clash between Montgomery, M'ling, and the Beast Folk.
Ape-Man – An unspecified ape that considers himself equal to Prendick and refers to himself and Prendick as "Five Men", because they both have five fingers on each hand, which is uncommon among the Beast Folk. He is the first Beast Man other than M'ling to whom Prendick speaks. The Ape-Man has what he refers to as "Big Thinks" which on his return to England, Prendick likens to a priest's sermon at the pulpit.
Sloth Creature – A small, pinksloth-based creation described by Prendick as resembling a flayed child. He is one of the more relatively benign creatures and helps Prendick kill the Hyena-Swine before fully regressing.
Hyena-Swine – Acarnivorous hybrid of aspotted hyena and a pig who becomes Prendick's enemy in the wake of Dr. Moreau's death. He is later killed by Prendick in self-defence.
Leopard-Man – Aleopard-based rebel who breaks the Law by running on all fours, drinking from the stream, and chasing Prendick. The Leopard-Man is killed by Prendick to spare him further pain, much to the dismay of Dr. Moreau.
Ox-Men – A group of gray ox-based creatures who appear twice, first when Prendick is introduced to the Beast Folk and then again after Montgomery's death.
Satyr-Man – A hybrid of a goat and an ape. Prendick describes him as unsettling and "Satanic" in form.
Swine-Men and Swine-Woman – A group of pig-based Beast Folk who appear during Prendick's introduction to the Beast Folk.
Mare-Rhinoceros Creature – A hybrid between a horse and aSumatran rhinoceros who appeared during Prendick's introduction to the Beast Folk.
Wolf-Men and Wolf-Women – A group of wolf-based Beast Folk who appear during Prendick's introduction to the Beast Folk.
Bear-Bull Man - A hybrid of a bear and a male bovine who appeared during Prendick's introduction to the Beast Folk.
Dog-Man – A Beast Man created from aSt. Bernard who, near the end of the book, becomes Prendick's faithful companion. He is so like a domestic dog in character that Prendick is barely surprised when he reverts to a more animalistic form. The Dog-Man is later killed by the Hyena-Swine.
Fox-Bear Woman – A female hybrid of afox and abear who passionately supports the Law. Prendick quickly takes a dislike to her and described her as being evil-smelling.
Wolf-Bear Man - A hybrid of a wolf and a bear who was mentioned during the hunt for the Leopard-Man as hunting his fellow Beast-Folk a wee-bit too much.
Half-FinishedPuma-Woman – The last beast-person created by Moreau. She is halfway through her process of being turned into one of the Beast Folk, but was in so much pain from the surgery that she uses her strength to break free of her restraints and escape. Moreau then chases after her with arevolver. He and the creature fight each other which ends in a mutual kill.
Ox-Boar Man - A hybrid of an ox and awild boar who appeared briefly following the death of Moreau.
Ocelot-Man – A Beast Man created from anocelot and one of the smaller creatures which briefly appears after Moreau's death. He is shot by Montgomery during his fight with the Beast Folk on the beach.
The publication of the novel caused an outrage among critics and the media.The London Times called it "loathsome and repulsive". Famous zoologistPeter Chalmers Mitchell was hired by theSaturday Review to write a review, where he called Wells a scientific heretic. The humour magazinePunch published a parody called "The Island of Doctor Menu", by James F. Sullivan. All the attention and publicity also made it Wells' best selling novel to date.[9]
At the time of the novel's publication in 1896, there was growing discussion in Europe of the possibility of thedegeneration of the human race. Increasing opposition to animalvivisection led to formation of groups like theNational Anti-Vivisection Society in 1875, and theBritish Union for the Abolition of Vivisection in 1898.[10]The Island of Dr Moreau reflects the ethical, philosophical, and scientific concerns and controversies raised by these themes and the ideas ofDarwinian evolution which were so disrupting to social norms in the late 1800s.
In his preface to The Works of H.G. Wells, Volume 2, The Atlantic Edition (1924), Wells explains thatThe Island of Dr Moreau was inspired by thetrial of Oscar Wilde.
"The Island of Doctor Moreau" was written in 1895, and it was begun while "The Wonderful Visit" was still in hand. It is a theological grotesque, and the influence of Swift is very apparent in it. There was a scandalous trial about that time, the graceless and pitiful downfall of a man of genius, and this story was the response of an imaginative mind to the reminder that humanity is but animal rough-hewn to a reasonable shape and in perpetual internal conflict between instinct and injunction. This story embodies this ideal, but apart from this embodiment it has no allegorical quality. It is written just to give the utmost possible vividness to that conception of men as hewn and confused and tormented beasts. When the reader comes to read the writings upon history in this collection, he will find the same idea of man as a re-shaped animal no longer in flaming caricature, but as a weighed and settled conviction.
This is adynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help byediting the page to add missing items, with references toreliable sources.
The novel has been adapted to films and other media on multiple occasions. In addition, the novel has influenced many fictional works. The following are some of the works which are related to the character of Dr. Moreau and his story:
Moreau's Other Island (1980) byBrian Aldiss is an updating of the original to a near-future setting. US Under-Secretary of State Calvert Madle Roberts is cast ashore on the eponymous island where he discovers the cyborgisedThalidomide victim Mortimer Dart carrying on Moreau's work. It transpires that Dart's work is intended to produce a 'replacement' race that can survive a post-nuclear environment, and that Roberts approved Dart's funding.[citation needed]
JLA: Island of Dr. Moreau (2002) is anElseworlds one-shot tale fromDC Comics where Dr. H.I. Moreau and his assistantProfessor Ivo create a counterpart of theJustice League called the Justifiers of Law to the Anointed out of uplifted animals. The group consists of Dianna (a white gorilla and counterpart ofWonder Woman), Komodo (a komodo dragon), Jubatus (a cheetah and counterpart ofFlash), Delphinius (a dolphin and counterpart ofAquaman), Bernardus (a St. Bernard with several electric eels fused to his right arm), Black Arrow (a bear/porcupine hybrid and counterpart ofGreen Arrow), and Dirus Falconus (an uplifted hawk/wolf and counterpart ofBlack Canary). Moreau sends the Justifiers afterJack the Ripper, who is revealed to be an uplifted orangutan and was thought dead by Moreau. As in the novel, the animals start returning to their animal behaviour, leading to them and Dr. Moreau killing each other in a scuffle, with Ivo also being killed during the conflict.[11]
The Madman's Daughter trilogy (2013) by Megan Shepherd tells the story of Dr. Moreau's daughter Juliet. Each book is based on a different classic novel: the first book is based on this novel by Wells, the second one onRobert Louis Stevenson'sStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and the final book is based onMary Shelley'sFrankenstein (1818).[12]
The Isles of Dr Moreau (2015) inHeather O'Neill's short story collectionDaydreams of Angels tells of a grandfather who, when he was young, meets an eccentric, albeit humane scientist named Dr Moreau on "the Isle of Noble and Important and Respectable Betterment ofHomo sapiens and Their Consorts". Moreau's experiments involve combining animal DNA with human DNA and the story unfolds as the grandfather meets (and dates) several of these humanoid creatures.[13]
Ile d'Epouvante (1913,The Island of Terror), a French silent film[21] (also spelledL'Ile d'Epouvante andIsle d'epouvante). The 23-minute, two-reel film, directed by Joe Hamman in 1911 was then released in 1913. By late 1913, the film had been picked up by US distributorGeorge Kleine and renamedThe Island of Terror for its release in Chicago.[22]
Island of Lost Souls (1932), withCharles Laughton as Doctor Moreau, andBela Lugosi as the Sayer of the Law. In the film, Dr. Moreau creates his Beast Folk through "plastic surgery,blood transfusions,gland extracts, andray baths". In addition, the Sayer of the Law is depicted as a humanoidwolf. Another addition is Lota (Kathleen Burke), a woman Moreau derived from apanther, set upon to mate with Edward (Richard Arlen), so Moreau can find out whether or not she can bear human-children. Lota was not a character from the original novel (the closest is a half-finished puma woman), but filmmakers of future adaptations apparently loved her so much, they included a feline love interest in their adaptations, which includeBarbara Carrera as Maria in the1977 version, andFairuza Balk as Aissa in the1996 version.[citation needed]
The Island of Dr. Moreau, a 1977 film withBurt Lancaster andMichael York. In this film, Dr. Moreau injects the animals with a serum containing human genetic material. The Sayer of the Law is depicted as anWolf-Man. The Leopard-Man is replaced by a Bull-Man which resembles anAmerican bison. There are also humanoid versions of lions, tigers, bears, andwild pigs.[citation needed]
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), a New Line-produced film withMarlon Brando,Val Kilmer,David Thewlis,Fairuza Balk, andRon Perlman. In this film, Dr. Moreau introduces humanDNA into the animals in his possession to make them more human. The film's version of the Sayer of the Law is depicted as a blindgoat-themed hybrid. Unlike the books and earlier films, the Sayer of the Law survives the ordeal and sees off the main protagonist.[citation needed]
The action-platformer gameSly 3: Honor Among Thieves features a Boss & Character named Doctor M. He is a mandrill with personality traits and backstory similar to the titular Doctor moreau.
The horror gameResident Evil Village (2021) features aboss called Salvatore Moreau, the result of a failed experiment that gave him a fish-like appearance, who in turn conducts his own experiments on humans to prove his worth to his master.[26]
The story mode of the first-person shooter game,Far Cry (2004), developed by Crytek and published by Ubisoft, is a retelling of the novel's story. The protagonist Jack Carver is shipwrecked on a remote jungle island where he is hunted by mercenaries and later encounters half-human abominations created by a Dr. Krieger.
In the short essay "The Limits of Individual Plasticity" (1895), H.G. Wells expounded upon his firm belief that the events depicted inThe Island of Doctor Moreau are entirely possible should suchvivisective experiments ever be tested outside the confines of science fiction.[citation needed]
^Wells's description ofThe Island of Dr. Moreau asyouthful blasphemy comes from his introduction toThe Scientific Romances of H. G. Wells (1933; published in the United States asSeven Famous Novels by H. G. Wells, 1934). ThisPreface to the Scientific Romances is reprinted as a chapter of editors Patrick Parrinder and Robert M. Philmus'sH. G. Wells's Literary Criticism (Sussex: The Harvester Press Limited, and New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980), see p. 243 for the line quoted.
^See Mason Harris's introduction and notes for the 2009 Broadview Books edition ofThe Island of Dr. Moreau
^Booker, Keith M. (2014).Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction in Literature. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 311.
Canadas, Ivan. "Going Wilde: Prendick, Montgomery and Late-Victorian Homosexuality inThe Island of Doctor Moreau."JELL: Journal of the English Language and Literature Association of Korea, 56.3 (June 2010): 461–485.
Hoad, Neville. "Cosmetic Surgeons of the Social: Darwin, Freud, and Wells and the Limits of Sympathy onThe Island of Dr. Moreau", in:Compassion: The Culture and Politics of an Emotion, Ed. Lauren Berlant. London & New York: Routledge, 2004. 187–217.
Reed, John R., "The Vanity of Law inThe Island of Doctor Moreau", in:H. G. Wells under Revision: Proceedings of the International H. G. Wells Symposium: London, July 1986, Ed. Patrick Parrinder & Christopher Rolfe. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna UP / London and Toronto: Associated UPs, 1990. 134–44.
Wells, H. G.The Island of Dr. Moreau, Ed. Steven Palmé. Dover Thrift Editions. New York: Dover Publications, 1996.
Wells, H. G.The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Critical Text of the 1896 London First Edition, with Introduction and Appendices, Ed. Leon Stover. The Annotated H.G. Wells, 2. Jefferson, N.C., and London: McFarland, 1996.
Jörg, Daniele (2003). "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly—Dr. Moreau Goes to Hollywood".Public Understanding of Science.12 (3):297–305.doi:10.1177/0963662503123008.S2CID143920149. Compares the three adaptations of the novel, focuses on the scientists and the science in the film, considering the year of the production and what was known about genes and cells at the time.
The Island of Doctor Moreau public domain audiobook atLibriVox