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ENGL 1106 Reading Friction
Table of Contents
Background to the literature 3
Critique of religion in “The Island of Dr. Moreau” 4
Link of the two subjects and their significance in the narrative 4
Purpose of H. G. Wells behind creating this story 4
Background to the literature
The Island of Doctor Moreau is a science function written by H. G Wells in 1896. The novel presents a shipwrecked person named Edward Predick’s narration who was rescued by a passing boat. Thereafter he was left on the island where lives Doctor Moreau, who created hybrid beings similar to humans from animals through vivisection. As described by Generani, the story is concerned with a range of philosophical themes including cruelty, pain, human identity, moral responsibilities, and inference of humans with nature (237).
Information from the author
Herbert George Wells was a British author born in 1866 in England. As a writer, he had expertise in multiple genres facilitating him to write over fifty novels and many short stories. The writer’s non-fiction works include social commentary, biography, history, popular science, autobiography, and satire as subjects. In modern times, H. G. Wells is remembered for writing novels on science fiction and is often considered “the father of science fiction.” Some of his famous books aside from The Island of Doctor Moreau are The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Time Machine.
Discussion
“The Island of Dr. Moreau” by H. G. Wells and its comment upon Darwinian evolution as understood by the Victorian society
As opined by Braun, H. G. Wells had been heavily influenced by the scientific experiments, violations, and discoveries of the Victorian Era (507). The author was born shortly after “The Origin of Species” by Darwin became popular and widely reviewed. While it offered writers at that time a better understanding of human nature in comparison to the age of Geoffry Chaucer, the true understanding of human nature in a scientific context had been still flawed. As understood from the theory of Darwin, Wells believed that human behavior is forced rather than the evolutionary interactions with the ecological stimuli. It can be observed in The Strange Island of Dr. Moreau, as the main character of the mad doctor and scientist is portrayed as the physical embodiment of human evolution exploring and experimenting with nature aimlessly. The island and Moreau is a visualization of the author’s beliefs which is flawed. For instance, Moreau the innate being of nature and tried to change it forcefully like changing a Puma into something else wrongfully for a personal intention. Moreau tried to impose cultural forces pon the Beast Man on the idea of the righteous Beast Man Society forcing him to act on his impulses causing them anguish and pain (Braun, 505).
Critique of religion in “The Island of Dr. Moreau”
According to the belief of the author H. G. Wells, religion creates the delusion of security that people cling only to be slipped. The writer defined any religion as a weakness stating that people need to be enlightened to stop believing in the falsity of a higher power (Gay). It can be examined that in this particular, story, Dr. Moreau has been termed a “blasphemous caricature” of the almighty because of his twisted experiments, trying to tame wild beasts for turning them into logical human beings. The laws imposed upon the beasts require them to leave their instinctive behavior resembling the ideology imposed by the religious dogma forcing people to constantly fight their basic instincts.
Link of the two subjects and their significance in the narrative
The concept of Darwinian evolution and religious morality have been used by H. G Wells to demonstrate the conflicts between science and religion in the Victorian age. The author has created the character of Moreau as a caricature of God trying to change the Beast Folks into human beings (Gutiérrez). It is a satirical stance of the writer mocking the religious ceremony and rules. The law of the Breast Men is symbolic of the religion in human society. It can be interpreted as the influence of Darwinian evolution theory that challenged the Victorian mindset and people started to question religious ideas about the specialty o human beings. Through the depiction of Dr. Moreau and The Beast Men, the author has tried to depict the controlling nature of religion over the society forcing people to leave their basic survival instinct.
Purpose of H. G. Wells behind creating this story
The key purpose behind the creation of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells was to review the morality of the specific scientific controversy of vivification (Gutiérrez). The process of vivification involves dissecting beasts or animals alive. As Darwinian theory was still afresh in the mindset of people of the Victorian era, the author considered the dangers and overall implications of scientific experiments along with the standing point of religion in society.
Works Cited
Braun, Gretchen. “Empathy, Anxiety, and the Boundaries of Humanity: Vivisection Discourse and The Island of Doctor Moreau.”
Studies in the Novel 51.4 (2019): 499-522.
Gay, Julie. “Laboratory Islands: Renaissance (s), Regression and Re-creation in HG Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau and RL Stevenson’s The Ebb-Tide.”
Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens 95 Printemps (2022).
General, Gustavo. “The Island of Doctor Moreau By HG Wells: A Pre-Freudian Reply to Darwinian Imperialism.”
English: Journal of the English Association 67.258 (2018): 235-261.
Olmo Gutiérrez, Alfonso. “Science Fiction and the Victorian Crisis of Faith: Secularization of Biblical Narratives in HG Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and
The War of the Worlds (1898).” (2020).