Rashmi bookmarks “The Island of Doctor Moreau”

“What could it all mean? A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a notorious vivisector, and these crippled and distorted men?”

Prima facie, this science fiction novel by H. G. Wells is about Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat and left on the island home of the notorious Doctor Moreau, who vivisects animals to create humanoids out of them. Shocking as that theme might be, the novel actually deals with some very interesting themes, from the concept of pain to the question of human identity.

A grotesque bestial manservant named M’ling; terrifying howls from a puma; humans that look like hogs; an Ape-Man, a Leopard-Man, a Hyena-Swine, a Dog-Man; and a bizarre colony of half-human/half-animal creatures, led by ‘Sayer of the Law’, all denouncing bestial behaviour. It would be very easy to feel violated and judge or condemn the Frankenstein-like Doctor Moreau … but this story (and especially the chapter entitled ‘Doctor Moreau Explains All’) has such extraordinary ideas, it is worth fighting off the horror and going beneath the surface.

Explaining the reasoning behind his project, Moreau points out that, “ … the possibility of vivisection does not stop at a mere physical metamorphosis.” He talks about his goal of “ … superseding old inherent instincts by new suggestions, grafting upon or replacing the inherited fixed ideas.” And he destroys accepted norms of what we call ‘moral education’ as “ … such an artificial modification and perversion of instinct; pugnacity is trained into courageous self-sacrifice, and suppressed sexuality into religious emotion.”

“Pain is simply our intrinsic medical adviser to warn us and stimulate us … Then with men, the more intelligent they become, the more intelligently they will see after their own welfare, and the less they will need the goad to keep them out of danger.” Moreau truly saw the sense of pain as something needless - cravings, instincts and desires being emotions that actually harm humanity, which is why he was driven to create a being that was above such archaic reins. Triumphantly he declares, “But I will conquer yet! Each time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say, ‘This time I will burn out all the animal; this time I will make a rational creature of my own!’” - At the heart of a grotesque experiment lay a heightened desire to create the perfect human being, free of all bestiality. Twisted and morbid, or lucid and fascinating?

What was also really very interesting was Prendick’s view of people when he finally returned to the safety of England, with the horrors of the island of Doctor Moreau firmly behind him. He may well have been shocked when the bestial natures of man-made humans on a remote island broke through, but in the heart of the city, on civilized humans, he saw a myriad of faces, some “keen and bright; others dull or dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere - none that have the calm authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging up through them.” And that, right there, was an interesting blurring of the line between the insane Doctor Moreau and the rest of the civilized world.