One thing that The Longman Anthology made clear was that the end of the 19th century was riddled with anxiety about the death of Queen Victoria and the end of the British Empire. The century was colored by colonial wars, religious insecurity, and the belief that Britain had a duty to civilize and improve other races. The Island of Dr. Moreau clearly uses these ideas. In the end, with the death of Dr. Moreau (the ruler), comes the fall of society on the island (the empire).
Dr. Moreau is not the first character to use the language of law in the novel. Davis, the drunk, redheaded captain of the Ipecacuanha states, “I am the law here, I tell you––the law and the prophets” (9). Davis is not only the captain but also the owner of the ship. He is the self-declared “king” and therefore has the power to decide exactly who is allowed on his ship, and who (Prendick) is not (14).
Moreau is a monarch-like figure, as well. This can be seen even before Prendick encounters the Beast-People and their Law. After Davis’ insistence that Prendick leave the ship, he turns to his previous savoir, Montgomery, who, “nodded helplessly at the grey-haired man beside him, to indicate his powerlessness to help me” (14). Back in the presence of Moreau, his monarch, Montgomery has no more autonomy. He yields completely to the silent authority of Moreau. When Moreau eventually saves Prendick from his sinking dingy, he reminds the man several times that he was not invited to the island. He is only there because of Moreau’s pity and kindness, and must follow the rules of the land.
The relationship of Moreau and the Beast-People is similar to the relationship between Great Britain and her colonies in the 19th century. Moreau creates these human-like creatures, but wants them out of his sight. He instills in them the Law, a quasi-religious list of commandments to make them more human, and leaves them mostly alone in their own village. Unlike colonialism, Moreau is not getting goods, or trade, or land from his people. Rather, the people are his goods. I think this can easily represent the “White Man’s burden” that spurred on British imperialism (The Longman Anthology 1064). They felt a duty to spread their own culture and religion throughout the world, for the benefit of lower races. Moreau is creating his own colony of newly civilized people. His justification for this is almost nonexistent, and basically amounts to, “why not?” Wells represents in Moreau the lack of reason that drove British imperialism, or as J. R. Seeley phrased it “We seem…to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind” (The Longman Anthology 1064).
Moreau’s demise comes at the hands (paws? claws?) of his own creation, the vivisected puma. Despite Prendick’s desperate attempt to maintain humanity in the Beast-People, they inevitably return to their animal ways. Moreau’s civilization could not survive without him there to enforce the Law. As if that’s not symbolic enough, Wells also (sort of) shows us the fall of Captain Davis. Prendick is saved from the island by a small boat drifting ashore. In it are two bodies, one with “a shock of red hair like the captain of the Ipecacuanha” (101). Whether it’s really Davis or not, is sort of irrelevant. Wells presented two monarch figures in his novel and by the end, they’re both dead and their empires (the island and the ship) are gone. So, will that be the case when Queen Victoria dies? And if the British do fall, isn’t that for the best?