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An element of humanity or method of control?

A passage of particular and personal intrigue within The Island of Dr. Moreau occurred following Dr. Moreau’s death when Prendick is forced to take control over the island and its creatures. On page 80, Prendick says to the Beast-People, “’He has changed his shape – he has changed his body,’ I went on. ‘For a time you will not see him. He is … there’ – I pointed upward – ‘where he can watch you. You cannot see him. But he can see you. Fear the Law.’”

This passage integrates the idea of law as well as the themes of religion and humanity. Prendick spends his time on the island trying to reach a conclusion about which characteristics make a human and which make an animal, but does not make up his mind definitively on that subject, nor on the topic of whether these creatures are closer to beasts or people. Due to this confusion, he never appears sure of how to treat the islanders he encounters and does not have to make a decision until he becomes the only true man remaining on the island.

Knowing of Moreau’s teachings of “the Law,” Prendick opts for a more human approach to control. According to Christensen, the function of “the Law” is “shaping of the animals into a society that mimics human society” (578). Having the law set in place made this job easier for Prendick because already he and the islanders shared a common understanding. However, when the beast people are hesitant to believe what he says, he transitions to another human notion: religion.

Similar to what happens on the island, in the Longman Anthology introduction to the Victorian Age, it says, “The crisis of religious doubt occasioned by biblical scholarship and scientific discoveries hits Christian belief hard. But it prompted an array of coping strategies and new ideas about the position of human beings in the universe that remain significant to this day” (1056). Although the context is different and the meaning not quite the same, this is not unlike what happens on the island. With the creatures threatening to stop believing the Law, Prendick takes on a new coping strategy and positions the “human beings” in a different manner, which is significant because it is common with what many other humans do.

Here, Prendick integrates the human qualities of fearing the unknown and fearing punishment from a being unable to be seen in order to gain control over the beasts. Moreau had already been seen as a god-like figure, vivisecting animals to create half-humans for his own purposes, but this passage makes this allusion clearer. Prendick says Moreau has changed his shape and his body to something invisible. But the interesting part of the invisibility is that the statement does not stop there, but continues, “For a time you will not see him.” The “for a time” segment seems reminiscent of religion, where those who believe are meant to meet their creator after death. In addition to meeting their “god” after “a time,” Prendick points upward to explain where Moreau has gone and how he has the ability to watch without being seen, but not without hesitation. This, to me, appears similar to how a child might be taught religion and the presence of a god and seems vaguely similar to the few memories I have of childhood explanations. In a way, this almost explains how religion came into existence, as a threat to beings reminding them constantly to do the “right” thing.

Again, this is very much a human notion and seems to imply that in order to be a human, there must be a belief in a god-figure who guides the way to righteousness with the ever-present threat of this figure somehow knowing when a being has done wrong and therefore inflicting punishment. As stated in the Longman Anthology introduction, “Tennyson hoped man might transcend animality by encouraging his divine soul to ‘Move upward, working out the beast, / And let the ape and tiger die’ (1057),” supporting this claim.

But ironically, the only living creatures on the island who have found some sort of a religion are the beast people. Dr. Moreau, Montgomery, and Prendick do not voice religious concerns unless they are in order to keep the vivisected population under control. In this case, the question is then posed: does one need religion to be human or is it simply a method of control?

Prendick and the Human in the Animal

The passage that begins “It may seem a strange contradiction in me…” (72-73) shows Prendick’s realization of the line between animal and humanity, or the more-than-animal. Prendick finds one of Moreau’s vivisected creations just before it is about to be hunted down and killed. Prendick sympathizes with the animal on a level that, ironically, transcends human emotion; Prendick identifies with the animal on a human nature level, rather than the civilized level he has cherished throughout the novel. Although Prendick seems to communicate with the animal on a sub-human, or animal level, Prendick says the moment made him “realiz[e] again the fact of [the animal’s] humanity” (72). This dichotomy warrants examination.

Prendick’s experience is crucial to understanding this novel’s interpretation of the distinction between animal and human, barbarism and civilization, average and superior. Prendick seeks to find that line, and to stay on the human side of it, yet only in a few instances does he blatantly show the island changing his beliefs. This passage represents a moment when Prendick’s beliefs shift. He “realizes” that the animal within us all is as valuable as human characteristics, even though Moreau tries to make animals human-like, implying that humans are ideal. The island forces Prendick to discover the animal within himself because the animal can never be taken out of Moreau’s creatures; by this logic, the animal cannot be taken out of the human, either. This passage exposes the novel’s great dichotomy: all creatures are as valuable as humans, but humans continue to harbor an animalistic nature.

Prendick ultimately decides to kill the animal in this passage. After realizing that these animals have humanity, Prendick chooses to kill this beast, rather than let it “be overpowered and captured, to experience once more the horrible tortures of the enclosure” (72-73). Prendick wants to spare it such compassionless pain; perhaps that is the most human, or civilized, choice he could make. He shoots the animal (and it attacks him, but that instance represents an entirely different message, one I will not attempt to uncover here). What matters in this passage is the empathy Prendick develops for a beast, when he has previously adamantly resisted any connection with the animals, probably fearing that he would become like them if he developed compassion for them. As The Longman Anthology reading states, humans are, according to Tennyson, supposed to “transcend animality by encouraging [our] divine soul to ‘Move upward, working out the beast,/ And let the ape and tiger die’” (1057).

I think Prendick’s empathy for the beast disconcerts and enlightens him. It is disconcerting because it further blurs the line between animal and human, and it threatens the stability humans gain from distinguishing themselves from other animals. But Prendick’s realization is also enlightening because it shows that humans are permanently connected to animals and nature. We may be civilized and socialized, but we are animals, and we cannot weed out our raw, survival-oriented traits. We will always be animals, however hard we try to reject our inclinations. Maybe this ultimately comforts us, because we know we are connected to nature.

Prendick illustrates the animal versus human, animal within the human, human within the animal, dichotomy by saying, “[S]eeing the creature there in a perfectly animal attitude, with the light gleaming in its eyes, and its imperfectly human face distorted with terror, I realized again the fact of its humanity” (72). Prendick only sees the human in the animal when he discovers the animal within himself. And perhaps that discovery, which threatens the basis of society, prompts him to kill the animal – to obliterate the threat.

In class: Modeling Constellated Discourses

Groups:

  • Consciousness & Bodies : “Crisis of Faith” and “The Age of Self-Scrutiny”
  • Empire & Law: “Age of Empire” and “Politics and Class”
  • Science & New Ideas: “Role of Art in Society” and “Age of Energy and Invention”
  • Narrative & Culture: “Age of Reading” and Age of Self Scrutiny”
  • Women & Sexuality: “Victoria and the Victorians” and “The Woman Question”

Part I: Skim the sections for your group.  Then, as a group point to passages from the text that you read differently in light of your section and talk about why you read them differently. (have at least 2-3)

Part II: Pair with another group and share your findings.  Then, work to think about what kinds of readings we discover when we work at the intersection of your two groups.  In other words, what is a reading you can do with this constellation?

Homework for Monday: Read the rest of the packet and come ready to talk about passages from the novel as seen through the lens of constellation (aka interconnections, matrices, overlaps, etc.).