\u201cAnd so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the prohibition of what I thought were the maddest, most impossible and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic fervor fell on all of us ; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, repeating this amazing law. Superficially the contagion of these brute men was upon me, but deep down within me laughter and disgust struggled together\u201d (p. 43).<\/p>\n
This passage, in the chapter entitled \u201cThe Sayers of the Law\u201d in H. G. Wells\u2019s The Island of Dr. Moreau<\/em>, follows Prendick\u2019s first introduction to \u201cthe Law\u201d of Moreau\u2019s creatures. Upon hearing parts of their recitations, Prendick concludes that they are \u201cacts of folly\u2026 the maddest, most impossible and most indecent things one could imagine.\u201d By judging their rules so quickly, Prendick distances himself from the situation and proclaims the inferiority of Moreau\u2019s creatures. Prendick exacerbates the supposed differences between himself and the creatures through dehumanizing language. He denotes that the \u201ccontagion of these brute men\u201d infects him, characterizing the creatures as diseases that impair his being. Even as he labels them as contagious diseases, Prendick gives no agency to the creatures. They are not human enough to have infected him, but their \u201ccontagion\u201d spread on its own course \u201cupon [Prendick].\u201d His description of his warring reactions, \u201claughter and disgust,\u201d further degrade the creatures to being worthy of two equally humiliating responses. By repeatedly shaming Moreau\u2019s creatures, Prendick places himself on a pedestal above them.<\/p>\n The second sentence of the passage, however, provides opposition to this placement. Rather than separating himself from the creatures, Prendick notes that \u201c[a] kind of rhythmic fervor fell on all of [them]; [they] gabbled and swayed faster and faster, repeating this amazing law.\u201d The indication that Prendick himself also falls under the spell of the \u201crhythmic fervor\u201d and recites the Law with Moreau\u2019s creatures, participating in their most revered ceremony, acts as a sort of induction into their group. The word \u201cgabbled\u201d itself acts as an equalizer between Prendick and the creatures because it gives the impression of madness and unintelligible noises. It seems that Prendick attempts to counter this inclusion by claiming that \u201c[s]uperficially the contagion of these brute men was upon [him].\u201d That is, the fervor affecting Prendick is only surface-level and is caused by the disease of the creatures. He, however, calls the creatures \u201cbrute men\u201d in this phrase, highlighting that he feels some sort of connection to them, as he could just as well call them monsters. Prendick\u2019s induction and mutual awe of the \u201camazing law\u201d illustrates that he and the creatures are more similar than Prendick realizes.<\/p>\n Prendick\u2019s struggle between relating to and separating himself from the creatures relates to views of the lower class by wealthy individuals during the fin de si\u00e8cle. According to Sally Ledger and Roger Luckhurst\u2019s \u201cIntroduction: Reading the \u2018Fin de Si\u00e8cle,\u201d the \u201coften unsympathetic accounts of working-class city dwellers fueled existing fears of degeneration\u201d (xvi). In terms of the selected passage from The Island of Dr. Moreau<\/em>, Prendick is akin to the wealthy upper class individuals who saw the lower class as degenerates that were dangerous to the English race. Dr. Moreau\u2019s creatures would take the place of the lower class, misunderstood people who were looked down upon, as Prendick degrades the creatures, and feared, again as Prendick does. The \u201claughter and disgust\u201d Prendick describes as \u201c[struggling] together\u201d within him are similar opinions some wealthy, upper class individuals would have towards the poverty-stricken lower class they were unable to understand, yet innately similar to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAnd so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the prohibition of what I thought were the maddest, most impossible and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic fervor fell on all of us ; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, repeating this amazing law. Superficially the … Continue reading One of the Brutes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3613,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}