The Island of Doctor Moreau

By H. G. Wells

(Due to unfortunate circumstances, this forum post was not completed until well after our discussion of the novel.)

Parody of Christianity in The Island of Doctor Moreau

            In The Island of Doctor Moreau, H. G. Wells creates a parody of Christianity, with the Beast Folk as the worshippers and Doctor Moreau as their God. In order to maintain order on the island, Doctor Moreau has ordered the Beast Folk to follow a list of five commandments:

‘Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not men?

‘Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not men?

‘Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not men?

‘Not to claw Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not men?

‘Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men?’ (59)

This list mimics the Ten Commandments, and the Beast Folk took it as gospel. Chanting these commandments and praises of Moreau, the Beast Folk hold a sort of religious service, like a funhouse mirror reflection of Sunday morning church (59). They are devoted to mankind, and the deterioration of this devotion as “day by day, the human semblance left them,” functions as a commentary on man’s attempts to become gods (123).

Doctor Moreau is the clear mad scientist of the novel. He strives to be a Creator, and in that sense, to become a God. Moreau has used his secluded island to set up his own experiment of divinity, testing whether or not he can successfully create his own mankind. Ironically, his folly was his antihumanist approach that dismissed the divine mysteries of humanity; he could not create men and become godly because he did not value man’s divinity. Moreau’s failure highlights how science cannot replace religion, since even the most dedicated scientist failed to become a God. The Beast Folk’s struggle to deny their animal instincts and become men reflects man’s struggle to deny our humanist qualities and achieve a transhumanist divinity. The Beast Folk inevitably turn back into beasts, and Doctor Moreau, their Creator, must face his mortality