Characters
The following are characters in the novel The Island of Doctor Moreau.
The Humans:
1-John Davies
John Davies is the red-haired, bad-tempered, often-drunk captain of the Ipecacuanha who wants Montgomery and the animals off his ship as soon
as possible.
2-Helmar
Helmar is a passenger on the Lady Vain who, with the narrator and an unnamed seaman, escapes on a dingey but perish at sea.
3-Montgomery
Montgomery is Moreau’s assistant, a failed medical student with a drinking problem. He is depicted as effiminate, weak, and indecisive. He speaks
with “a slobbering articulation” and “a ghost of a lisp.”
4-Dr. Moreau
Dr. Moreau is the aging yet hale physiologist who has retreated to the island and set up a lab where he can pursue vivisections without public
scrutiny.
5-Charles Edward Prendick
Charles Edward Prendick is the nephew of the first-person narrator of the novella. His introduction frames the narrative and provides an occasional
footnote to events.
6-Edward Prendick
Edward Prendick is the first-person narrator of the novella. He is a “private gentlemen,” in other words, an independently wealthy man.
The Beast Folk:
7-The Ape-man
The ape-man is the simian creature who first leads Prendick to the ravine where the beast-folk live.
8-The Hyena-swine
The Hyena-swine is Prendick’s mortal enemy among the beast-folk after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery.
9-The Leopard-man
The leopard-man hunts Prendick on his first day on the island and is hunted by him on a later day; his demise is the catalyst that turns Prendick
utterly against Moreau and Montgomery.
10-M’ling
M’ling is the “dark man,” the first of Moreau’s creations that Prendick meets, and Montgomery’s assistant. A chimera of a bear, a dog, and an ox,
M’ling lives in a kennel in the enclosure and is described as “a complex trophy of Moreau’s horrible skill.”
11-The Saint-Bernard-man
The Saint-Bernard-man is Prendick’s companion and protector after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery.
12-The Satyr
The satyr is a chimera of an ape and a goat, a “gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau.”
13-The Sayer of the Law
The Sayer of the Law is a grey-furred, frightening creature who teaches Prendick the law and rehearses it and the punishments with the beast-folk.
He is “a heavy, faceless thing, with strange red eyes.
14-Fox-Bear Witch
Fox-Beat Witch is a female hybrid of fox and bear who passionately supports the Law. Prendick quickly takes a dislike to her.
15-Sloth Creature
Sloth Creature is a small, pink sloth-based creation. Described by Prendick as resembling a flayed child.
16-Wolf-Bear
Wolf-Bear is briefly mentioned during the hunt for Leopard Man. He laughs with the "exultation of hunting" and enjoys hunting his fellow Beast
Folk just a wee-bit too much.
17-Ox-Bear
Ox-Bear Man also has a very brief appearance. After Montgomery's death, Prendick heads to the Beast Folk's huts and asks for food. Ox-Bear Man
directs Prendick to the huts but does so more-or-less without caring, a far cry from the pomp and circumstance that Moreau would have received.
18-Kanakas Missionary
He is only mentioned in Moreau's story to Prendick. The Kanakas missionary took Ape Man under his tutelage. He taught the beast language, the
Bible, and other social skills. Eventually all the Kanakas died out, but the missionary's teaching were kept by the Beast Folk society, and eventually
morphed into the Law.
19-Puma
The puma’s cries are what drove Prendick out of the room to explore.
Project Character: __________________________________________ Due: ______________
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Chapter Guide
Chapter The First - In the Dingey of the “Lady Vain”
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
dingey –
privations –
thwart –
schooner –
gunwale –
fore –
tacking –
soddened –
2. How did the narrator and the other three men in the dingey try to help Constans? Why does the narrator say it is
“lucky” that Constans never reached the men in the dingey?
3. Why do the narrator and the other men in the dingey agree to draw lots? What evidence is there that the narrator is
willing to go through with their terrible pact?
4. What do you think Wells is saying to the reader about the lengths that a moral man might sink to in order to prolong
life? Cite incidents from the story to support your answer.
5. Find an example of foreshadowing near the end of this chapter.
Chapter The Second - The Man who was going Nowhere
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
flaxen –
interlocutor –
incontinently –
ipecacuanha (ipecac) –
duck things –
inaccessible –
nether –
forthwith –
gibberish –
articulation –
desist –
anecdotes –
2. What does Prendick learn about Captain Davis?
3. Briefly identify Montgomery. In what way is he physically flawed? Find a passage in this chapter suggesting that
despite his humane treatment of Prendick, Montgomery may be morally flawed too. Write the page number and the
starting word of the passage followed by the ending word of the passage (#,start…end).
Chapter the Third – The Strange Face
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
remonstrance –
lithe –
bulwark –
aft –
flotsam –
gaunt –
companion –
obstructing –
unsavoury –
blasphemy –
yawp –
2. Why does the Captain of the ship dislike Montgomery and the black-faced attendant?
3. For what reason is Prendick putting his life at risk when he tries to prevent a fight between Montgomery and the
Captain?
Chapter The Fourth – At the Schooner’s Rail
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
taciturn –
reticent –
immensity –
incongruously –
waning –
wrath –
ineffectual –
reminiscence –
irrevocably –
indiscretion –
Use the following passage from this chapter to answer the next two questions.
“ ‘I injected and fed you much as I might have collected a specimen. I was bored, and wanted something to do. If I’d
been jaded that day, or hadn’t liked your face, well –; it’s a curious question where you would have been now.’ ” “This
damped my mood a little. ‘At any rate–’ I began.” “ ‘It’s chance, I tell you,’ he interrupted, ‘as everything is in a man’s
life. Only the asses won’t see it. Why am I here now—an out- cast from civilization—instead of being a happy man
enjoying all the pleasures of London? Simply because–eleven years ago–I lost my head for ten minutes on a foggy
night.’ ” (Wells,11)
2. State a generalization about life based on this passage from the story. Cite incidents from your own life to state
whether you agree or disagree with Montgomery that the generalization is true.
3. What is revealed in this passage about Montgomery’s moral attitude concerning the value of another man’s life?
What can the reader infer about the reasons Montgomery doesn’t return to London?
4. Why does Prendick suddenly feel a “stark inhumanity” when he looks at Montgomery’s strange attendant?
Chapter The Fifth – The Landing on the Island
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
petulance –
derisively –
unvictualled –
tumultuous –
perforce –
sot –
2. Many critics refer to Wells’ narrative as being semi–documentary or similar to a newspaper report. Find a passage in
this chapter which contains the type of information that might be part of a newspaper story (Who, What, Where, Why,
How). Write the page number and the starting word of the passage followed by the ending word of the passage
(#,start…end).
3. There are five main plot elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. Which of these
plot elements is present in this chapter? Cite incidents from the chapter to support your choice.
Chapter The Sixth – The Evil-looking Boatmen
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
piggin –
pugnacious –
furtive –
painter –
rum (rum place) –
singular –
elfin –
promontory –
swathed –
2. Briefly describe the boatmen. What does Prendick think of them?
3. What does Montgomery do with the rabbits?
4. Why do you think the white–haired man has more respect for Mr. Prendick when he learns Mr. Prendick studied
biology at the Royal College of Science? How long will Mr. Prendick be an uninvited guest on the island?
Chapter The Seventh – The Locked Door
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
saturnine –
physiologist –
flayed –
vivisection –
discernment –
complaisance –
halitus –
2. What evidence is there in this chapter that Montgomery does not approve of Dr. Moreau’s research?
3. Why did Dr. Moreau, a prominent physiologist, leave England? At this point in the story do you think the narrator
supports or rejects using living animals as subjects for scientific research? Cite incidents from the story to support your
answer.
4. The final sentence in this chapter is an example of foreshadowing. What kind of experimenting is Prendick
speculating about at the end of this chapter?
Chapter The Eighth – The Crying of the Puma
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
diabolical –
masticated –
resurgence –
distractedly –
crib –
2. One of the overall themes of this story is the question of when and how to apply moral values to scientific research.
What does the following passage from the story reveal to the reader about Prendick’s moral attitudes concerning a
scientist who deliberately inflicts pain on a subject in the name of scientific research?
“It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the next room, and had it been
dumb, I believe–I have thought since—I could have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our
nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us.” (Pg. 26)
3. Use the quotation in question 2 to state a generalization about life regarding man’s apathy toward moral problems
that do not directly impact life.
4. What figure of speech is used in the quote?
Chapter The Ninth – The Thing in the Forest
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
epiphyte –
attenuated –
countenance –
apparition –
rivulet –
luxuriant –
save –
bestial –
deliquescing –
2. Why do you suppose the man Prendick sees drinking from the stream looks up “guiltily” when he hears the piece of
lava fall down the slope?
3. “Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gesture, I perceived clearly for the first time what it was
that had offended me, what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressions of utter strangeness and yet
of the strangest familiarity.” (Pg. 29)
What does Prendick “perceive” in the above quotation regarding the three islanders he observes in the clearing?
4. Why do you suppose the Thing follows Prendick? What evidence is there that the Thing may be dangerous even
though it seems to lack the courage to attack Prendick?
5. Prendick, weaponless, attacks whatever it is that chases him. What does the method he use signify?
Chapter the Tenth – The Crying of the Man
1. Define “abominations.”
2. What does Prendick “realize” in the following passage from the story? What literary term is used in the selection?
“The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up and stood trembling, my mind a chaos of the most horrible misgiving. Could
the vivisection of men be possible? The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky. And suddenly the clouded
horror of my mind condensed into a vivid realization of my danger.” (Pg. 36-37)
3. Cite incidents from the story to support or refute the following statement: Prendick supports the use of animals for
scientific research, but draws the line at using human subjects for the advancement of scientific knowledge.
Chapter the Eleventh – The Hunting of the Man
1. Define the following words:
augury –
simian –
comus –
soughing –
2. How does Prendick respond when the ape man proudly counts his five fingers?
3. In what ways does Prendick find the ape man to be peculiar? What does Prendick learn from him, despite the fact
that Prendick finds him to be an idiot?
Chapter the Twelfth – The Sayers of the Law
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
aperture –
contagion –
deification –
haha –
trepidation –
litany –
incrustation –
2. List the five laws Prendick is forced to repeat after entering the hut. Which of these laws have already been broken by
the islanders Prendick has encountered? Cite incidents from the story to support your answer.
3. Why do you think Moreau wants the islanders to regard him as if he was a god?
4. What is the “want” described in the following passage? Why was the ape man punished with a burn on his hand?
“ ‘For everyone the want that is bad,’ said the grey Sayer of the Law. ‘What you will want, we do not know. We shall
know. Some want to follow things that move, to watch and slink and wait and spring, to kill and bite, bite deep and rich,
sucking the blood…. It is bad.’ ” (Pg. 44)
5. State a generalization about a man or animal’s true nature based on the quotation in question 4.
6. Discuss whether or not the society of the Beast People and the way their Laws help to restrict their natural instincts is
a microcosm (a little world) for the greater world.
Chapter the Thirteenth – A Parley
1. Define the following words:
akimbo–
inimical –
phenomena –
2. What does Prendick say to the Beast People that may lead to his ultimate undoing?
3. Why does Moreau talk to Prendick in Latin?
4. At the end of the chapter, Prendick is still not convinced Moreau and Montgomery are telling him the truth. For what
reason does he have trouble believing the Beast people are animals?
Chapter the Fourteenth – Doctor Moreau Explains
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
temerity –
intrinsic –
goad –
abject –
plasticity –
dexterous –
sophistry –
2. “And yet this extraordinary branch of knowledge has never been sought as an end, and systematically, by modern
investigators, until I took it up!” (Pg. 53)
What “extraordinary branch of knowledge” is Moreau referring to in the above quotation?
3. What does the following passage from the story say about Moreau’s definition of morality?
“Very much indeed of what we call moral education is such an artificial modification and perversion of instinct.” (Pg. 54)
4. Define “materialist.” Why does Moreau accuse Prendick of being a materialist?
5. How does Moreau justify the horrible pain he must inflict on the animals in the name of scientific curiosity?
6. List the ways Moreau thinks his creatures are flawed.
Chapter The Fifteenth – Concerning the Beast Folk
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
glutinous –
fumaroles –
prognathous –
metamorphosed –
votary –
2. How does Montgomery feel about the Beast people? What is M’ling’s relationship with Montgomery?
3. Why is the Leopard Man more dangerous at night?
4. What does Prendick observe about the female Beast People?
5. Find a passage in this chapter which illustrates Wells’ documentary writing style. Write the page number and the
starting word of the passage followed by the ending word of the passage (#,start…end).
Chapter the Sixteenth – How the Beast Folk Tasted Blood
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
gesticulating –
denizens –
2. Why does Prendick kill the Leopard Man?
3. Prendick states that “I began to see the viler aspect of Moreau’s cruelty.” (Pg. 74) What is the vile aspect of Moreau’s
work?
Chapter the Seventeenth – A Catastrophe
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
indurated –
virago –
abhorrence –
fetters –
caricatures –
2. What is the “Catastrophe” referred to in the title of this chapter?
Chapter the Eighteenth – The Finding of Moreau
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
homunculus –
feral –
2. Why is it dangerous for the Beast People to believe that Moreau is dead?
3. In what ways does M’ling begin to behave more like a beast in this chapter?
Chapter the Nineteenth – Montgomery’s “Bank Holiday”
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
paraffin –
garrulous –
2. Explain the 3 literary terms that are used in this quotation: “Are we bubbles blown by a baby?”
3. Why does Montgomery decide to go outside the enclosure to find M’ling?
4. What does Montgomery do in his drunken state to complicate Prendick’s life?
Chapter the Twentieth – Alone with the Beast Folk
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
spasmodically –
morass –
2. What mistake with the Beast Folk does Prendick make that weakens his authority over them?
Chapter the Twenty–First – The Reversion of the Beast Folk
1. Define the following vocabulary words:
miasmatic –
ostentatiously –
sojourn –
trenchant –
recrudescence –
propitiatory –
2. What incident in this story do you think is the climax, the point of greatest tension?
3. Find an incident in this story which is an example of falling action.
4. How long does Prendick live with the Beast People? Why does he feel relatively safe with them?
5. Find an example of irony at the end of this chapter.
Chapter the Twenty–Second – The Man Alone
1. What is the “terror” of the island that continues to haunt Prendick after his rescue?
Use the following quotation from the end of the story to answer the next question.
“There is, though I do not know how there is or why there is, a sense of infinite peace and protection in the glittering
hosts of heaven. There it must be, I think, in the vast and eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and
troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us must find its solace and its hope. I hope, or I could not
live. And so, in hope and solitude, my story ends.” (Pg. 104)
2. In the above quotation, where does Prendick believe man’s hope for the future lies if it does not lie in the
advancement of science?
3. FINAL ESSAY: Cite incidents from the story to support or refute the following overall theme: Man’s sense of morality
must keep pace with his scientific advances or these advances will cause man’s own destruction. (This should be written
in multiple paragraph form and include at least 3 examples from the text with page numbers cited.)