The Island Of Dr Moreau Monster Essay

Monster by Sanyika Shakur yields a firsthand insight on gang warfare, prison, and redemption. “There are no gang experts except participants (xiii)” says Kody Scott aka. Monster. Monster vicariously explains the roots of the epidemic of South Central Los Angeles between the Crips and the Bloods that the world eventually witnessed on April 29, 1992. As readers we learn to not necessarily give gangs grace but do achieve a better understanding of their disposition to their distinct perception in life.

As I struggled to grab on to a thesis for this essay, it finally occurred to me that my empathy for the monster really was fundamental in my reading of this text. In further examining why I would feel this way, and by comments made in class on this subject, I soon realized that I had a parallel to the monster’s experience right in front of me – literally. My brother, borne with a severe cleft pallet and lip he has endured twenty-three years of surgeries and therapies to repair the structure of his face. The first surgeries focused primarily on function of his basic needs: eating, breathing, speaking etc. without emphasis on how he looked. However, these past few years, as he approached his early twenties, the surgeries have focused primarily on his appearance. Like the monster, he experiences many prejudices based on his appearance. He is frequently looked upon suspiciously in stores while shopping and has been approached by security on occasion. Strangers tend to shy away from him and often look away and do not respond if he directly address’ them. He

“Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria” - Alan Greenspan. New York author, Alan Greenspan, here is explaining that the threat fear presents is really no different than the state of intensity caused by euphoria. In Andrew J. Hoffman’s anthology, Monsters, there is substantial evidence that both fear and euphoria are inflicted upon men, by female monsters. The two threats men typically face against women are temptation and emasculation. Thus, in mythology and folklore, female monsters exemplify the impulse of desire (sexually) for men, and male weakness. These are creature that are lusted after and yet, still feared because of their power. Men find female monsters both fearsome and euphoric and will always threaten their dominance and control.

In the article “Monsters and the Moral Imagination,” Stephen Asma, a professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago, argues that the existence of monsters have a purpose in our lives. It is not only to reveal our deepest fears, but to question our moral instincts. Being attacked by fictional monsters seems impractical, however, chaos and disasters do happen and exist in the real world. The creation of monsters is due to our reaction of our fears and the inability to control the world we live in.

What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor

Throughout history we have had times of innovation and creation, we have tried to control nature and have succeeded in some aspects, however; humans are not truly sovereign over nature, and we have never achieved a perfect creation. In both Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, and The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G Wells, man’s creation ends up destroying them which essentially symbolizes that man cannot truly act as a god because he will surely fail in a catastrophic manner, almost as if man is being punished for acting as a false god; it is also shown in both stories that the creations that man makes are attempts to manipulate and master nature, and we see that whenever man even slightly gives up his control it can lead to unforeseen, almost cataclysmic consequences. These ideas are most clearly displayed by H.G Wells in The Island of Dr.Moreau, because Moreau believes that he is above nature and can control the wild instincts of the beast-men, and he also displays himself as a god to the beast-men. In Frankenstein these ideas are more implicitly shown. H.G Wells does a better job overall of displaying these ideas In The Island Of Dr. Moreau as it is more explicit when showcasing these ideas.

The connection between human and animal can not be severed. Darwin explained this connection by saying that everything in life is connected and, thereby, related to each other. Darwin further explains, “Community in embryonic structure reveals community of descent” (Darwin, 401). In other words, all creatures share something of the same origin. However, somewhere down the line, humans began to resent this connection. This resentment is shown in the character of Dr. Moreau in H.G. Wells’ novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. Dr. Moreau attempts to take the animal traits out of the animals he experiments on. He wants to populate the island with humans of his own creation. In attempting to deny the animal in the human, and capitalize on the human in the animal, Dr. Moreau reveals that the connection between the two species is inseparable and he succeeds only in achieving his own dehumanization.

A little girl screams in fear for her parents as she envisions a green, three-eyed monster lurking under her bed, waiting to get her until she finally closes her eyes. A little boy scares fellow trick-or-treaters as he’s dressed as a vampire for Halloween brandishing his pointy teeth with blood dripping out of his mouth. Both of these examples of monsters focus on the physicality of a creature and undermine the weight which the word ‘monster’ actually carries. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, and in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, there are characters that perfectly fit the description of a tangible monster. However, monsters are more than their somatic features. Monsters are created within based on circumstances, decisions that are

Alhough Victor Frankenstein calls his creature a monster, and considers it disgusting and abhorrent, it is in fact Frankenstein who behaves monstrously. He claims to have created the creature for a noble purpose: to defeat death. However, it is clear that his motives

H.G. Wells, in writing the novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, used many literary techniques, which implied the world was imperfect, and at the same time suggested some ways of improving it. By revealing to the reader all the faults and fallacies of the world through the plot, characters, and other issues presented, we can look the other way, and see a far better world than the essentially satanic world our own world has become.

Now the creature knows that it is not only his creator, Frankenstein, who rejects him, but an entire village. He was left “miserable …. from the barbarity of man”. He is not only learning that society dislikes him, but that it is ‘normal’ to attack others. He hasn’t known kindness in his entire life. He doesn’t even know that it exists. The second contact he has with humans, they are being violent. They are not demonstrating any sort of reason, teaching the creature that it is normal to be violent and impulsive.

When analyzed online many of the definitions you will find for the word monster include: a strange or horrible imaginary creature, one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior, or an animal of strange and/or terrifying shape. (Merriam Webster) When observing the “Monster Theory” by Jeffrey Cohen and the 7 theses that he provides in this text, one can begin to somewhat disagree with these formal definitions and attempt to say that it has an even greater meaning. Monsters might scare us and frighten us because of their physical appearances but also can provide us with possible solutions to gaps and uncertainties in our mind that Sigmund Freud would label as “The Uncanny”. I can only but agree with

What do you imagine when asked what a monster looks like? Perhaps you see “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening.” (Oxford University Press) That is the stereotypical view of monsters in media, something false and horrible, our nightmares come to life. However, some would instead envision actual people, such as those that are cruel or evil.

After some time on the island, Prendick is exposed to the propaganda that spreads through the beast’s culture. They reference Moreau as being “The law” whom they fear with humble bows. The beast people display this loyal attitude as they chant in gruesome rhythm “His is the Hand that wounds, his is the Hand that heals” (68). The island, their village, and the dreaded Dr.Moreau that brought them into this world is all of what the beast people have come to apperceive, making them innocently gullible. One such character described by Montgomery as "complex trophy of Moreau's skill, a bear, tainted with dog and ox, and one of the most elaborately made of all the creatures" seems to further his loyalty towards Moreau as the novel’s plot thickens.

Benjamin Rush once stated that “freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights” (Rush and Runes N.p). Throughout time, ethically controversial sciences, from vivisection to stem cell research, have embodied a negative stereotype in the eyes of western societies, and have consequently withdrew the freedom that allows scientists to make innovative discoveries. In H.G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, this perspective is portrayed through Edward Prendick, an upper class English gentleman with a subtle passion for science. After being stranded on a remote pacific island isolated from civilization, Prendick’s perspective on Dr. Moreau’s unethical and controversial studies begins to transform over time. The idea that isolation from civilization can result in the freedom to explore one’s curiosities is portrayed through Prendick’s initial unacceptance of Moreau’s vivisection, which, as time on the island elapses, reshapes to one of interest. In The Island of Doctor Moreau, as Edward Prendick spends more time away from civilized society, his perspective regarding Dr. Moreau’s ethically controversial discipline, vivisection, begins to shift from a sense of repugnance to one of enthusiasm. Through these perspectives, H.G. Wells argues that Prendick’s isolation from civilization is the principle force allowing him to freely embrace the unethical studies on the island and explore his natural curiosity for science,