Introduction
The Invisible Man is a science friction novel by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has
devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it neither
absorbs nor reflects light and thus
becomes invisible. He successfully carries
out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse it.
Main
characters
Griffin - Griffin is the model of
science without humanity. He begins his road to decline in college when he
becomes so obsessed with his experiments that he hides his work lest anyone
else should receive credit. When he runs out of money, he kills his own father-a
crime that makes the rest of his crimes pale in comparison. He goes from
scientist to fanatic when he begins to focus all of his attention merely on the
concept of invisibility and neglects to think about the consequences of such a
condition. He may not have had any intention initially of trying the potion on
himself, but the interference of his landlord and prying neighbor lady
motivate him to cover his work and remove himself from further confrontation.
The evil that he could commit does not occur to him until after he has
swallowed the potion and seen the reaction of the landlord and others. The
irony is that his invisibility is good only for approaching unseen and for
getting away. Any gains from his crimes are useless to him. He cannot enjoy any
of the normal comforts of life-such as food, clothes, and money. He cannot eat
without hiding the action, as the food in his system will render him visible.
Clothes, when he is able to wear them, must be used to cover him from head to
foot in order to conceal his real “concealment”--hardly a comfortable state in
the heat of the summer. He can steal money, but cannot spend it on his own
accord. Thus the condition that would make him invulnerable also renders him
helpless.
In
spite of his predicament, Griffin at no time expresses any remorse for his behavior or for the crimes, which he merely describes as “necessary.” His only
regret is frustration over not having thought about the drawbacks of
invisibility. For nearly a year, he works on trying to perfect an antidote;
when time runs out for that activity, he first tries to leave the country, and
then, that plan failing, tries to find an accomplice for himself so he can
enjoy his invisibility and have all the comforts of life as well. He goes from
obsession to fanaticism to insanity.
|
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| Marvel - Mr. Marvel is the local tramp. He is harmless, eccentric, fat, but not nearly as stupid as Griffin thinks he is. He is smart enough to know when a good thing has happened to him; the stories he tells to the press bring him much attention and sympathy. In the end, he gets to keep all the money Griffin stole, and he contrives on his own to keep the books of Griffin’s experiments. He becomes the owner of an inn as well as the village bard, as it is to him that people come when they want to know the stories of the Invisible Man. In spite of his earlier torment, he is the only one who actually benefits from Griffin’s presence. |
Kemp - Kemp is referred to as
“the doctor,” but his degree seems to be an academic one rather than a medical
one. He continues his own study in hopes of being admitted to “the Royal
Fellows.” His own experiments and fascination with science enable him to listen
sensibly to Griffin, but in spite of being rather contemptuous of his fellow
citizens, his common sense and decency prevent him from being a part of
Griffin’s schemes. Kemp is also the only “cool headed” person in the town once
the final attack begins. He runs to escape Griffin, but as soon as Griffin
catches him, he has the presence of mind to turn the capture around. He is also
the first to realize that even though Griffin is invisible, he is injured, and,
ultimately, dead.
Summary
A mysterious man, Griffin, arrives at
the local inn of the English village of Iping, West
Sussex, during a winter. The stranger wears a long-sleeved, thick coat and
gloves; his face is hidden entirely by bandages except for a fake pink nose;
and he wears a wide-brimmed hat. He is excessively reclusive, irascible, and
unfriendly. He demands to be left alone and spends most of his time in his
rooms working with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus, only venturing
out at night. While Griffin is staying at the inn, hundreds of strange glass
bottles (that he calls his luggage) arrive. Many local townspeople believe this
to be very strange. He becomes the talk of the village with many theorizing as
to his origins.
Meanwhile, a mysterious burglary occurs in the village.
Griffin is running out of money and is trying to find a way to pay for his
board and lodging. When his landlady demands that he pay his bill and quit the
premises, he reveals part of his invisibility to her in a fit of pique. An
attempt to apprehend the stranger is frustrated when he undresses to take
advantage of his invisibility, fights off his would-be captors, and flees
to the
downs.
There Griffin coerces a tramp, Thomas Marvel, into
becoming his assistant. With Marvel, he returns to the village to recover three
notebooks that contain records of his experiments. When Marvel attempts to
betray the Invisible Man to the police, Griffin chases him to the seaside town
of Port Burdock, threatening to kill him. Marvel escapes to a local inn and is
saved by the people at the inn, but Griffin escapes. Marvel later goes to the
police and tells them of this "invisible man," then requests to be
locked up in a high-security jail.
Griffin's furious attempt to avenge his betrayal leads to
his being shot. He takes shelter in a nearby house that turns out to belong to
Dr. Kemp, a former acquaintance from medical school. To Kemp, he reveals his
true identity: the Invisible Man is Griffin, a former medical student who left
medicine to devote himself to optics. Griffin recounts how he invented
chemicals capable of rendering bodies invisible, and, on impulse, performed the
procedure on himself.
Griffin tells Kemp of the story of how he became
invisible. He explains how he tried the invisibility on a cat, then himself.
Griffin burned down the boarding house he was staying in, along with all the
equipment he used to turn invisible, to cover his tracks; but he soon realised
that he was ill-equipped to survive in the open. He attempted to steal food and
clothes from a large department store, and eventually stole some clothing from
a theatrical supply shop and headed to Iping to attempt to reverse the invisibility.
Now he imagines that he can make Kemp his secret confederate, describing his
plan to begin a "Reign of Terror" by using his invisibility to
terrorise the nation.
Kemp has already denounced Griffin to the local
authorities and is waiting for help to arrive as he listens to this wild
proposal. When the authorities arrive at Kemp's house, Griffin fights his way
out and the next day leaves a note announcing that Kemp himself will be the
first man to be killed in the "Reign of Terror". Kemp, a cool-headed
character, tries to organise a plan to use himself as bait to trap the
Invisible Man, but a note that he sends is stolen from his servant by Griffin.
Griffin uses Kemp's gun to shoot and injure a local
policeman who comes to Kemp's aid, then breaks into Kemp's house. Kemp bolts
for the town, where the local citizenry come to his aid. Griffin is seized,
assaulted, and killed by a mob. The Invisible Man's naked, battered body
gradually becomes visible as he dies. A local policeman shouts to have someone
cover Griffin's face with a sheet.
In the end, it is revealed that Marvel has secretly kept
Griffin's notes; but since they are written in code, he is completely incapable
of understanding them.
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