Literary Devices in The Island of Dr. Moreau
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
And No, It Isn't Stupid PurgatorySay what you will about Wells; he doesn't cop-out on his endings (unlike some TV shows we could mention).Let's start by saying that Moreau's island isn't technicall...
Narrator Point of View
H.G. Wells wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau in a first-person central narrator voice. Now that's a whole bunch of words, but grasping the meaning is pretty easy once you break it down. So let's do th...
Genre
Well, This StinksThe Island of Dr. Moreau is an oddball in dystopian literature. You see, most dystopian novels take place in the distant, dank, and dark future. Take Orwell's 1984. It was first pu...
Tone
Wells uses a tone that combines the journalistic voice of a newspaper with the emotional soul-searching of a diary. We say the novel reads like something out of a newspaper because it has an eye fo...
Writing Style
You can think of H.G. Wells' style as a bridge between two different camps of writing "countries."One the one side we have the literary realists. These guys created a style to write about life "as...
What's Up With the Title?
Calling the book The Island of Dr. Moreau serves two purposes. The first is the same as every good title: it's there to draw you in, to entice you to read the story. Many horror stories do this by...
What's Up With the Ending?
The Island of Dr. Moreau has a classic horror ending going for it. The protagonist escapes from the horrific place, survives the frequent attempts on his life, and ultimately reaches safety. And ju...
Tough-o-Meter
The Island of Dr. Moreau comes equipped with a few obstacles for us modern readers, but it isn't too hard of a read in the long haul. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of Wells' novel is the antiqu...
Plot Analysis
Voted #1 Worst Vacation by FodorThis story is science fiction, so a lot of exposition will be needed to explain all the strange happenings to follow. In the case of The Island of Dr. Moreau, it's a...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Anticipation Stage and 'Fall' into the Other WorldPrendick finds himself in the completely alien world of the Pacific (alien to him at least). The ocean serves as transportation to Moreau's island...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
Act I lasts from the beginning of the book to the point when Prendick discovers the vivisection of the puma (whom he takes to be human) and flees from the company of Moreau and Montgomery. The stag...
Trivia
Have you ever read Alan Moore's graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? It reads like a bunch of famous Victorian novels were thrown into a blender with the Justice League. Yes, it's a...
Steaminess Rating
Ever heard anyone use the word Victorian to describe something? Generally, it means prudish and conventional, and—believe us—The Island of Dr. Moreau is a very Victorian novel in terms of...
Allusions
"Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault (7.10)The Medusa shipwreck (1.1) Tottenham Court (2.21) Gower Street (2.21, 10.7)The Royal College of Science (6.14)Huxley (6.14)Mahomet's houri (15.26)...