Dr. Moreau

English 201

The Beasts are Human too

In the Island of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells, Snyder argues that Doctor Moreau has a false definition humanity and sanity grounded in the belief that a creature is not driven by pain and that sanity requires action to be purposeful. He argues that Moreau’s monstrosity is because he contradicts himself when creating the beast people because he designed for them a world to cause pain and failure. Capri states that the terms persona and humanity do not have to occur together and the separation of them is present in Doctor Moreau; he may have a human form but does not necessarily have the qualities and morals of a person. The conversation between Carpi and Snyder is the agreement upon Moreau’s inability to correctly define a human and how that makes him monstrous because he is trying to create humans. The inability to clearly define what is animal or what is human in the novel contributes to the monstrosity of each character, which is not as straightforward as it initially seems. The beast people were once animals, but as a result of Doctor Moreau’s experimentation they now mimic human behavior. The beast people are in fact more human than their creator, Doctor Moreau. He is the one creating them with the goal of creating humanity, but in fact rejects them because of his false definition of the word humanity.

The word humanity is defined “designating a person who assumes the appearance, role, or abilities of a specified creature” (Oxford English Dictionary). In this definition it is not stated that one must have the appearance of a human, but rather that one must be a person first and then possibly assume the appearance of a creature. A person has a personality, a conscience and is a rational being. Doctor Moreau has the appearance of a human, but is not a rational being. In contrast, the beast people have a distinct personality and rational thoughts as a person would, which is more important in defining a human then their...