The Island Of Doctor Moreau Analysis

The influential socialist Karl Marx is famed for calling religion "the sign of the oppressed creature" and "the opium of the people." In his novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells takes Marx's words and literally depicts them, by having scientist Moreau turn animals into humans and positioning himself as their God. By having religion control the Beast People’s animalistic tendencies as well as controlling all other aspects of their lives, Wells argues that religion can be as dangerous as it can be useful.
By teaching animals religion and laws, Moreau turns himself into God. Moreau admits to acting similar as God by saying “ ‘confined myself to man-making’ ” (Wells 126). He grafted these animals and taught them everything they knew, so he was able to brainwash them with a religion he created. Moreover, when Moreau calls out the animals they gather around him in loyalty and reverence similar to a religious ceremony. Through the chants of the animals at the gathering, the deification becomes noticeable:“ 'His is the House of Pain. His is the Hand that makes [. . .] His is the lightning flash, His is the deep, salt sea.' A horrible fancy came into my head that Moreau, after animalising these men, had infected their dwarfed
brains with a kind of deification of himself” (Wells 114). The reader knows that the sea was created by some other force such as God not by Moreau, but Moreau made the Law and wants the creatures to hail him.
Establishment of religion allows Moreau to dominate the animal creatures. Wells parallels to the real world the idea of how controlling religion can be. Well’s uses Moreau to show that religion is made by man to control other humans. For instance, Moreau can control the human-animal hybrids through fear of Hell or the House of Pain. After making his creations Moreau discards them because of their imperfections and only intervenes when they have broken his Laws. When the Leopard- man is found guilty of eating meat, a chase is ensued to bring the culprit back to Moreau’s lab. After the pursue, Prendick, a man that accidently ends up on the island, realizes “the pain and trouble that came to these poor victims after they passed from Moreau’s hand [. . . and] torment in the enclosure” (Wells 145). Moreau’s ability to control the religion of the hybrids means he can also instill fear to keep them in line. He creates the idea of infinite and never ending torture, especially if one of them breaks the Laws set. As a child Wells grew up with the Puritan faith which consisted of an “all-seeing, punishing God who condemned sinners to eternal Hellfire” (Introduction 16) leading him to “question the existence of Our Father [. . . ] an imposture, a trick of sham self-immolation, or a crazy nightmare. . . this God was a lie” (Appendix A 176). Thus, the inspiration for Prendick’s and the creature’s fear stems from Wells’s childhood fear of Hell. The fear-giver wields extreme power tormenting his followers. This power allows for a structured and obedient society.
Thus, religion is a tool created by man to make society submissive and makes the Beast People more humanistic. The human-animal hybrids behave and have a strict religion to follow to stay away from the punishment of their creator, Dr. Moreau. Prendick continues pondering about the Beast People after the chase to further realize that "They were wretched in themselves; the old animal hate moved them to trouble one another: the Law held them back from a brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their natural animosities" (Wells 145). In other words, following the religion and Laws makes them more human. Humans are different from animals in the sense that they have developed feelings, thinking, and communication. Religion enforces the Beast People to have feelings such as fear, to forget instinct and think of the Law, and communication by reciting the Laws to each other. Moreover, the religion of the human- animal hybrids with “Moreau as an authority figure seems deeply irrational, yet essential to their maintaining some semblance of humanity, thus suggesting the need for religion as a means to enforce civilized morality” (Introduction 25). One other distinction between animals and humans is that humans have a sense of morality gained from experiences and religious laws such as the Ten Commandments. Animals that live in a tribe need a pack leader such as Moreau to guide them to become civilized and obedient humans.
However, once the tool of religion is taken, the humans revert to their animal state.
Just as Moreau dies-- offscreen because God is immoral-- the Beast People’s faith dies off. Prendick tries to assert power but fails, signaling that the loss of religion has lead to a loss in a power structure. Slowly but surely "day by day, human semblance left them; how they gave up bandagings and wrappings abandoned at last every stitch of clothing; how hair began to spread over the exposed limbs" the animals start reverting back to humans as they have lost the thread that once made them human (Wells 167). The religion they followed loyally and blindly has backfired, and Prendick comes to the conclusion that religion is just a way to control
humans.
Upon returning to Britain, Prendick has lost his faith, causing him to see the animalistic nature in the humans. Therefore, Prendick has become so disillusioned that he “[can] not persuade [himself] that the men and women [he] met were not also another Beast People, animals half wrought into the outward image of human souls, and that they would presently begin to revert, to show first this bestial mark and then that" (Wells 172). Not only has Prendick lost religion but he no longer believes in humanity. He is scared to trust anyone, especially God who has let him down. Prendick is seeing the animalistic nature because these humans blindly follow religion without thinking, and it is the complex thinking that separates human from animal. Instinctively following religion is the same as animals acting as a pack, letting only the pack or religious leader guide them. For instance, when Prendick walks past a church, he thinks that “Preacher gibbered ‘Big Thinks’ even as the Ape-man had done [. . .] I too was not a reasonable creature, but only an animal tormented with some strange disorder” (Wells 173). Not believing in God, de-attaches Prendick from society as he is the only one that understands the mechanism of religion.
Wells uses Prendick not only to show his loss in faith but also to attack religion by showing how religion tries to control the animal tendencies but sometimes can have an opposing effect. Darwin, who heavily influenced Wells, talks about how a dog's submission to his master is the same for a human’s submission to religion and God (qtd in Harris 208). Wells points to religion providing hope and morality and creating civilization to ward away animalistic behavior. On the other hand, Wells also asserts that religion is an artificial invention of humans that can be abused to instill fear and maintain power. The reader is allowed to view religion from good and bad aspects to determine if it should be kept or destroyed. Regardless of what the reader chooses, Wells warns to be careful and cautious with religion.