THE INVISIBLE MAN- themes

Violence: 

“An invisible man can rule the world. No one will see him come; no one will see him go”

The invisible man in the novel of HG wells is a gifted scientist who experiments with techniques to cause objects and animals to cease reflecting light and thereby become invisible to the human eye. When he tries the technique on himself he quickly learns there are many things a man can accomplish when he is invisible. In his desire of limitless power he became insane and makes plans to cause terror across the world as an exercise of his own power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When the fear of consequences for one’s actions is removed by the addition of power or advantage, we see in the novel to what extent will a man exploit it.

Throughout the novel the violence is displayed in many different ways. Wells goes in great detail about the way Griffin (the Invisible Man) looks and acts. He writes about Griffin's bad temper and his evil scheme of stealing money and food to survive as an invisible man. He makes the character, Griffin, realistic because his emotions, like expressing his anger through shouting, are something people are familiar with. Griffin was very quick to anger. What may have begun as quick temper and impatience turns into violent rage and a wish to commit murder. Griffin's deterioration is self-induced for the most part, but his alienation from his own kind is assisted by other human beings. Fear and superstition follow him, and it seems a defensive mechanism of humans to blow out and destroy the things they fear and do not understand. 

Violence can happen in many forms. Griffin has a violent tendency in the beginning of the novel itself. He was very secretive and introvert in the beginning. When, Mrs Hall and other villagers tried to involve him in small talks rather than drawing his attention it irritated him. He was upset that people are nosey and going through his personal belongings. He was supposed to be able to trust these people and when he saw them reading his diary, he tried to scare them, hoping, they will start to leave him alone. Once in the novel he said if they keep doing this he will have no problem killing these men or any other people. So, we can say his irritation burst into violence.

One’s isolation from his community may also act as a reason for his or her violence. Griffin was so obsessed with science that it became his reality instead of relationships with people. He lost sympathy for others, which made it easier for him to be violent. People isolated Griffin for his invisibility, and would not give him food or shelter. Griffin felt he had to resort to violence to survive. “It had to be done…I was hungry”. Griffin said this after almost killing a man in his own home.

He also wanted all the credit for his discovery of invisibility; so, he isolated himself from peering eyes. He protected his secret violently. “I told no living soul, because I meant to flash my work upon the world with crushing effect, -- to become famous at a blow”. This shows that he didn't enjoy people in his room.  Instead he tried to keep him away from any fellow being and maintained a safe distance. That, in time made him forgets the pleasure of human company, and common human feelings like kindness and compassion. He became rude and drawn wild pleasure in harming any fellow being. This we see when he was moving out of Iping he draws pleasure in scaring the amateur naturalist, Gibbon. So, we see his isolation turning him into a monster.

We see his negative tendencies in several occasions like when he steals the money of his father, when he burns the apartment he stayed to erase the trace of his experiments and when he kills the old man in Port Burdock. What as more shocking is that he never repented for what he deed until he died a tragic death.

THEME OF ISOLATION

The Invisible Man is about a guy with no friends, no family, and, well, just no one at all. It seems like no matter where he finds himself, he's isolated from the larger community – he's as alone in Iping as he is in any other place. If the Invisible Man were just a loner who lived alone by choice, that would be one thing. But he is a genius scientist who is surrounded by people; they just don't understand him. That might be the worst form of isolation: surrounded by people but always alone. And it's worth mentioning that some critics think that science becomes dangerous when it's isolated from the larger community.

If we ponder over the issue of his isolation we will find Griffin is the cause of his own isolation. He is a brilliant scientist fascinated by invisibility. His experiments finally render him invisible, but his gift becomes his curse. He swaths himself in bandages in order to interact with society, and his invisibility makes anything he wishes possible -- but enjoying it impossible.

Even before they understand he is invisible, people call Griffin a freak, a lunatic. Once they discover his secret, they opposed his difference, fearing his power. Power becomes Griffin's drug. Misunderstood and driven away from humanity, he becomes the monster people believe him to be as his pain compels him to dominate and control.

When in the beginning we meet him we see him asking for a room at an inn; the gossiping crowd is curious but not initially unfriendly. Then, as their curiosity turns to fear, they chase Griffin from the inn and hunt him across the countryside.

Another reason for his isolation was his muteness. He spoke very little while he was "seen." He is a symbol, or a mute figure of misery. Only after he sheds his clothes, becoming "invisible," do we clearly hear his voice as he attempts to exercise his will over the people, moving them -- sometimes literally -- like an unseen puppet master. But until then he was drifted apart from people and his invisibility pushed him farther away from the people.

Another boundary between them and Griffin was his intellectual abilities. Many times while reading the novel we feel that Griffin thinks that he is socially higher than anyone in the village because of his intellectual abilities and avoids the villagers as if he were of higher status or class. Griffin is a lot more educated compared with most of the villagers. Griffin speaks with better vocabulary while the villagers speak colloquially. An example of this is shown when Marvel says: 'The invisible Man! After Me! For Gawd's sake! Elp! Elp! Elp!' Marvel uses colloquial language because Wells wants to make the novel feel more realistic by showing different people by their language.

But as time went by he found that he needs others to help him, in particular to provide food and lodging. There are signs that towards the end he almost dislikes his isolation and loneliness and looks for partners. Even when he was looking for a partner his cruel side remained and he tried to use his partner to help him, so that he could gain maximum from the community without giving anything back. Griffins' ambition is to break free of what are undoubtedly material causes of his social isolation, particularly poverty. All these things point to his loneliness.

We get the feeling he may not have been socially accepted and may have been labelled as a minority. Money, moreover, has no value other than exchange, but to exchange with others one must be capable of being acknowledged by them. The personality Griffin displays include antisocial, emotionally insecure and narcissistic.

H.G. Wells presents the theme of loneliness through dialogue, behaviour and how others react in the novel 'The Invisible Man'. This book illustrates that it is not a good thing if a person loses his friends by becoming selfish and a target for society to hate. Wells' depiction of loneliness is very relevant to us today. Society is becoming very self-centred. The desire to accumulate wealth is seen as more important than forging relationships. This kind of attitude creates isolation and can lead to loneliness.

The theme of Betrayal:

Betrayal, a form of deception or dismissal of prior presumptions, is the breaking or violation of a possible social contract (trust, or confidence) that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Often betrayal is the act of supporting a rival group, or it is a complete break from previously decided upon or presumed norms by one party from the others. Someone who betrays others is commonly called a traitor or betrayer. Betrayal is also a commonly used literary element and is often associated with or used as a plot twist.

In ‘The Invisible Man’, betrayal is always tied up with priorities. The Invisible Man doesn't steal from his dad just to be mean. He steals because he cares more about his scientific experiments than anything else including his family. Here, he betrays his father and leads him to his graveyard.

Next is Marvel’s betrayal of the invisible man. When they first meet they had a pact that griffin will provide all essentials to Marvel and in return he will assist him in whatever he does. But Marvel runs away with all his belongings.

On the same token, we expect someone to keep their friend's secrets, but when Griffin outlines his super villain plan to take over England, Kemp decides that he has a more important priority than loyalty to his friend: protecting his country and neighbours. So, behind his back Kemp informs police about him.

Whenever we see a betrayal – whether of another character or of a principle – there is always a question of priority. Throughout the novel the betrayal is evenly distributed among the characters it is to remind us that we're all potential betrayers.

Theme of power 

“An invisible man can rule the world. No one will see him come; no one will see him go”

Power is definitely a big piece of the puzzle in The Invisible Man and not just superpower (i.e. invisibility). The Invisible Man touches on how knowledge – in this case, science – is power and how this power can corrupt.

Griffin as an eccentric scientist is the one who, with his keen interest in the subject makes it possible to bring the human body invisible which he later applied on him in the desire of power. His lust for his dream, made him pursue what he did not even think of doing in his entire life. When things went out of his hand he took an evil path to fulfil what he desires. He became a threat for the society. Because of the criticism received by others on his extra ordinary efforts he was so much raged that he decided to take the revenge from all those who were a part of it. But still we should not forget that nothing is much powerful than the wish of almighty. He desired for the terror among the other for him but he met a fatal end. The curtain of his life fell. An extra ordinary genius died because of his greed of coming in power and becoming a terror.

 Invisibility is the ultimate discovery that would undoubtedly grant Griffin the ability to take advantage of his fellow men, or at least he believes so. In this case, invisibility represents Griffin’s desire to gain power from his transformation, leading him to neglect pondering the drawbacks of his plan. Earlier in the novel, Griffin explains the calamity of the situation as he is harassed by the people of Iping, he says, “‘The fact is, I’m all here -- head, hands, legs, and all the rest of it -- but it happens I’m invisible. It’s a confounded nuisance, but I am. That’s no reason why I should be poked to pieces by every stupid bumpkin in Iping, is it?’” Because of his invisibility, Griffin isolates himself from the rest of the human race, causing other people to bestow upon him a sense of suspicion and distrust. This motif of invisibility symbolizes the downfall of Griffin’s greed for power and desire for advantages as it brings him further and further away from human civilization.

His invisibility presents him as an ultimate outcast because it causes Griffin to not only be physically isolated from man, but is emotionally and mentally detached from the human race. He was denied clothing, shelter, food, and all the other basic needs a common man comes to take for granted. Instead of a charm as Griffin hopes, invisibility turns out to be a curse on his existence. Appearing throughout the novel, the contrast between the reality of invisibility and the fantasy of its manifestation in Griffin’s mind clearly illustrates the catastrophe encountered as a result of his desire for limitless power. Griffin explains how clothing is both his friend and foe as it offers him a method to assimilate back to humanity, but it is also his obstacle to escaping his weird existence. Clothing is a symbol of human qualities, of protection, and of warmth. Yet, it denies Griffin all of those elements now that he is an invisible man and signifies Griffin’s severe isolation.

So, in reality his invisibility means to render Griffin less than a human character. Clothing symbolizes Griffin’s inability to return to normalcy because he sacrifices his human traits for what he believes would bring him ultimate advantages, which it does not.

Science:

It is a terrible paradox that the pursuit dedicated to improving the human condition bears the greatest potential to destroy humanity. That pursuit is scientific pursuit—ever progressing, ever evolving. Scientific evolution, however, should be simultaneous with engendering the responsibilities scientific knowledge requires. Unfortunately, technology develops far more quickly than self-restraint. Man marches along with the uninhibited advance of his capacities without the innate impulses to govern their use. What hangs in the balance is man. Unchecked growth devoid of an attendant moral sense cannot truly help man. It can only harm him.

The Invisible Man by Herbert George Wells delivers a singular enactment of this peril, making it a fable very much for modern times though written in 1897. The novella is a cunning mixture of science fiction, horror, humor, and cautionary tale about the consequences when scientism is employed as a means for illicit immunity. Without doubt, scientific inquiry can provide relief from trials by enhancing power, and as such provides a type of escape. Certain escapes, however, are not to be assayed.

The Invisible Man centers on an ambitious, contemptuous student of optics named Griffin, who discovers the means to render objects invisible by radioactively reducing their refractive index to that of air. In a desperate moment, and a desire to assume advantage over his fellow man, Griffin impulsively subjects himself to the process and becomes invisible, Griffin uses applied science “to transcend magic;” to vanish from common existence and assume a new one free of troubles and weaknesses. He flies from what he views as social and commercial oppression with designs to assume unlimited command over wealth and convention.

What the Invisible Man failed to consider is whether it is actually advantageous for a man to be invisible. Griffin never anticipated the difficulties he would acquire through his invisibility. As it turned out, being stark naked at all times was uncomfortable. The process of waiting for food to assimilate was inconvenient. People and vehicles unaware of his presence proved hazardous. In fact, Griffin discovers that there was really very little he could do without betraying himself. His invisibility—his desire to disappear and dominate—was actually a cause of detectability and vulnerability.

Once Griffin realizes that he is a helpless absurdity, a mere caricature of a man, it is too late. He desperately labors to discover how to reverse the process, with plans to secure riches invisibly before becoming visible again to enjoy them. His research unfolds alongside the futile defense of his secret. For an invisible man, Griffin attracts a great deal of attention. The only clothes he is able to procure are from a theater. His head is concealed in bandages with a wig, goggles, and a false nose to allow for air. Griffin’s only recourse for being inconspicuous is the most conspicuous thing in the world. He cannot hide his freakishness try as he might—he is a prisoner of his error.

By removing himself practically and psychologically from the human throng, Griffin grasps at what he assumed would be freedom, but is nothing more than mere license. He immediately perpetrates mindless acts of both mischief and mayhem in the absence of public restriction. This results, however, in the rapid deterioration of any moral sense as the Invisible Man runs the gambit from stealing to slaughter—and it drives him mad. Such license triggers insanity because it is imbalanced and prohibitive to true happiness. Man is created to be free. Man, as a political animal however, must participate in civilization to remain true to his nature—wherein lies his freedom. Freedom, contrary to general conceptions, is not the capability to do whatever is desired; it is to do whatever is decent. In other words, man is free when he acts well in the sight of other men. To be invisible is to be isolated, which is inhuman and ultimately restrictive.

As Griffin descends into the madness born of his unnatural attempt for an unnatural independence, he determines that all invisibility is really good for is killing and establishing a reign of terror. Thus the history of the Invisible Man quickly unravels to rage, riot, and rampage—the horrifying culmination of rash action without due regard for long-term effects. Those willing to do wonton violence to their own natures for the sake of a perceived good will, given time, do violence to others.

To make a rather medieval distinction, science that does not involve true knowledge cannot be called true science. Neither is the man who experiments with applied sciences a true scientist, as such—he is often a mad scientist, however. The insanity of isolation produced by strange scientific quests was a common theme with Mr. Wells. The Time Machine ends with the Traveller lost and alone in time-space. The Island of Dr. Moreau features surgically created beast-men, grotesquely set apart from humanity. The Invisible Man explores the detachment and solitude that is wrought when man uses his powers to alter the natural course of things.

Such loneliness is stuff as nightmares is made on, imparting the dread of being an anomaly. Recognition of this danger is an apt education for this day and age beset with the nightmarish isolation caused by “social” media, prescription drug addiction, and sex change. Our society is one that looks to scientific development for personal dispensation, often only to suffer personal disaster. Mr. Wells’ The Invisible Man bears a warning to be heeded far more now than ever in his time.