The Invisible Man
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| Author | H.G. Wells |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | C. Arthur Pearson |
| Released | 1897 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 248 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Invisible Man is a famous 1897 science fiction novella by H.G. Wells. Wells' novel was originally serialized in Pearson's Magazine in 1897, and published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who theorizes that if a person's refractive index is changed to exactly that of air and his body does not absorb or reflect light, then he will not be visible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot become visible again, becoming mentally unstable as a result.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story starts in the sleepy English village of Iping, in West Sussex, as curiosity and fear are evoked in the locals when a mysterious stranger arrives to stay at the local inn, The Coach and Horses. The stranger wears a long, thick coat and gloves, and his face is hidden entirely by bandages, large goggles, and a wide-brimmed hat. The stranger is extremely reclusive and demands to be left alone, spending most of his time in his room working with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus, only venturing out at night. He quickly becomes the talk of the village as he unnerves the locals.
Meanwhile, a series of mysterious burglaries occur in the village in which the victims catch no sight of the thief. One morning when the innkeepers, Mr. and Mrs. Hall, pass the stranger's room, they enter in curiosity when they notice the stranger's clothes are scattered all over the floor but the stranger is nowhere to be seen. But the furniture seems to spring alive and the bedclothes and a chair leap into mid-air and push them out of the room. Later in the day Mrs. Hall confronts the stranger about this, and he reveals that he is invisible, removing his bandages and goggles to reveal nothing beneath. As Mrs. Hall flees in horror, the police attempt to catch the stranger but he throws off all his clothes and escapes.
The Invisible Man flees to the downs, where he frightens a tramp, Thomas Marvel, with his invisibility and forces him to become his assistant. Together with Marvel, he returns to the village where Marvel steals the Invisible Man's books and apparatus from the inn while the Invisible Man himself steals the doctor and vicar's clothes. But after the theft, Mr. Marvel attempts to betray the Invisible Man by telling the police of him, and the Invisible Man chases after him, threatening to kill him.
Marvel flees to the seaside town of Burdock where he takes refuge in an inn. The Invisible Man attempts to break in through the back door but he is overheard and shot by a black-bearded American, and flees the scene badly injured, taking refuge in a nearby house, where he uses bandages to cover up his wound. The house turns out to belong to Dr. Kemp, whom the Invisible Man recognizes, and he reveals to Kemp his true identity — Griffin, a brilliant medical student whom Kemp studied with at a university.
Griffin explains to Kemp that after leaving the university he was desperately poor, and determined to achieve something of scientific significance, he began work on an experiment to make people and objects invisible, using money stolen from his own father, who committed suicide after being robbed by his son. Griffin experimented with a formula that altered the refractive index of objects, thus stopping them from absorbing or reflecting light and thus making them invisible. He performed the experiment on a cat to prove it worked on living creatures, but when the cat's owner, Griffin's neighbour, realized the cat was missing, she complained to their landlord, and Griffin wound up performing the invisibility procedure on himself to hide from them.
After burning the whole building down to cover his tracks, he felt a sense of power from being invisible, and after struggling to survive out in the open, he stole some clothing from a dingy backstreet shop and took residence at The Coach & Horses inn to reverse the experiment. He then explains to Kemp that he now plans to begin a reign of terror, using his invisibility to terrorize the nation with Kemp as his visible partner.
Realizing that Griffin is clearly insane, Kemp has no plans to help him and instead alerts the police. When the police arrive, Griffin violently assaults Kemp and a policeman before escaping, and the next day he leaves a note on Kemp's doorstep announcing that Kemp will be the first man killed in the reign of terror. Kemp remains cool and writes a note to the colonel detailing a plan to use himself as bait to trap the Invisible Man, but as a maidservant attempts to deliver the note she is attacked by Griffin and the note is stolen.
Just as the police accompany the attacked maid back to the house, the Invisible Man breaks in through the back door and makes way for Kemp. Kemp bolts from the house to lead him away, and runs down the hill to the town below, where he alerts a navvy that the Invisible Man is approaching. As the navvy witnesses Kemp being attacked out of empty air as Griffin catches up with him, a workman hurls a shovel through the air, striking the Invisible Man and knocking him to the ground, where he is violently beaten by the workers. The Invisible Man dies of the injuries, and his naked and battered body slowly becomes visible on the ground as he dies.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Griffin
Griffin is a young albino and a brilliant medical student who studies optical density whilst at university. Griffin believes he is on the verge of a great scientific discovery, but feels uncomfortable working under the eyes of his professor. To ensure he would take the credit for himself, he leaves college and takes up residence in a cheap dingy apartment where he can continue his experiments in solitude.
In order to finance his experiments, Griffin robs his own father, who commits suicide immediately after. (Little is mentioned of Griffin's family background, but it was clearly dysfunctional.) Working reclusively in his flat, he invents a formula to bend light and reduce the refractive index of physical objects, thus making them invisible. He intends from the start to perform the process on himself, but is forced to rush his experiments due to persistent intrusions from his landlord, who is suspicious of his activities. He processes himself in order to hide from his landlord, setting fire to the building to cover his tracks.
He winds up alone, invisibly wandering the streets of London, struggling to survive out in the open while unseen by those around him. Intending to make himself visible again, he steals some clothes from a dingy backstreet theatre shop, including a trenchcoat and hat, wrapping his head in bandages to conceal his invisibility, his eyes covered by large dark goggles.
He takes up residence in the Coach and Horses Inn (Lions Head in the movie) in the village of Iping to reverse his experiment in a quiet environment, but complications arise with the locals, who are unnerved by his appearance. His progress is slowed down and he is left without sufficient money to satisfy the pub's owners.
In order to pay his bill, Griffin burgles the home of Reverend Bunting, causing the police to come after him, at which point he reveals his invisibility to all by throwing off his clothes and escaping.
By now driven to insanity by his inability to reverse the experiment, Griffin seeks the assistance of a tramp named Thomas Marvel to carry money for him, but Marvel runs away with the money. Griffin pursues him to the town of Port Burdock, and there runs into his old schoolmate Dr. Kemp. Griffin "recruits" Kemp to be his visible partner, but rather than assist the crazed Invisible Man, Kemp alerts Colonel Adye of the Port Burdock police.
Furious and still entertaining thoughts of world domination, Griffin vows to kill Kemp "as an example." He ultimately fails when Kemp rallies the people of Port Burdock, who mob the Invisible Man as soon as they deduce his location, and Griffin is killed. The effects of the invisibility formula wear off in death, and Griffin's body becomes visible again.
[edit] Dr. Kemp
Dr. Kemp is a scientist living in the town of Port Burdock. He is an old friend of Griffin, who comes to Kemp's house to hide after his transformation into the "invisible man." Kemp has a hard time swallowing the fact that his friend, who he had not seen for years, suddenly appears uninvited and invisible, but eventually he overcomes his shock and sits down and talks with Griffin.
Narrative-wise, Kemp allows Griffin to relate the story of how he began his experiments, and all that happened to him between his arrival on his old friend's doorstep and then. Kemp, realizing that Griffin was insane with power, is quick to summon Colonel Adye of the Port Burdock police. Adye fails to apprehend Griffin, who escapes and branded Kemp a traitor, vowing to kill him.
Despite the death threat, Kemp is no coward, and actively assists and advises Adye in quest to find and apprehend the Invisible Man while the police colonel serves as his bodyguard. Eventually Griffin overpowers Adye and comes after Kemp, who, rushing through the streets of Port Burdock, rouses the townspeople into a mob that attacks the Invisible Man and brings his reign of terror to an end.
[edit] The film
In the 1933 Universal film adaptation of the book, Kemp is given the first name Arthur and is played by William Harrigan.
Kemp of the film is a much less likable character, and isn't as fortunate as his literary counterpart. Here, Arthur Kemp is a "friend" of Dr. Jack Griffin, who serves as an assistant to Dr. Cranley. Unlike Griffin, Kemp is a thoroughly incompetent scientist, as well as an opportunistic coward. He continually criticizes Griffin for his experiments with monocane, and secretly covets Griffin's fiancé (and Dr. Cranley's daughter) Flora.
When Griffin disappears and goes to the remote village of Iping, Kemp attempts to report his colleague's questionable experiments to Dr. Cranley, and tries to woo Flora. Although he manages to convince Cranley that Griffin is up to no good, however, he fails to persuade Flora to forget about her beloved Jack. Shortly after this, Griffin, now made invisible as a result of his monocane experiments and hunted as a criminal by the police in Iping, turns up in Kemp's house seeking his old colleague's assistance.
Although Kemp initially goes along with Griffin's plans, helping him retrieve his notebooks from the Lion's Head Inn (where, unbeknownst to Kemp, Griffin has murdered Inspector Bird), Kemp soon grows too afraid of Griffin to continue assisting him, and alerts Flora, Dr. Cranley, and the police to Griffin's whereabouts.
Kemp is marked for death by a furious Griffin, and despite intensive police protection and a daring plan by Inspector Lane to get Kemp safely out into the country disguised as a police officer, Griffin manages to make good on his threats: he ties Kemp up, puts him into his car, and then sends the car over a cliff. Kemp perishes in the crash.
[edit] BBC serial
The character of Kemp also appears in the BBC serialization of The Invisible Man screened in the UK in 1984. In this version he is played by David Gwillim and is given the first name Samuel. Kemp is portrayed in this version almost identically to his portrayal the novel, even down to physical description. Although he enters the story at the halfway mark as in the book, he is introduced earlier on in the narrative when Griffin reads a paper on optical density written by Kemp when researching in the Coah & Horses Inn, and realizes he is the same person he once studied with. Griffin's subsequent intrusion into Kemp's house is therefore planned, rather than purely coincidental.
[edit] Mr. Hall
Mr. Hall is the husband of Mrs. Hall and helps her run the Coach and Horses Inn. He is the first person in Iping to notice that the mysterious Griffin is invisible: when a dog bites him and tears his glove, Griffin retreats to his room and Hall followes to see if he is alright, only to see Griffin without his glove and handless (or it appears to Hall).
Mr. Hall appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation, where he is given the first name Herbert. In the film, he is portrayed by Forrester Harvey.
[edit] Mrs. Hall
Mrs. Hall is the wife of Mr. Hall and the owner of the Coach and Horses Inn.
A very friendly, down-to-earth woman who enjoys socializing with her guests, Mrs. Hall is continually frustrated by the mysterious Griffin's refusal to talk with her, and his repeated temper tantrums.
Mrs. Hall appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation, where she was played by Una O'Connor and given the first name Jenny. In the film version, her primary occupation is to scream.
[edit] Thomas Marvel
Thomas Marvel is a jolly old tramp unwittingly recruited to assist the Invisible Man as his first visible partner. He carries around the Invisible Man's scientific notebooks for him and, eventually, a large sum of money that Griffin had stolen from a bank. Eventually Thomas grows afraid of his unseen partner and flees to Port Burdock, taking both the notebooks and the money with him, where he seeks police protection.
Although the Invisible Man is furious and vows to kill Thomas for his betrayal, and even makes an attempt on his life before being driven off by a police officer, he becomes preoccupied with hiding from the law and retaliating against Dr. Kemp, and Thomas is spared.
Marvel eventually uses the stolen money to open his own inn, which he calls the Invisible Man, and became very wealthy. He also secretly studies Griffin's notes and finds out the secret of invisibility, but opts not to do anything with it because he knows better.
In Alan Moore's comics series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which Griffin is a major character, Marvel is said to be the man killed by a mob at the end of the original novel, after being substituted by Griffin himself.
[edit] Col. Adye
Col. Adye is the chief of police in the town of Port Burdock. He is called upon by Dr. Kemp when the Invisible Man turned up in Kemp's house talking of taking over the world with his "terrible secret" of invisibility. A very able-bodied and reliable officer, Adye not only saves Kemp from the Invisible Man's first attempt on his life but also spearheads the hunt for the unseen fugitive.
He is eventually shot by the Invisible Man with his own revolver. Although upon being shot, Adye is described as falling down and not getting back up, he is mentioned in the epilogue as being one of those who had questioned Thomas Marvel about the whereabouts of the Invisible Man's notebooks, and it is never made clear whether this occurred prior to his being shot, or if it occurred afterwards and Adye survived.
[edit] Dr. Cuss
Dr. Cuss is a doctor living in the town of Iping.
Intrigued by tales of a bandaged stranger staying at the Coach and Horses Inn, Dr. Cuss goes to see him under the pretense of asking for a donation to the nurse's fund. The strange man, Griffin, scares Cuss away by pinching his nose with his invisible hand. Cuss went immediately to see Rev. Bunting, who not surprisingly did not believe the doctor's wild story.
Later, after Griffin had been exposed as the The Invisible Man, Cuss and Bunting got ahold of his notebooks, but these were stolen back from them by the invisible Griffin, who took both men's clothes. Although the unlucky Reverend had all his clothing stolen by Griffin, Cuss only lost his pants.
[edit] Bobby Jaffers
Bobby Jaffers is a constable in the town of Iping. He is called upon by Mr. and Mrs. Hall to arrest Griffin after they suspected him of robbing the Reverend Bunting. Like most of the people in Iping, Jaffers was both openminded and adaptable - He overcame his shock at the discovery that Griffin was invisible pretty quickly, determined to arrest him in spite of this.
Jaffers appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- The Invisible Man is also a movie produced by Universal Pictures in 1933, directed by James Whale. Griffin was played by Claude Rains and given the first name "Jack". The movie is considered one of the great Universal horror films of the 1930s, and it spawned a number of sequels, plus many spinoffs using the idea of an "invisible man" that were largely unrelated to Wells' original story. Among these were The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940) and Invisible Agent (1942).
- An episode of Josie and the Pussycats {Cartoon} had Josie and friends capturing a criminal Invisible Man-named Kemp-with the help of a scientist-named Griffin. {Kemp had been an assistant to Griffin; also - in this version the "Invisible Man" formula can be reversed}.
- A Japanese film entitled Invisible Man was released by legendary studio Toho in 1954, and is a loose adaption of the story.
- A comic version of the theme, starring Chevy Chase, was released in 1992 as Memoirs of an Invisible Man.
- Another related movie is the 2000 Paul Verhoeven film Hollow Man, a loosely inspired adaptation starring Kevin Bacon.
- In the 1987 compilation comedy Amazon Women on the Moon, a "son" of the original Invisible Man played by Ed Begley, Jr. appears in a short spoof of the 1933 Claude Rains film, titled Son of the Invisible Man. He was named simply "Griffin".
- The novel was adapted into a six-part TV series screened by the BBC in the UK in 1984, also called The Invisible Man. This version starred Pip Donaghy in the title role, and stayed much more faithful plot-wise to the novel than any other film or TV adaptation to this date.
- At least three television series called The Invisible Man have been produced for American television, each casting the title character in the role of secret agent. Another U.S. TV adaptation of the novel was called Gemini Man.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
Rock bands Queen, Helloween and Marillion have all recorded songs called "The Invisible Man"; Scatman John covered Queen's version. The British satirical show Spitting Image also featured a song called "The Invisible Man", sung by the puppet of then-Employment Secretary Tom King.
The character of the Invisible Man, given a full name of "Hawley Griffin", appears in the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. In the movie adaptation, the character is renamed "Rodney Skinner", and instead of being the inventor of the formula, he is a thief who stole the formula. Skinner was especially created for the film due to copyright issues regarding the 1933 Universal film.
Shea Dacus was once called the Invisible Man because he was so fast.
Ken Hill adapted the book to play form in 1991, and it debuted at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1991. It played in the West End in 1993 with Michael N. Harbour as Griffin.
Invisible Man is Monster in My Pocket #46. In the comic book series, he was allied with the good monsters. In the animated special, he was rechristened Dr. Henry Davenport and became leader of the good monsters.
The book The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett mentioned the book.
Castlevania often has enemies and bosses that reference to old literature and films. In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, The Invisible Man makes an appearance as an enemy that dwells in the sewers. His clothes (before discarding them to stalk you unseen) are respective to The Invisible Man, wearing a long, thick, tall-collared coat, gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat. He also dies in a similar fashion.
[edit] Science
In 2006 Graeme Milton at Utah University and Nicolae-Alexandru Nicorovici at University of Technology, Sydney claimed to have worked out how to make a "cloaking device" to render objects invisible at certain frequencies of light. The cloaking device relies on recently discovered materials that have a negative refractive index, which effectively makes light travel backwards [1].
Russian writer Yakov I. Perelman pointed out in Physics Can Be Fun (1913) that from a scientific point of view, a man made invisible by Griffin's method should have been blind, since a human eye works by absorbing incoming light, not letting it through completely.
[edit] External links
- The Invisible Man, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Text of the novel
- The Invisible Man in TomeRaider 3 Format
- Librivox recording of The Invisible Man -- free, human-read audiobook
- 3 may 2006 guardian article about Milton and Nicorovici's invention
| Iconic Horror Characters in Cinema | |
|---|---|
| Classic: | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Count Dracula | The Fly | Frankenstein's monster | The Invisible Man | The Mummy | Count Orlok | The Phantom | The Wolf Man |
| Modern: | The Alien | Norman Bates | Chucky | Ghostface | Jigsaw |The Fisherman| Freddy Krueger | Leatherface | Hannibal Lecter | The Living Dead | Regan MacNeil | Michael Myers | Pinhead | Kayako Saeki | Damien Thorn | Jason Voorhees | Samara Morgan/Sadako Yamamura |
