Friday, September 25, 2020

H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" (1897)

The Invisible Man was H.G. Wells' fifth novel. Initially serialized in Pearson's Weekly magazine, it was published as a novel by Pearson in 1897. Wells' first novel, The Time Machine, was essentially a fantasy adventure with a sociopolitical subtext. His second, The Wonderful Visit, was a satire, while his third, The Island of Doctor Moreau was a survival-horror tale. After the lighter-toned bicycle adventure The Wheels of Chance, Wells' wrote The Invisible Man as a mystery-farce, although it has some thriller elements in its final act. Wells followed up his portrait of the morally-starved Mr. Griffin with the grim alien invasion epic War of the Worlds, probably his most famous creation.

One of the most enjoyable things about this novel (apart from the invisibility itself) is that the main character, the "Invisible Man", is essentially a power-hungry madman, and all other characters in the book act as supporting characters to this true "anti-hero".

Synopsis

  1. THE STRANGE MAN’S ARRIVAL: One winter, a man with his head completely bandaged up and wearing large goggles arrives at the Coach and Horses inn in Iping. This strange “experimental researcher” gives off a brusque manner, and the innkeeper, Mrs. Hall, becomes slightly offended by his reticence.
  2. MR. TEDDY HENFREY’S FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Mrs. Hall asks Henfrey, a clock repairman, to look at the clock in the stranger’s room. When Henley is abruptly dismissed by the stranger, he complains to Mr. Hall, who begins to suspect his guest of being trouble.
  3. THE THOUSAND AND ONE BOTTLES: The next day, the stranger’s luggage arrives, which is comprised of six trunks filled with bottles, tubing and other glassware. While unloading his belongings, a dog bites him. When he goes upstairs to address his torn glove, Mr. Hall later catches a glimpse of a floating glove, but dismisses the strange vision as an illusion.
  4. MR. CUSS INTERVIEWS THE STRANGER: A curious doctor named Cuss visits the stranger, trying to pry out of him his true nature. During this visit, the stranger is suddenly forced to grab at a piece of scrap paper caught in a breeze. When Cuss declares that the man’s cuff has no hand within it, the stranger approaches him and an unseen force pinches Cuss’ nose. Cuss flees in a panic as the man laughs.
  5. THE BURGLARY AT THE VICARAGE: In the hours just before dawn one night, Iping’s vicar, Mr. Bunting, and his wife are woken by sounds of a burglar in their study. An unseen (but audibly sneezing) force escapes with their gold savings.
  6. THE FURNITURE THAT WENT MAD: That same morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Hall snoop around their lodger’s empty room, they find the stranger’s clothes and bandages on the bed. Suddenly the stranger’s hat flies into Mrs. Hall’s face and the furniture rises into the air and drives them out of the room. When the Halls ask Wadgers the blacksmith to come over and help investigate this “witchcraft”, the bandaged stranger emerges and points out a nearby bottle of sarsaparilla.
  7. THE UNVEILING OF THE STRANGER: Mrs. Hall finally confronts the stranger for non-payment of the rent. The man becomes angry and unwraps the bandages around his head, revealing an empty space underneath. A panic ensues as everyone in the house flees. The Halls then ask Jaffers, the constable, to investigate the man. They enter and accuse the headless figure of robbing Bunting’s vicarage. The Invisible Man takes off all of his clothes and invisibly fights his way out to the street and escapes. Constable Jaffers is knocked unconscious in the scuffle.
  8. IN TRANSIT: Down the street, a neighbor hears sneezing and cursing from an invisible figure as it passes by his house.
  9. MR. THOMAS MARVEL: Outside Iping, a slightly confused tramp with a battered top hat named Mr. Marvel is accosted by the Invisible Man. After he finally convinces Marvel of his existence, the Invisible Man forces Marvel to help him get some clothes and retrieve his belongings from Mrs. Hall’s Coach and Horses inn.
  10. MR. MARVEL’S VISIT TO IPING: In Iping, a man named Huxter sees Mr. Marvel arrive in town and act strangely “undecided” in front of the Mrs. Hall’s Coach and Horses inn. Eventually he goes inside and then emerges with a sack of clothing and some books. Huxter tries to pursue this apparent thief, but is tripped by an unseen force.
  11. IN THE “COACH AND HORSES”: When Mr. Marvel enters the “Coach and Horses”, he helps the Invisible Man re-enter his old room. There he finds Cuss and Bunting (the doctor and vicar) peeking at his encrypted diary. He attacks them and threatens them into submission.
  12. THE INVISIBLE MAN LOSES HIS TEMPER: The Invisible Man forces Cuss and Bunting to give him their clothes as well as his diary. He hands off the goods to Marvel who leaves the inn and escapes down the street, while the Invisible Man attacks their pursuers. Eventually, the Invisible Man becomes angered from one of his chasers’ lucky blow and goes on a rampage about the entire town, before finally departing.
  13. MR. MARVEL DISCUSSES HIS RESIGNATION: Marvel and the Invisible Man head towards Bramblehurst. Along the way, Marvel tries to convince the Invisible Man that he is not fit for the Man’s needs. The Invisible Man threatens him with violence if he tries to escape.
  14. AT PORT STOWE: In Port Stowe, while Marvel sits in front of an inn, the Invisible Man robs the nearby stores and puts the money into Marvel’s pocket for safekeeping until they make their departure. A mariner engages Marvel in conversation about news of the Invisible Man from Iping. Marvel starts to confide something, but then suddenly acts strangely and jerkily walks away.
  15. THE MAN WHO WAS RUNNING: In Burdock, a scientist named Kemp sees Marvel running down his street in a strange, leaden manner and dismisses him as a fool. Later, the street erupts into a panic as a warning goes out: ““The Invisible Man is coming!”.
  16. IN THE “JOLLY CRICKETERS”: Marvel enters a bar (the “Jolly Cricketers”) and locks the door. He asks a policeman, a cab man and the bartender to protect him from the Invisible Man. Despite their best precautions, the Invisible Man manages to break in and attacks Marvel. The three men somehow manage to land a few blows on the Invisible Man and drive him outside. Five shots ring out.
  17. DR. KEMP’S VISITOR: Later, Kemp is surprised to find the Invisible Man in his house. The Man tells Kemp that he is Griffin, an albino friend from their old school days of a dozen years ago. Griffin is evasive about his wrist wound (from the gun shot) and about how he has obtained money, but asks Kemp for help.
  18. THE INVISIBLE MAN SLEEPS: Kemp allows Griffin to sleep in his room, although Griffin threatens him with harm if he is betrayed. While Griffin sleeps, Kemp catches up on the news and learns of Griffin’s recent exploits in Iping, Bramblehurst, Port Stowe and at the “Jolly Cricketers”.
  19. CERTAIN FIRST PRINCIPLES: The next day Griffin explains that he had become invisible through a secret method of turning his body transparent through irradiated pigments. Griffin admits that he had soon run out of funds for his research in London and had to steal from his father, after which his father had then shot himself.
  20. AT THE HOUSE IN GREAT PORTLAND STREET: Griffin describes how he first used his methodology to turn a cat invisible while lodging in a rented house. Drawn by the cat’s meowing, his landlady had then become suspicious of illegal vivisection occurring in her abode. Griffin had then quickly undergone the (painful) invisibility procedure himself and then escaped the house (after setting it on fire).
  21. IN OXFORD STREET: Griffin’s brief exultation at becoming invisible had then soon turned into dismay as he began colliding with various people and vehicles on the street. It had been January and his naked foray onto the street had also given him a cold. With his naked feet trailing mud and cut by road detritus, two boys had then tried to follow his ghostly tracks down the street until he had managed to clean the soles of his feet.
  22. IN THE EMPORIUM: Griffin finds refuge for the night in the Emporium (a department store) and finds some clothing. However, the next morning he is discovered by employees who chase him around the store until he again doffs his clothing. After things die down, he escapes the Emporium.
  23. IN DRURY LANE: After breaking into a costume shop and knocking out its hunchbacked owner, Griffin had then completed his traveling disguise and then gone off to Iping to work on a cure for himself. He expresses to Kemp his exasperation at all of the morons who have gotten in his way and tells Kemp that his crimes were unavoidable.
  24. THE PLAN THAT FAILED: Griffin decides that he plans to instigate a “Reign of Terror” over Kemp’s little town of Burdock, killing anyone who dares question his authority. Kemp keeps him talking while Constable Adye (whom Kemp had written a message to earlier) and his men arrive and try to organize a trap. Griffin hears the noises of the new arrivals and batters Kemp aside in another escape.
  25. THE HUNTING OF THE INVISIBLE MAN: Kemp tells Adye that they must capture Griffin and recommends all of the village doors to be locked and dogs to be used to hunt him down. He also suggests putting powdered glass on the roads to injure/expose him.
  26. THE WICKSTEED MURDER: Later that day, a man named Wisksteed sees an iron rod floating in the air. He chases the floating rod into a briar patch, after which Griffin beats his head in from anger and frustration (his first murder).
  27. THE SIEGE OF KEMP’S HOUSE: Griffin sends Kemp a note indicating that he will now start his Terror and begin it by killing Kemp himself for his betrayal. In the afternoon, Griffin arrives and begins smashing in Kemp’s windows. Adye arrives and they decide that Adye should go send for dogs. When Adye goes back outside Griffin manages to disarm him and shoots him. Some more policemen arrive and they manage to drive Griffin back outside. Kemp escapes the house with the housemaid during the struggle.
  28. THE HUNTER HUNTED: Kemp tries to find refuge in his neighbor Mr. Heelas’ house, but Heelas sees the signs of an invisible creature coming after Kemp and turns him away. Kemp eventually makes it down to the tram station where he attracts the attention of nearby workers. Griffin attacks Kemp, but a crowd of concerned citizens piles on top of the two and Griffin is eventually pummeled to death by the mob. Upon his death, color returns to his body, revealing an albino, white-haired corpse.
  • Epilogue: Mr. Marvel uses the stolen money he had obtained for Griffin in Port Stowe to open an inn named “The Invisible Man”. At night he studies Griffin’s diary and dreams of learning the secrets of invisibility for himself.