As we discussed in class, there is this law that these beast people follow as they live on the island that is the guideline to their society as if a religion. This law must be followed and if broken will be punished and taken back to the house of pain as they always reiterate to themselves as they repeat the law together. There has been an incident that has occurred that concerns Montgomery and Moreau since one of the laws were broken as Montegmory and Prendick encountered a dead rabbit that was mauled and still fresh. The LawĀ was “Not to eat Flesh nor Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” Moreau is the enforcer and overseer of the laws that keep order of the beast menĀ and when he summons all the beast men to gather, he states that the Sayer of the law to say the words of the law, he stops at the one that was broken. He begins to ask, “Who is he?”, “Who breaks the law,” they responded “- goes back into the House of Pain.” Monreau has such a big factor on these beast men that not only are they timid in his presence but as he gets to the bottom of who is the one who broke one of his laws as the leopard man was the prime suspect, it’s stated,”Monreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard Man, and seemed to be dragging the very soul out of the creature.” This gives the reader the sense of ho almighty and powerful Monreau is seen by the beast men of the island. He is viewed as not just a master but as an idol or religious figure that they admire, are afraid of, and will follow his words as their guidance.
10 thoughts on “Dr.Moreau and His Law (The Religion of the Island)”
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I agree with your assessment of who Dr. Moreau is to the beast people of the island. Dr. Moreau is seen like a god to the beasts and is both feared and respected. His questioning of the beasts as to who broke the law shows the fear he instills on the beast with the use of mentioning of the House of Pain. The admiration is evident when four of the beasts arrives late to the gathering Dr. Moreau has assembled which included the Leopard-man and the Ape-man which results in the reaction from āThe earlier animals, hot and weary with their groveling, shot vicious glances at him.ā Found on page 115 showed the respect the beasts expected from each other.
I agree with your post because Moreau is the enforcer of the laws that keep the entire beast folk population in check. They view Moreau as the master because the beast folks know that if they disobey they will endure more pain. They also remember the pain caused to them by Moreauās experimentation so they seem to be very fearful of him. He also seems to be ruthless and wants the beast folk to witness and know what will happen if they break any of the laws he enforced because when Prendick shot the Leopard man, he cried out not to shoot him and then yelled at Prendick for killing the Leopard man. He wanted to torture the Leopard man and set an example for the rest of the beast people. Iām a little bit confused because you mention that the beast people view him as a āreligious figureā. There wasnāt really indication in the book as to if the beast people view him as a religious figure. I know that there was the part where he explains his experiments to Prendick and he kind of thinks heās playing God because heās creating such hybrid creatures, but it doesnāt really say that the beast people view him as a religious figure. Though I might be wrong, so if you can just explain that Iāll appreciate it.
I agree that the beast men are afraid of Monreau because once created, they never stuck around the “house of pain,” from which they came from. Instead the beast men migrated deep into the forest, away from the horrible memories of their past home. The law created by Monreau keeps life on the island balanced. If the beast men were to eat meat, they would become dangerous predators. The law itself seems to have been created with the intention of keeping the beast men away from their animal characteristics and natural wildlife desires. The law forces these beast men to adopt human like behaviors. If broken, they will be hunted as shown when Monreau went off in search of the leopard man.
I Agree and would like to build upon the point of Moreau being this idol figure to the creatures on the island. In the story, especially in the moment that you discuss we see Moreau not only taking the role of the law which for the sake of my argument is the judge. But he also takes the role of the Prosecutor/ Punisher. Earlier in the book Moreau states āthe study of nature makes a man at last as remorseless as nature.ā (pg.93) Moreau took on that unchanging force of the repercussion for āSinā which is why he could assert authority among the beast-men so well. Later, when Moreau dies it shows you just how crucial and great he was for the beastsā perception of the law. āWe love the law, and will keep it; But there is no pain, no Master, no Whips for ever again.ā (pg.154) By the death of Moreau you see a great change with their perception of the law like the loss of repercussions. This is important because before the writer wrote that the beasts were hypnotized. In Psychology if there is not an electrical shock to the subject there wonāt be any change in the subjects behavior and in this case the loss of this āpositiveā reinforcement started a decline in the behavior of these beasts.
I agree with Chris on how all these creatures have such respect for Dr. Moreau not only as their master but their god. I also want to specify on the point that Moreau didn’t really care for his creatures. He was more like an evil god, because if he did really love them he wouldn’t have just shot them like that. In addition the law was everything to these creatures. And then again The Law was just Dr. Moreau. So I believe these creatures instead had to come up with a plan to get rid of The Law. They started to fight The Law in order to be free. While some of these creatures didn’t see him as the law , they see him as their good god. Instead those bowed to him as a symbol of respect and admiration and snitch on the other creatures who didnāt see him as that good God.
I agree, Moreau has a god complex, though he does not believe himself to be god. He believes himself to be judge jury and executioner. His influence causes the Law to be enforced heavily. This shows the reader that a creation of an idol in religion and how the Law would be protected if broken. It also shows how far his authority goes through the island as no one turns a “blind eye” on others who might have broken the Law.
I would agree with you that Moreau is like a god to them but the laws were set in place to keep Moreau mind at peace. He knew that these beast people he created still held their animal instincts and were that they will eventually unleash their instincts upon the inhabitants of the island, whether for the good or the bad.He established these laws with the Ape man and Satyr who then transferred them to the rest of the community to create this religion where Moreau is to be feared and hailed like a god.
I agree with chris blog because Monreau is there god to them they love him and fear him the most. If an of them broken the law they would get punish, like how God did in the blibe, he cast away adam and eve from the graden of edan and he also did the flood. When the puma kill Monreau u kind of see how the beast people were losing there way and some were killing now because they had no god like feather to guide them. So they did not know what to do that’s why Edward had to make up a story to the beast people that Monreau gave up his old body and into another one and that to fear the law that Monreau is always watching. So that no more beart people will break the law
In that passage he talked about the law, and I think Law is the main thing in that Novel right now. That is what they follow. Since Moreau is dead, everyone was concerning about the law and what is going to happen in the future, since Moreau was their head. So Prendick told them that he is still out there looking at you guys. He symbolized something to Moreau and said what ever you guys do he is always watching you.
I also agree, like many, that Moreau stands as a “God” or enforcer to these beasts. Moreau establishes fear in the beasts, by reminding them of the “House of Pain” in which he experimented on them. The law stated not to eat flesh or fish. This law was broken and when called upon, they were scared. As stated earlier, by Antonio, Moreau acts as sort of the law, judge and prosecutor. He comes up with the law that they must follow and if broken, he decides the fate of that beast.