Dystopian themes where a future society is suffering is a thread that runs through the books ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley and ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’. They both represent a dystopian nature. ‘Brave New World’ is a new society that has been shaped where there is a faultless human. However, an individual called Bernard Marx rebels against society’s norms. Additionally, the ‘Island of Dr. Moreau’ is about a doctor called Moreau who carries out harsh experiments on human-animal hybrids and challenges society's norms and ideals.
During the times in which these books were written, the shared values and norms in the society within the two books differed from scientific discovery and social change in the Victorian period to the strain and struggle of the different social classes in the 1930s after the great depression of 1929.
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These social conventions greatly affected the works of Huxley and Wells. For example, Wells wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau towards the end of the 19th century, new technology and scientific advancements were an innovative way of life for Victorian society. Many were intrigued and even anxious about what this would mean for the future of Victorian society. Wells's personal life affected the events and themes running through the novel. Wells's personal zoology teacher, Edwin Lancaster, stated that if it was possible to manipulate the evolutionary scale to advance the knowledge of science, it was possible to decline it. This 'theory' worked in union with the moral panic about the decline of Victorian civilization. This advancement and fall created a haunting nightmare for the British Empire to a worryingly large extent. Showing this through the character Moreau, without him there to command the beast folk, they will decline down the evolutionary scale back to their original animal state. Scientists like Moreau can now puppeteer the gap between us humans and the 'beasts' and fog the boundaries between the two.
“I did not know yet how far they were from the human heritage I ascribed to them” Predicts discourse would have made the typical Victorian reader question the morals and beliefs of the audience at the time the book was written. Arguably, Prendick agreeing with the idea of vivisection as a way of accumulating more scientific knowledge runs with the thread that the dystopian theme of the novel was not agreed with during the time that the book was written. Moreover, the impact of ‘humans’ creates an atmosphere in which we are distantly related to animals but we still have to distinguish the differences between us. Moreover, in prendicks epilogue when he is back in England claims that 'men are just animals in suits' implying that humans and animals are different from each other, but have more likelihood than what people thought. Additionally, towards the end of the 19th, the publication of Darwin’s Origins of the Species’ noted that treating animals more ‘humanely’ created a sense of moral force with the Victorians, and as a result, animal rights protests were occurring, however, it also created a new mindset for the Victorians and they began questioning if God was even real at all. Wells's novel can be seen as a warning against the use of animals for science, he depicts human control through Moreau and creates horrific imagery therefore making this an ideal dystopian novel to impact society in the way that it did.
Wells challenged the religious conventions of society by creating Moreau as a god-like feature by performing vivisections and altering God's creations. Being in control of life only exists within God and religion but by Moreau doing this, it becomes detrimental to society, therefore creating a sense of moral panic with science progressing rapidly. Darwin and Wells together opened up anxieties about the gap between humans and animals and thus it became unclear in which direction humanity was going. Debating vivisection shows how far scientists will go and to stretch morality to gain more knowledge and Moreau crosses over a boundary that should have not been crossed.
Dystopian Literature has key aspects of religion and how that religion affects the society that the book is set in. Many authors integrate society's morals and views into their work to see what it would be like if they were challenged and a future where they are no longer viable. In the Island of dr Moreau, the law of the beast folk represents religion through their law, and that Law is meant to mock religious views. Here, Moreau is represented as a god-like figure to the beast folk through the way that they speak to him. 'His is the hand that feels' can closely relate to the bible quote Colossians 1:17 'And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together'. The two quotes can relate because, on the one hand, Moreau is the creator of the beast folk and uses them in a way to benefit his ideal suggesting that Moreau is portrayed as an anti-catholic as he believes he can manipulate God's work by creating the beast folk. Additionally, the bible passages about God and his hands show how the hand of God is what keeps his creations, us, going in life. Moreau playing god and rebelling against the Victorian ideal of a heavily religious society can be seen as a note from Wells about his own experience with religion due to his mother being religious and Wells having a rebellious attitude towards this. Wells still however believed in God, in the novel 'The Invisible King' it stated that Wells still had a strong belief in god it was the detailed and complex theory of God. The way that God had affected society and people's lives was what was confusing to Wells, the idea that people were something that they were not. In conjunction with this, wells's own experiences and the typical ideals of Victorian society at the time were influenced by religion and the idea of religion being questioned by figures like Darwin and novels such as The Island of Dr Moreau created feelings of anxiety about what future society would be and if victorian standards would continue, displaying dystopian feelings and attitudes. Wells may have intended to create Dr. Moreau as an example or even as a warning of how religion can be shaped into an 'excuse' for ethical scientific experiments. Creating a distorted reality and creating a dystopian atmosphere regarding religion and how it can be warped to fit the new generation's ideals.
Even with Dr Moreau evoking interest, the reader could never truly fully understand what drove more urge to create and explore the natural order of creation. While Moreau's creations have a range from curious and bizarre to hellish and abominable, Moreau never really claims any effective moral exception. Moreau's perverted god-like figure through his affiliations with vivisection and moral justification may be from the only religious or legal authority he acknowledges. However, it can be argued that Moreau is not like this at all because it may be seen that Wells is subtly trying to get the thoughts of the reader's own faith and scientific beliefs involved. This can be shown through themes of a god complex through predicting the perception of Moreau and predicting his thoughts and actions regarding the beast folk. Maybe the reader's confusion surrounding more likeliness with religious ideas is pinpointed to what Wells intended. He demonstrates how religious beliefs can be shaped and distorted for the diabolic causes that Moreau intended to fill. This shows how dangerous religion can be because of the way it can be so easily manipulated.
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