The Invisible Man--notes (1)

THE INVISIBLE MAN NOTES Chapter 1 

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A stranger entered an inn named ‘Coach and Horses’, in an agitated manner. He is said to stagger into the inn more dead than alive, demanding food, a room and fire. Not just his manner appears strange but how and why he had wrapped himself from head to foot, every inch of his face being wrapped in bandage except the tip of his pink nose, was a matter which raised many doubts. Mrs. Hall, the owner of the inn, was happy to receive him as generally people didn’t stop in the winters. Also, to her he appeared as a sober and simple man. When she went to serve him in his room, she was startled at his appearance and it was evident that he was embarrassed of his true appearance. She, therefore, assumed that he must have met some horrible accident which has quite rendered his features disfigured. She pitied him and tried to draw him into a conversation by describing an accident which had taken place with her sister’s son. But the stranger kept avoiding to speak more than was required. Towards the end of this chapter, we find that Mrs. Hall felt offended at the behavior of the stranger, as he was rude to her. She still tolerated him, remembering the two sovereigns which he had paid. The story is set in a small town ,Iping and as is generally seen, small town people know everyone and notice everything. At the same time money is equally important to them.

Chapter 2  Teddy Henfreyis introduced in this chapter, as the clock jobber, who comes to the inn to look at the clock.  The stranger doesn’t appreciate that he is being disturbed even if it was to repair the clock. He tells Mrs. Hall that he is an experimental investigator. He desires solitude and therefore, doesn’t want to be disturbed. Also, due to an accident, his eyes are weak and painful, so he needs to shut himself and therefore gets annoyed when disturbed.  Mr. Henfrey, finding the stranger very intriguing, wants to strike a conversation with him. So even though it wasn’t required, still he sets down to his work of repairing the clock in as slow a manner as possible. The stranger, on the other hand, tells him rudely to finish and leave.  On his way back, Henfrey met Mr. Hall and tells him about the strange guest. He doubts the credulity of the guest as neither did he give his name when he took the room nor does he reveal his face.  Mr. Hall, decides to speak to the guest as he wasn’t unaffected by Henfrey’s opinion. When he reaches the inn, he goes to the parlour where the stranger sat for the whole day,

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examined his notes, the furniture and then leaves asking Mrs. Hall to scrutinize the guest’s luggage when it arrives the next day. The chapter ends telling the readers about the fear that has set in the heart of Mrs. Hall. She wakes up in the middle of the night, dreaming of huge white heads like turnips, at the end of interminable necks with vast black eyes. This chapter tells us about how in small towns word spreads very fast and that they don’t let things go so easily. Also how Mrs. Hall’s opinion regarding the guest gradually changes.

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The stranger avoided being in the vicinity of dogs. This became evident in this chapter. Mr. Fearensidewith his dog, came to deliver the luggage of the stranger. The dog attacked the stranger and bit him. Mr. Hall felt bad that his guest was attacked by the dog and so he goes after him to his room to offer some help. As the door was open, he witnessed a strange sight – a handless arm and a face of three indeterminate on white. Immediately he was pushed out and the door was shut on him. The luggage of the stranger contained a thousand and one bottles—of varying sizes and contents. Other than these, there were test tubes and carefully packed balances. The stranger was so desperate to start his work that not only did he sit down immediately but also became oblivious to how he was dirtying Mrs. Hall’s carpet with straw, liquids and broken glasses. To her complains, his answer was to put everything in his bill. Like Henfrey, Fearenside also found the guest strange and had noticed that there was no pink of the skin visible where his dog had bitten him. He came to the conclusion that the man was coloured like a piebald horse—white here and black there, in patches. In this chapter, we actually get to know clearly that the guest was an invisible man, maybe became invisible due to some experiments and now was desperate to undo it. Also the curiosity of the people doesn’t rest and they start assuming the various reasons which the guest may have for covering himself in such a fashion.

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Mr. Hall wasn’t comfortable with the continued stay of the man in their inn and so he asked Mrs. Hall to get rid of him. She agreed that the man was overbearing but at the same time she didn’t want to lose on the money. He was paying his bills on time and that was enough reason for her to let him continue. The man’s temper and strange habits have been discussed here—He stayed indoors all through the day. He never spoke to anyone. His temper was uncertain; of a man suffering and things were snapped, torn, crushed or broken. He seemed to be under

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chronic irritation and he would talk to himself. At twilight, he would go out all muffled up, no matter what the weather was and would chose the loneliest paths for his walk. Opinion of the people about the man’s occupation : Mrs. Hall said that he was an experimental investigator and that he discovered things. He has had an accident which has temporarily discoloured his face and hands. Teddy Henfreywas of the opinion that he was a criminal and thereby hiding behind those bandages from law. Mr. Gould , the probationary assistant in a school, said that he was an Anarchist in disguise, preparing explosives. Mr. Fearenside had the piebald view and listening to his view, Silas Durgan felt that the man should show himself in the fairs as then he will make some money. Whatever difference there might be in their opinion about the man, they all agreed in disliking the man. Mr. Cuss, the general practitioner, was interested in knowing the man and went to meet him on the pretext of asking for a subscription for the Nurse’s Fund. But he came out of his room, so scared and nervous that he couldn’t explain what happened inside. When he calmed down, he explained that the man was apparently irritated and then tweaked Mr. Cuss’s nose with an invisible hand. This chapter further highlights the small town people’s interest in any strange happening in their place. It also tells us that the invisible man starts losing his temper and is no more scared of people knowing his true identity. He, rather, has started scaring them away.

Chapter 5  This chapter gives us the first insight into the criminal mind of the invisible man.  In the early hours of dawn on Whit Monday, a burglary takes place in the house of the vicar, Mr. Bunting. The couple was all the time aware of the presence of someone in their house and Mr. Bunting went around with a poker to strike the thief but they couldn’t see him. They could only hear him sneeze and hear the chink of the money before it disappeared from their house. Chapter 6  The same day, Mrs. and Mr. Hall were also awake in the early hours of the day as they had some private work in their cellar  Mr. Hall went down to fetch something and as he was going down, he noticed that the door to the stranger’s room was ajar. He continued with his errand but while returning, he found the front door only on a latch while he clearly remembered that Mrs. Hall had bolted it the previous night. Also, that the door to the stranger’s room was shut.  He reported this to Mrs. Hall and together they went to investigate only to find the stranger’s room vacant. Also all his clothes were strewn on the bed and the room. As they stood there, the clothes started flying on their own. Also the furniture started

behaving strangely and Mrs. and Mr. Hall were slightly hit by a chair and thrown out of the room. Chapter 7 

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Mrs. Hall was so upset with the events of the Whit Monday morning that she didn’t serve breakfast to the stranger and didn’t even respond to the bell that he rang many a times. Finally, on his call, she went, but boldly told him that nothing would be served till he pays his previous bills. The stranger informed her that he had money, to which Mrs. Hall showed surprise and asked him where he had got the money from. She courageously, for the first time, asked him about his strange behavior. The stranger finally lost his patience and removed all his bandages, his glasses and cap to reveal a headless figure. Looking at him, Mrs. Hall fainted and the other people around were aghast at this scene. The stranger just walked away with his food. At this moment, Mr. Hall with Mr. Jaffers (constable), entered the parlour with an arrest warrant for the stranger, on the charges of robbery. But the stranger managed to escape by getting rid of all his clothes as he is invisible without them.

In here, we find that the stranger no more tries to hide himself from anyone rather he thinks that he can scare people away and get what he wants. But soon he realizes that he cannot stay in Iping because people would be careful and he would be immediately arrested. So he leaves the place naked and with nothing. Chapter 9  

The stranger is naked, hungry and has caught cold. So he is sneezing. Also he has no place to go and he desperately needs clothes and his books which were left in the inn. He meets Mr. Thomas Marvel. Initially Marvel was not ready to believe that he is talking to an invisible man but finally he gets convinced. The stranger knows that Marvel is an outcast and so he promises to help Marvel if in return Marvel helps him. The invisible man tells Marvel that he is a ‘man of power’. Marvel is a greedy man and takes this as an opportunity to benefit himself. So he agrees.

Chapter 10  The people of Iping gradually start to settle down. Most of them had not felt or seen the invisible man remove his clothes, therefore for most of them the incident remained a story to be told and be fascinated about.  The two people who ever had any direct contact with him were Mr. Jaffers who was still lying hurt and Mr. Wadgers who was so scared of the whole thing that he had locked himself in his house.

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Then one day an unknown man entered Iping. As he wasn’t ever seen before, so people started noticing him. Also, he appeared to be nervous and talking to himself, which drew the attention of Mr. Hunter, who then started observing his movements. He entered the inn and opened the door to the parlour but was told that he can’t go in there. So he closed it again and came out of the inn. Then went and stood at a place where the parlour window opened and smoked. After a little while, he seemed to have disappeared but then re-appeared holding the three books wrapped in a bundle. Hunter saw all this and ran towards the inn calling out ‘thief’. What had happened here was that, on being convinced by the invisible man, Marvel along with him goes to Iping. His task was to open the door to the parlour and let the invisible man inside so that he could retrieve his books and clothes. Marvel was to carry the load of books and clothes and then they were to leave quietly. But events took an unexpected turn when Hunter observed everything and also started shouting.

Chapter 11and 12  Not just Hunter observed everything but even inside the parlour what the invisible man found was unexpected.  When he entered the parlour, he found Mr. Cuss and Mr. Bunting there going through his notes and trying to find more about him. This enraged him and he held their necks strongly and banged their chins on the table. He threatened to kill them if they made any noise.  Mr.Hall and Teddy Henfreywere standing outside the parlour door curiously to know what Mr. Cuss and Mr. Bunting were doing inside. After a while they heard some muffled sounds and words which didn’t make any sense to them.  At that moment, enters Mr. Hunter shouting and asking everyone to stop the thief. Everyone runs out after him thinking that Marvel is the thief. At the same time, the parlour door flings open and Mr. Cuss comes out asking Mrs. Hall to stop the invisible man who has taken away his and Mr. Bunting’s clothes.  So now the street is full of people running after Marvel, whom they think is the thief, and all of them are kicked and thrown away by an invisible hand. As they escaped from Iping, the invisible man also cut the telegraph wires. Chapter 13 Mr. Marvel was scared of the invisible man and the invisible man was upset with Mr. Marvel as he felt that Mr. Marvel had tried to run away from him with his books. So now as a precaution, the invisible man holds him all the way and threatens to kill him if he tried to betray him. Mr. Marvel tries to resign from being his assistant by saying that he is weak and that he could mess up his plans in future also but all was in vain. The invisible man needed him and so didn’t let him go.

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At Port Stowe, it was found that people’s money had started to disappear and was mysteriously landing in the pockets of Mr. Marvel. One day, he was sitting on a bench outside an inn when a mariner came and sat next to him. Marvel looked shabby, unshaven and travel stained. The mariner was a little surprised to hear the chink of money from the pockets of Marvel compared to his appearance. In order to strike a conversation, the mariner started discussing with him the strange happenings in Iping and the story about the invisible man. Marvel was already disgusted with the invisible man, so he was about to share some secret about him but couldn’t as that moment the invisible man came and held him hurtingly. In this chapter, we again come to know that the invisible man has no morals and that he only thinks of himself. He was using Marvel and making him a part of all his ill-deeds.

Chapter 15  The chapter describes the escape of Marvel from the clutches of the invisible man. But he runs away with his books which enrages the invisible man more. Wherever Marvel runs, he is un-relentlessly followed by him. Wherever Marvel ran, he screamed to people about the arrival of the invisible man, as a result of which, people started shutting themselves inside. Chapter 16  Marvel enters a bar ‘The Jolly Cricketers’’ and asks the people there to save him from the invisible man. Three men, the barman, a policeman and a bearded man came forward to help him. They barred the front door but soon realized that the backdoor was open.  By the time they move towards the back door, the invisible man had already entered very quietly. Marvel was hiding but not from the eyes of the invisible man. Soon Marvel was held and dragged by invisible hands.  The three men tried to hold Marvel and the barman hit the invisible hand. As a result, Marvel was released and he ran away while the others kept the invisible man occupied.  The bearded man shot five rounds from his revolver in the air assuming that at least one would hit the invisible man. One did hit but not enough to hold him there, rather he still managed to run away. Chapter 17  Hurt, naked and hungry, the invisible man rang the bell of Mr. Kemp’s house.He entered unseen and went and lay down in Mr. Kemp’s bed. Mr. Kemp who was in his study at that time was feeling quite restless and unable to concentrate.  At two in the morning, he decided to go to sleep. He had good observation and as he walked to his room, he noticed a dark stain on the floor, then the same stain on the door knob of his bedroom. When he finally entered his room, on removing the bedcover, he found blood.

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Before he could react, he heard somebody calling him by his name. On turning, he saw a bandage quite high up walking towards him. At the same time, a voice asked him to be quiet and steady. The same day he was ridiculing the story that went around about the invisible man. But now he was standing before him. When the invisible hands touched and held him, he panicked. The invisible man had recognized Mr. Kemps as an acquaintance from his past life and he thought this was an opportunity he mustn’t let go. So he convinced Mr. Kemps to just listen to him and to give him some food and clothes. Mr. Kemp, being a scientist himself, was curious to know what and how Griffin had turned invisible. So he let Griffin stay in his own bedroom, gave him his dressing gown and brought him food and whiskey. Griffin, on the other hand, turned Mr. Kemp out of his own bedroom, locked it from inside and went to sleep, with a promise that the next morning he would tell his story to him.

Chapter 18  Mr. Kemp couldn’t sleep throughout the night. He started devouring all the newspapers of any news about the invisible man and the chaos he had created. The more he thought about Griffin and what he had done, the more he was convinced that Griffin was a danger to the society.  Mr. Kemp wrote a letter to Colonel Adye, informing him about the whereabouts of Griffin.  He knew that Griffin would try to escape if he came to know about Colonel Adye’s coming, so the next morning, over breakfast, he tried to engage Griffin in talking and kept asking him about his life. At no point did he try to enrage Griffin as then he wouldn’t have told his story. Also Mr. Kemp had to keep his attention drawn to himself as he would have noticed the approaching police. Chapter 19 and 20  Mr. Kemp tried to win the confidence of Griffin by telling him that he was ready to help him but before that he needed to know more, the reasons behind his state.  FLASHBACK At the age of 22, Griffin became interested in optical density. He understood that if the refractive index of any solid or liquid was lowered to that of the air, then that object will become as invisible as air. He gives examples of paper and glass. Glass, which is transparent, becomes opaque when it is crushed to powder. He then took up the question of pigments and by accident, came to know that the red coloured pigment in the blood could be made colourless, still retaining all its properties. But in order to test this, he needed money for apparatus. He didn’t have

any money, so he stole it from his father. The money he stole, didn’t belong to his father but was someone else’s money. As a result, the father committed suicide. By then, he had taken up a room in a slum area of London, full of appliances which he had bought from the money he stole from his father. At this phase of life, Griffin became a man of ambition rather than a man of sentimentality. He didn’t feel sorry at his father’s death. He met a girl whom he had known ten years ago but then he forgot her as his experiments became more valuable to him. His first experiment was with a bit of white wool fabric. He saw it flicker and then fade away and vanish completely. He experimented next on a cat which later turned out to be belonging to the old woman who lived downstairs. He fed and drugged the cat so as to experiment on it. But the experiment failed as its claws and the black of its eyes wouldn’t vanish. Finally one day the cat left his house. The old woman suspected him of vivisecting and she informed the landlord. One day the landlord came asking for the strange sounds from the house. Also he asked about experimenting on animals to which Griffin denied. But at that time the vibration of the gas engine could be felt and the landlord made his way inside to find more about Griffin’s work. Griffin lost his temper and jabbing a figure at him, asked him to leave. At the thought of the possibility of his work being exposed, he took his three books and his cheque-book and directed them from the nearest Post office to a house of call for letters and parcels in Great Portland Street.Griffin had taken a strong dose of Strychnine as he wasn’t able to sleep and he felt that this drug invigorated him. Then someone rapped at his door. After having sent his books and cheque book, he was sitting under the influence of the drugs that decolourise blood, when there was continuous knocking at the door. Irritatingly Griffin opened the door and saw his landlord standing there. He tried handing him a notice of ejectment but then saw something strange in Griffin’s hands and face. So scared was he that he dropped the candle and went blundering down the stairs. Griffin was confused at his reaction. So he went to check himself and was shocked to see his face; his face was stone white. He actually had been sleeping on the bed with his apparatus attached. So gradually he had started becoming invisible but then he started feeling extreme pain and he felt that his body was on fire. But he still lay down and completed the process till he actually couldn’t even see himself in the looking-glass.

The landlord with his two step-sons and the old woman, presently returned with the aim of confronting Griffin. Due to persistent knocking, Griffin answered the door and saw the shock on their faces to find the room empty. They couldn’t see Griffin as he had turned invisible. They searched for Griffin everywhere but didn’t find him and Griffin sat there and wondered what he should do next. He came to the conclusion that if some well-educated man saw his apparatus, he may decipher what Griffin was trying to do. So he decided to destroy his apparatus by setting the house on fire. He left the house and felt all the advantages of being invisible. Chapter 21 and 22 The first difficulty that he encountered on being invisible was that he couldn’t see his feet while going the stairs and it was clumsy to hold the bolt. At the same time, he felt exalted and experienced a wild impulse to jest, startle people, clap men at their back, and fling their hats astray. The second difficulty arose when he tried to get into a stream of people, but they were thick for him, and in a moment his heels were trodden upon. Next he was naked and it was the month of January. The thin slime of mud that covered the road was freezing. He realized that he was still amenable to the weather and all its consequences. He had never realized that the nose is to the mind of a dog what the eye is to the mind of a seeing man. Dogs perceive the scent of a man moving as men perceive his vision. A dog began barking and leaping, as it seemed to be aware of him. Then his wet bare feet left wet, mud marks on the pavement which little children noticed and followed. He kept running and as far as his foot marks were visible, more and more people started following him. He was, by now, very tired, bleeding, bruised, and had caught a bad cold. He desperately needed clothes and food. Then he reached an Emporium and thought that here he can find everything that he wanted. He entered following another man. He went to a particular corner where there were beddings and lay down there to rest. At night when the store was locked and everybody had left, he went about finding clothes and food. He even found an artificial nose for himself and pocketing some money from the cash counters, he went to sleep thinking that in the morning he would be able to leave unnoticed. He saw a strange dream which give an insight into his guilt. In his dream, he was invisible but people were shoving him to his grave and stoning him.

In the morning, when he woke up he saw two men approaching. They also saw him and regarding him as a burglar, ran to catch him. They even shut the door. Griffin hid and then realized that with clothes he can’t escape. So he again had to remove all his clothes and escape from the store. Chapter 23 He again realized the condition he was in and how being invisible was becoming a problem for him. He was again out in the street, naked and cold. On the Drury Lane, he entered a shopkeeper’s shop. Problems of venturing out He couldn’t go out in snow as the snow would settle on him and expose him. Rain, too, would make him a watery outline, a glistening surface of a man—a bubble. And in fog, he should be like a fainter bubble, a surface, a greasy glimmer of humanity. As he went about in London air, he gathered dirt about his ankles, floating smuts and dust upon his skin. Griffin entered this shop which was quite drab. The shopkeeper was a short man but soon Griffin realized that he had very sharp ears. Griffin kept following him as he had the habit of closing the door wherever he went. At one point he shut the door before Griffin could enter. This gave griffin the chance to explore the house. While exploring his house, he came upon a room where some clothes were lying. But this made some sound and the shopkeeper came in. This maddened him so much that with a revolver in hand, he went about locking all doors. Griffin realized that he may be locked again in a room, so he struck the man from behind. Then he went about clothing himself, pocketing money and with a little makeup and mask, he left the shop. He went to a restaurant to have food, only to realize that he can’t eat his food without exposing his invisible face. So he left the food and felt saddened at state. Then he took up an accommodation in a hotel, so that he could have food in the privacy of a room. After this he finally went to Iping, with a mind to undo his present state of invisibility. Chapter 24 

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This chapter tells that Griffin had started trusting Mr. Kemp and so shared all his past and his plans for the future. He told him that before anything else, he needs to get his books back from Marvel but the problem was Marvel had got himself locked in the prison as protection against Griffin. Griffin told Kemp that he wanted a confederate who would help him in his work. Griffin also tells Kemp that the invisibility is useful to him in two regards: it’s useful in getting away, useful in approaching and therefore, useful in killing.

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He tells Kemp that he needs to establish a Reign of terror. He must take some town, terrify it and dominate it. He must issue his orders. And all who disobey his orders, he must kill and also those who protect them. As Griffin was discussing his plans, Colonel Adye, who was sent for by Mr. Kemp himself, had entered his house with the intention of arresting Griffin. But Griffin being very careful, heard the steps of people, understood what Kemp had done, became very enraged, called him a ‘traitor’, removed his clothes and injuring Kemp and Adye, escaped.

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Chapter 25 

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Kemp tells all the ways in which Griffin could be caught Prevent him from eating or sleeping Day and night the country must be astir for him Food must be locked up and secured The houses must be barred against him Heaven send us cold nights and rain (Kemp is wishful as it would be easier to catch Griffin) Dogs don’t see him but they wind him. His food shows till it is assimilated. So that he has to hide after he has eaten. Kemp asked the police to beat every thicket and every quiet corner. On the road, Kemp asked Adye to spread powdered glass. Kemp finally says that as Griffin has cut himself from his kind, his blood will be upon his head.

Chapter 26 On the instructions of Adye, the whole countryside began organizing with inconceivable rapidity. Every train travelled with locked doors, and the goods traffic was entirely suspended. In a circle of twenty miles, men armed with guns and bludgeons were presently setting out in groups of three and four, with dogs, to beat the roads and fields. Mounted policeman rode and warned the people to lock up their homes and keep indoors unless they were armed. All the elementary schools had broken up by three o’clock and the children, in groups, hurried home.  By nightfall, a thrill of horror went through the town when people started talking about the murder of Mr. Wicksteed. (believed to have been murdered by Griffin)  Mr. Wicksteed was a man of forty-five or forty- six, steward to Lord Burdock, of inoffensive habits and appearance, the very last person in the world to provoke Griffin. Chapter 27

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Kemp received a letter from Griffin whereby not only was he threatened but also reminded him of the Reign of Terror. Kemp tried to set a trap for Griffin by sending some notes for Adye and Griffin but on the way the servant was assaulted by Griffin. Next what happens, can be called as a siege of Kemp’s house. All the windows were shattered. Adye goes out of the house whereas Kemp keeps himself locked in the house. Adye is caught by Griffin, his revolver being snatched by Griffin. Griffin was only desperate to kill Kemp for having betrayed him. When Adye tried to catch him, he was shot by Griffin. Griffin becomes too angry and using an axe starts cutting the locked doors and windows so as to enter the house. By that time two more policemen come by and through their efforts, Kemp and the servant escape and later even Griffin had to leave.

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Kemp here was running away, trying to save himself from Griffin who was still pursuing him. But wherever Kemp went, people barred their doors and didn’t let him come in. After having run for a while, Kemp was hit and his throat was clutched by invisible hands. But the hold wasn’t very strong. Many people now came for help. With the efforts of people, Griffin was finally over powered. There was a doctor in the crowd and he realized that Griffin lay still and wasn’t breathing. Gradually his body started becoming visible. People around his dead body, covered it and then carried it inside.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS Griffin Griffin is the model of science without humanity. He begins his road to decline in college when he becomes so obsessed with his experiments that he hides his work lest anyone else should receive credit. When he runs out of money, he kills his own father-a crime that makes the rest of his crimes pale in comparison. He goes from scientist to fanatic when he begins to focus all of his attention merely on the concept of invisibility and neglects to think about the consequences of such a condition. He may not have had any intention initially of trying the potion on himself, but the interference of his landlord and prying neighbor lady motivate him to cover his work and remove himself from further confrontation. The evil that he could commit does not occur to him until after he has swallowed the potion and seen the reaction of the landlord and others. The irony is, that his invisibility is good only for approaching unseen and for getting away. Any gains from his crimes are useless to him. He cannot enjoy any of the normal comforts of life-such as food, clothes, and money. He cannot eat without hiding the action, as the food in his system will

render him visible. Clothes, when he is able to wear them, must be used to cover him from head to foot in order to conceal his real “concealment”--hardly a comfortable state in the heat of the summer. He can steal money, but cannot spend it on his own accord. Thus the condition that would make him invulnerable also renders him helpless. In spite of his predicament, Griffin at no time expresses any remorse for his behavior or for the crimes, which he merely describes as “necessary.” His only regret is frustration over not having thought about the drawbacks of invisibility. For nearly a year, he works on trying to perfect an antidote; when time runs out for that activity, he first tries to leave the country, and then, that plan failing, tries to find an accomplice for himself so he can enjoy his invisibility and have all the comforts of life as well. He goes from obsession to fanaticism to insanity.

Marvel Thomas Marvel is a droll tramp unwittingly recruited to assist the Invisible Man as his first visible partner. He carries the Invisible Man's scientific notebooks and stolen money. Eventually Marvel 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 revenge, he becomes preoccupied with hiding from the law and retaliating against Dr. Kemp, and Marvel is spared. Marvel eventually uses the stolen money to open his own inn, which he calls the Invisible Man, and prospers. The novel ends with him secretly "marvelling" at Griffin's notes. It turns out Marvel kept the notes and only views them when there is nobody around so nobody can know Griffin's secrets—or that Marvel has them..

Kemp Dr. Kemp is a scientist living in the town of Port Burdock. He is a former acquaintance of Griffin, who knew Kemp to be interested in strange, bizarre aspects of science. Kemp continues to study science as he hopes to be admitted to The Royal Society. His scientific temperament makes him listen to the story Griffin tells him. He does not become hysterical nor does he behave like the locals. Griffin hopes Kemp would support him in his evil schemes and help him live a normal life. But Kemp is too decent to join him. He is repelled by Griffin's brutality and considers him insane and homicidal. He betrays Griffin to the police. He keeps his cool throughout the plot, when the final hunt for Griffin begins. Kemp helps in the final capture and killing of Griffin. In the 1933 Universalfilm adaptation, Kemp is given the first name Arthur and is played by William Harrigan. Unlike the novel, Kemp in the film does not survive to the end of the story.

Janny Hall

Janny 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 socialising 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 Universalfilm adaptation, where she was played by Una O'Connor. In the film version, her primary occupation is to scream. George Hall

George Hall is the husband of Mrs. Hall and helps her run the Coach and Horses Inn. He was the first person in Iping to suspect that the mysterious Griffin is invisible: when a dog bites him and tears his glove, Griffin retreats to his room and Hall follows to see if he is all right, only to see Griffin without his glove and handless (or so it appears to Hall). Mr. Hall appears in the 1933 Universalfilm adaptation, where his first name is changed to Herbert and seriously injured by Griffin. In the film, he is portrayed by Forrester Harvey. 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 turns up in Kemp's house. Adye saves Kemp from the Invisible Man's first attempt on his life and leads the hunt for the unseen fugitive. He mostly follows Kemp's suggestions in planning the campaign against the Invisible Man. He is eventually shot by the Invisible Man with Kemp's revolver. Upon being shot, Adye is described as falling down and not getting back up. However, 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 is never made clear whether this occurred prior to his being shot, or if it occurred afterwards and Adye survived. Dr. Cuss

Dr. Cuss is a doctor living in the village of Iping. Intrigued by tales of a bandaged stranger staying at the Coach and Horses Inn, Dr. Cuss goes to see him under the pretence of asking for a donation to the nurse's fund. Cuss is scared away after Griffin pinches his nose with an invisible hand. Cuss immediately goes to see the Rev. Bunting, who, not surprisingly, does not believe the doctor's wild story. Later, Cuss and Bunting obtain the Invisible Man's notebooks, but these are subsequently stolen back from them by the invisible Griffin, when he also takes both men's clothes. J.A. Jaffers

J.A. Jaffers is a constable or "bobby" in the town of Iping. He is called upon by George Hall and Janny Hall to arrest Griffin after they suspect him of robbing the Reverend Bunting. He overcomes his shock at the discovery that Griffin was invisible quickly, determined to arrest him in spite of this. The Invisible Man knocks him unconscious in his flight from Iping.

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS The plot of the story is very straightforward. It begins in third person as the narrator introduces the Invisible Man midway through his experiences. Once the Man is revealed, Griffin himself takes over and tells how he began his experiments and what happened to him after he had taken the potion. At the end, the point of view once again changes to that of an objective narration. As Griffin tells his story, one can see that his behavior becomes increasingly reprehensible. In a very logical way, people first in Iping, and then in surrounding towns, become aware of the strange being in their midst. The people are curious, frightened and then determined in their attempts to bring him down and to find out who and what he really is. The climax of the story occurs when Griffin returns to take revenge on Kemp for betraying him. The plot is resolved with the Invisible Man’s death.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS Corruption of Morals in the Absence of Social Restriction The narrator uses the Invisible Man to experiment with the depth to which a person can sink when there are no social restrictions to suppress his behavior. When Griffin first kills his father, he excuses it away by saying that the man was a “sentimental fool.” When he takes the potion himself, he endures such pain that he “understands” why the cat howled so much in the process of becoming invisible. Nevertheless he has no compassion for the cat, for his father or for any of the people he takes advantage of in the course of trying to survive invisibility. On the contrary, he descends from committing atrocities because they are necessary to his survival to committing them simply because he enjoys doing so. This theme of corruption in the absence of social law has become a motif that is explored in other literary works. H. G. Well created his story with very little psychological elaboration or character development. Other writers, however, have taken the idea much farther; we are thus blessed with novels such as Lord of the Flies, and Heart of Darkness, along with short stories by Poe and Melville.

Science without Humanity Although Wells does not have his characters elaborate on this idea, the concept is represented in the character of Kemp as well as in Griffin himself. Kemp wants to stop Griffin more out of fear for himself than out of concern for the community, but he is nonetheless fascinated by the accomplishment of this misguided college student. The problem with the entire experiment is

that Griffin pursued the idea of invisibility without regard to whether or not there would be any real benefit to society because of it.

Initial Situation Stranger in a Strange Land

The novel opens when a stranger arrives at Iping and no one knows what to make of him. From the very beginning we know that there's some weirdness here, but we're not quite sure what. (Unless, of course, we've seen the title of the book we're reading. Oh well.) Conflict Stranger vs. Village

The stranger doesn't fit in well in Iping and everyone's pretty suspicious of him. This makes it tough for him to just live his invisible life. Starting with a robbery and ending with the Invisible Man revealing himself, there is constant discord. Complication Marvel: He's No Robin

At first, the conflict is just between the Invisible Man and the village of Iping (at least, as far as we know). Soon, though, the Invisible Man brings Thomas Marvel in as his accomplice, which just complicates things. It causes more trouble in town, and also leads to bigger problems for the Invisible Man, since Marvel doesn't want to help him. So now, the Invisible Man is fighting the villagers and his ex-accomplice. Climax

The Back Story

In a weird way, the climax of the story takes place in the past. It's all about the Invisible Man's development of his invisibility formula. It includes him stealing from his father, burning down his boardinghouse, almost being caught by the Salvation Army, breaking out of the department store, and realizing that being invisible isn't so great. This is also the section where we finally learn the Invisible Man's name. So, if this story is a mystery about the stranger, we finally unravel the mystery here. Suspense

Who Will Prevail?

After Griffin invents the invisibility formula and finds Kemp, it seems like everything will go okay. (Well, okay for Griffin – not for everyone else whom he plans to murder and terrorize.) But when Dr. Kemp betrays the Invisible Man, the IM tries to murder Kemp in response. Now it's Invisible Man vs. the world. The battle has begun, and we can't wait to see how it ends. Denouement The Not-So-Invisible Corpse

Spoiler alert: the world wins. The Invisible Man gets killed by some workmen and slowly but surely, Griffin becomes visible again. This is the big reveal of the book, though it reveals info we already knew. Conclusion The End – Or Is It?

After Griffin dies, Marvel still has his scientific notes, but since they're totally in code, he can't really put them to use. Maybe whoever inherits those notes will be able to recreate the formula or some other scientific miracle. It's both a closed conclusion – because Griffin is dead – and an open conclusion – because who knows what Griffin's notes might lead to next.