The Invisible Man

“Big, fat books, of which some were just in an incomprehensible handwriting—and a dozen or more crates, boxes, and cases, containing objects packed in straw [...] glass bottles.”

The villagers marvel at Griffin’s research equipment. They have never seen such erudite tomes or such peculiar apparatuses. Griffin, on the other hand, is overjoyed by these items as they may help him find the antidote to his invisibility.

“That marn’s a piebald, Teddy. Black here and white there—in patches. And he’s ashamed of it. He’s kind of a half-breed, and the colour’s come off patchy instead of mixing.”

The villagers offer up many theories of Griffin’s hidden, bandaged identity. This reference to a piebald may simply come from a mind steeped in farming vernacular—or, it may express racism against biracial people. While the racial sentiment is ambiguous, the remark accurately asserts that Griffin sought to hide the color of his skin—but what is unknown to the villagers is that Griffin’s real disguise is his invisibility, and his skin is albino.

“I might ha’ known. With them goggling eyes and bandaged head, and never going to church of a Sunday.”

Mrs. Hall’s thoughts turn toward malevolent spirits when Griffin commits burglary. She vacillates between wanting to impress others by her association with an educated scientist and wanting to distance herself from his potential evil. Her words also expose a certain moral legalism, as she implies church non-attendance is evidence of evil.

“It was the finest of all possible Whit Mondays.”

Whit Monday is a Christian holiday commemorating the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus’ disciples. This holiday offers a strange backdrop to Griffin’s actions, reinforcing the theme of ghosts and the color white.

“You don’t understand [...] who I am or what I am. I’ll show you. By Heaven! I’ll show you.”

Griffin’s outburst to Mrs. Hall foreshadows his criminal actions. Indeed, he literally shows himself to be an invisible man, and he shows his true nature as he becomes more brutal and chaotic. Finally, he fully shows himself when his death unveils his original physical appearance.

“It’s strange, perhaps, but it’s not a crime.”

Here referring to his invisibility, Griffin is frustrated with others’ assumptions about him. The reader is left to wonder if he turns to crime because of the prejudicial treatment he endures from the villagers, or because he was already evil at heart.

‘It’s a beast of a country,’ said the Voice. ‘And pigs for people.’”

In his damning assessment of England, Griffin uses animalistic farming imagery—an indication of his disdain for country life. He begins to show his antisocial nature in this scene, disparaging the villagers and forcing Marvel to do his bidding under threat of violence or death.

“An invisible man is a man of power.”

Above all else, Griffin seeks power. He finds that invisibility offers not just power, but absolute power.

“I am Griffin, of University College, and I have made myself invisible. I am just an ordinary man—a man you may have known—made invisible.”

As Griffin reveals himself to Kemp, the reader learns that the two of them received the same education. Indeed, Griffin was an ordinary student who turned himself invisible, but it is remarkable that Griffin here calls himself “ordinary” when one of his most salient traits is his belief in his own superiority.

“Is there such a thing as an invisible animal? In the sea, yes. Thousands—millions.”

Kemp and Griffin discuss the translucent creatures living in the sea. However, modern knowledge of the deep ocean exceeds anything Wells could have dreamed when writing the novel. The science behind Griffin’s experiment is not realistic by today’s standards, but his contemporary readers may have found it compelling.

“Fools, common men […] do not know anything of what some general expression may mean to the student of molecular physics. In the books—the books that tramp has hidden—there are marvels, miracles!”

Griffin’s exclamation shows his rapture and reverence for science, and these enigmatic scientific texts have taken on an almost spiritual importance for him. At the same time, he reveals his sense of exclusivity and entitlement when he references “fools” and frames his scientific understanding as the earmark of a rarified, superior class.

“In all my great moments I have been alone.”

Griffin attributes his success to solitude (and therefore wholly to himself). While he needs solitude to pursue his research, he also removes himself from society when he commits violence. He begins to conflate greatness with power, and power with control.

“To do such a thing would be to transcend magic.”

Griffin marvels at the prospect of invisibility, comparing science with magic. Science and magic are still closely linked at the end of the 19th century, and although scientific progress was astonishingly rapid, there remained questions of mysterious phenomena. Sometimes the scientific explanation existed—but sometimes it seemed inexplicable, or magical. The science fiction genre often plays with the boundary between fantasy and science.

“I remember myself as a gaunt black figure, going along the slippery, shiny pavement, and the strange sense of detachment I felt from the squalid respectability.”

Griffin describes himself at his father’s funeral as detached from “squalid” respectability. This may suggest a man in mourning, or it may suggest a man dissociating from his social conscience. After all, he feels nothing for his father’s death, which he caused by his own thievery.

“I could go by train into Spain, or else to Algiers [...] there a man might always be invisible—and yet live.”

Griffin considers leaving London for a warmer climate; If he doesn’t need clothing for warmth, he won’t need to disguise himself and can live freely as an invisible man.

“But—I say! The common conventions of humanity.”

Kemp is staggered to learn of Griffin’s depravity and indifference to the common good. Although Kemp is equally awed by the power of invisibility, he exemplifies the importance of using science for the society’s benefit.

“The more I realized what a helpless absurdity an Invisible Man was.”

Griffin quickly realizes that invisibility leaves him helpless. He regrets his decision to become invisible, and decides to pursue an antidote. Invisibility involves a split experience: vulnerability and power.

“And for this I had become a wrapped-up mystery, a swathed and bandaged caricature of a man!”

Griffin looks like a caricature because he wears a stolen theatre costume. He must use bandages and large goggles to obscure his missing features, and his disguised appearance becomes grotesque and theatrical.

“A Reign of Terror.”

Griffin threatens to begin a Reign of Terror, starting with the execution of Kemp. This is a reference to the Reign of Terror which took place during the French Revolution. Griffin’s affinity for the Revolution is unsurprising, as it was a period during which the French citizens violently upended centuries-old sociopolitical structures—and society itself. In stark contrast to Griffin, however, the foremost leading figure of the historical Reign of Terror (Maximilien Robespierre) was always arguing for the greater good of society, which he used to justify his actions.

“He is mad [...] inhuman. He is pure selfishness.”

Kemp determines that Griffin has lost both his mind and his humanity to pathological self-interest. This “diagnosis” rests on the assumption that full humanity requires goodwill toward others—a sentiment that characterized Wells’ era. Kemp suggests that a man without connection to humanity becomes an inhuman threat who deserves death.

“He has cut himself off from his own kind. His blood be upon his own head.”

Kemp believes that Griffin has willfully severed himself from morality. Griffin has therefore chosen corruption and is responsible for his own demise. The reader is left to decide if this is true.

“It was like the slow spreading of a poison.”

As Griffin dies, and his body becomes visible at last, his gradual appearance is likened to a spreading poison. This simile recalls the image of his initial transformation to invisibility, induced by the literal slow spreading of a poison serum.

“The landlord sits down in an armchair, fills a long clay pipe slowly—gloating over the books the while.”

Marvel has outsmarted Griffin and Kemp by keeping the books secret and escaping with the stolen money for a life of comfort. In an ironic twist, the purportedly worthless “tramp” ends up with all the treasure, yet he can’t access the books’ power. While Marvel fantasizes about his own invisibility, his self-interest is ultimately self-defeating; His greed prevents the collaboration necessary to decipher the texts and reap their secrets.