Herbert George Wells

The Island of Dr Moreau (1896) is H.G. Wells’ second scientific romance.
 The story centers on the depraved Dr Moreau, who conducts horrible experiments – men transformed into animals or animals changed into men? – on a remote tropical island. Prendick, an Englishman whose misfortunes bring him to the island, is witness to the Beast-people’s strange civilization and their final terrifying regression.
 The novel deals with and anticipates ethical issues such as vivisection, genetic manipulation and the role of science, which are some of the inserts developed in the book.
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Summing-up Activities
 
 Scritto nel 1896, è il secondo romanzo fantascientifico di H.G. Wells.
 In seguito ad un naufragio, Edward Prendick si trova su un’isola del Pacifico dove assiste a orribili esperimenti condotti dal Dr Moreau e dal suo assistente – uomini che vengono trasformati in animali o animali mutati in uomini? Terribili eventi e colpi di scena si susseguono in questo romanzo che tratta tematiche etiche come la vivisezione, la manipolazione genetica e il ruolo della scienza, sviluppate negli approfondimenti presenti sul reader.

Chapter 1 – The Voyage

Extension: Shipwrecks in Literature

Chapter 2 – The Island

Extension: Islands in Literature

Chapter 3 –The Hunt

Extension: Science, society and evolution during the Victorian Age

Chapter 4 – The Beast-people

Extension: Hybrids and chimeras

Chapter 5 – The End

Extension: Cloned monkeys: will human clones soon follow?

Summing-up activities

Glossary

SUMMING-UP ACTIVITIES WORKING ON THE TEXT 1 Summary of Chapters 1-2-3. Put these paragraphs into the correct sequence. Four sentences have already been numbered for you. 1 Edward Prendick survives a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. A passing . ship takes him aboard, and a man named Montgomery revives him. Prendick now believes Moreau is vivisecting humans and that he will be the next one. Prendick flees into the jungle again where he meets an Ape-man who takes him to the Beast-people s village. Prendick thinks that it is better to die like that, rather than being vivisected and turned into an animal by Moreau. 5 Here he encounters a group of people who seem human but also look like pigs. As he walks back, Prendick is followed and attacked by a monstrous hybrid of animal and man. He hits the thing with a stone. Suddenly, Moreau comes to the village looking for Prendick, but Prendick escapes into the jungle once again. He goes towards the ocean, where he plans to drown himself. The island belongs to Dr Moreau, a biologist who had to leave England owing to his horrible experiments in vivisection. The next day, Moreau begins working on a puma. Prendick is frightened by the animal s cries of pain and runs away into the jungle. 12 Montgomery and Moreau get near Prendick and the doctor explains that the Beast-people were not formerly men, but animals. The next morning, Prendick walks into Moreau s lab and finds a humanoid form lying in bandages on the table, and then is thrown out by an angry Moreau. 9 Their leader is a large grey thing named the Sayer of the Law, who makes him recite a strange litany called the Law, which involves prohibitions against savage behaviour and praise for Moreau. When Prendick returns to Moreau s house, he questions Montgomery about the people living on the island, but Montgomery refuses to reveal anything. Prendick finally gives up and goes to bed. When the ship approaches the island, the captain leaves Prendick in a boat and sails away. Seeing that the captain has abandoned Prendick, Montgomery feels sorry for him and takes him in. 86 

2 Summary of Chapters 4 and 5. Fill in the blanks choosing from the words below. alcohol   animal   assembly   dead   destroyed   eleven   end   explains   fighting   humans   instincts   island   lab   lands   meat-eater   pain   pity   presence   prohibitions   rabbit   responsible   ship   solitude   St. Bernard   story Prendick returns to the house; here Moreau (1)............................. that he has (2)............................. been on the island for years, making experiments on animals which he transforms into (3)............................. . One day, Prendick and Montgomery see a half-eaten Since eating flesh and tasting blood are strong (4)............................. (5)............................. . on the island, Moreau calls an (6)............................. of the Beast-people and identifies the Leopard-man as being (7)............................. . Knowing that he will be sent back to the House of (8)............................., the Leopard-man runs away. Eventually, the group surrounds him, but Prendick feels (9)............................. for him and shoots him to spare him from further suffering. One day, the half-finished puma escapes from the (10)............................. . Dr Moreau chases it, but the two end up (11)............................. and killing each other. Montgomery feels desperate without Dr Moreau and believes the (12)............................. is near. He decides to share his (13)............................. with the Beast-people and have a party. But soon after, Prendick finds Montgomery, M ling and the Sayer of the Law (14)............................. on the beach. At the same time, the house burns down. Prendick also realises that Montgomery has (15)............................. the boats on the island. Prendick lives with the Beast-people on the (16)............................. for months. As time goes by, the Beast-people increasingly revert to their original animal (17)............................. . They don t follow Prendick s instructions any longer and eventually a (18)............................. kills his faithful companion, a Dog-man created from a (19)............................. . Luckily for Prendick, a boat carrying two dead men (20)............................. on the beach. Prendick uses the boat to leave the island and is picked up by a (21)............................. . However, when he tells his (22)............................., everybody thinks that he is insane. Back in England, Prendick is no longer comfortable in the (23)............................. of humans, who seem to him to be about to revert to an (24)............................. state. He leaves London and lives in (25)............................. in the countryside. 87 

Narrativa inglese, livello B1 pre-intermedio. Scritto nel 1896, è il secondo romanzo fantascientifico di H.G. Wells.

The Island of Dr Moreau - Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

The Island of Dr Moreau

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