The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella
by H. G. Wells published in 1897. Originally
serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, it
was published as a novel the same year. The
Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist
who has devoted himself to research into optics
and invents a way to change a body's refractive
index to that of air so that it absorbs and
reflects no light and thus becomes invisible.
He successfully carries out this procedure
on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse
the procedure.
While its predecessors, The Time Machine and
The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written
using first-person narrators, Wells adopts
a third-person objective point of view in
The Invisible Man.
Plot summary
A mysterious stranger, Griffin, arrives at
the local inn of the English village of Iping,
West Sussex, during a snowstorm. The stranger
wears a long-sleeved, thick coat and gloves,
his face hidden entirely by bandages except
for a fake pink nose, and a wide-brimmed hat.
He is excessively reclusive, irascible, and
unfriendly. He demands to be left alone and
spends most of his time in his rooms working
with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus,
only venturing out at night. While staying
at the inn, hundreds of strange glass bottles
arrive that Griffin calls his luggage. Many
local townspeople believe this to be very
strange. He becomes the talk of the village.
Meanwhile, a mysterious burglary occurs in
the village. Griffin has run out of money
and was trying to find a way to pay for his
board and lodging. When his landlady demands
he pay his bill and quit the premises, he
reveals part of his invisibility to her in
a fit of pique. An attempt to apprehend the
stranger is frustrated when he undresses to
take advantage of his invisibility, fights
off his would-be captors, and flees to the
downs.
There Griffin coerces a tramp, Thomas Marvel,
into becoming his assistant. With Marvel,
he returns to the village to recover three
notebooks that contain records of his experiments.
When Marvel attempts to betray the Invisible
Man to police, Griffin chases him to the seaside
town of Port Burdock, threatening to kill
him. Marvel escapes to a local inn and is
saved by the people at the inn, but Griffin
escapes. Marvel later goes to the police and
tells them of this "invisible man," then requests
to be locked up in a high security jail.
Griffin's furious attempt to avenge his betrayal
leads to his being shot. He takes shelter
in a nearby house that turns out to belong
to Dr. Kemp, a former acquaintance from medical
school. To Kemp, he reveals his true identity:
the Invisible Man is Griffin, a former medical
student who left medicine to devote himself
to optics. Griffin recounts how he invented
medicine capable of rendering bodies invisible
and, on impulse, performed the procedure on
himself.
Griffin tells Kemp of the story of how he
became invisible. He explains how he tried
the invisibility on a cat, then himself. Griffin
burns down the boarding house he was staying
in along with all his equipment he used to
turn invisible to cover his tracks, but soon
realises he is ill-equipped to survive in
the open. He attempts to steal food and clothes
from a large department store, and eventually
steals some clothing from a theatrical supply
shop and heads to Iping to attempt to reverse
the invisibility. But now he imagines that
he can make Kemp his secret confederate, describing
his plan to begin a "Reign of Terror" by using
his invisibility to terrorise the nation.
Kemp has already denounced Griffin to the
local authorities and is watching for help
to arrive as he listens to this wild proposal.
When the authorities arrive at Kemp's house,
Griffin fights his way out and the next day
leaves a note announcing that Kemp himself
will be the first man to be killed in the
"Reign of Terror". Kemp, a cool-headed character,
tries to organize a plan to use himself as
bait to trap the Invisible Man, but a note
he sends is stolen from his servant by Griffin.
Griffin shoots and injures a local policeman
who comes to Kemp's aid, then breaks into
Kemp's house. Kemp bolts for the town, where
the local citizenry comes to his aid. Griffin
is seized, assaulted, and killed by a mob.
The Invisible Man's naked, battered body gradually
becomes visible as he dies. A local policeman
shouts to cover his face with a sheet, then
the book concludes.
In the final chapter, it is revealed that
Marvel has secretly kept Griffin's notes.
Characters
Griffin
Griffin is the surname of the story's protagonist.
His name is not mentioned until about halfway
through the book. He is consumed with his
greed for power and fame. He is the model
of science without humanity. A gifted young
student, he becomes interested in the science
of refraction .During his experiments he accidentally
discovers formulas that would make tissue
invisible. Obsessed with his discovery he
tries the experiment on himself and becomes
invisible. However he does not discover how
to reverse the process and slowly discovers
that the advantages of being invisible outweighed
the disadvantages and the problems he faced
while being visible. Thus begins his downfall
as he takes the road to crime for his survival,
revealing in the process his lack of conscience,
inhumanity and complete selfishness. He progresses
from obsession to fanaticism, to insanity
and finally to his fateful end.
Dr. Kemp
Dr. Kemp is a scientist living in the town
of Port Burdock. He is a former acquaintance
of Griffin,Griffin 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 through out the plot , when the final
hunt for Griffin begins.Kemp helps in the
final capture and killing of Griffin.
In the 1933 Universal film 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 Universal film
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.
Mr. Hall appears in the 1933 Universal film
adaptation, where his first name is changed
to Herbert and seriously injured by Griffin.
In the film, he is portrayed by Forrester
Harvey.
Thomas 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.
Marvel does not appear in the 1933 film adaptation,
but does appear in Alan Moore's comics series
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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.
Jaffers appears in the 1933 Universal film
adaptation.
Adaptations
Films and TV series
The Invisible Man, a 1933 film directed by
James Whale and produced by Universal Pictures.
Griffin was played by Claude Rains and given
the first name "Jack". The film is considered
one of the great Universal horror films of
the 1930s, and it spawned a number of sequels,
plus many spin offs using the idea of an "invisible
man" that were largely unrelated to Wells's
original story and using a relative of Griffin
as a secondary character possessing the invisibility
formula. These were; The Invisible Man Returns
with Vincent Price as Geoffrey Radcliffe,
the film's Invisible Man; The Invisible Woman
with Virginia Bruce as the title character
and John Barrymore as the scientist who invents
the invisibility process; Invisible Agent
and The Invisible Man's Revenge both starring
Jon Hall; and Abbott and Costello Meet the
Invisible Man with Arthur Franz as Tommy Nelson,
a boxer framed for murder who takes the invisibility
formula to find the real killer and clear
his name. Vincent Price also provided the
voice of the Invisible Man at the conclusion
of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
Tomei Ningen, released by legendary studio
Toho; a loose adaptation of the story.
The New Invisible Man, a 1957 Mexican version
starring Arturo de Cordova as the title character;
this film is a remake of The Invisible Man
Returns.
The Invisible Man, a 1958 TV series that ran
for two seasons and centred on espionage.
Created by Ralph Smart.
The Amazing Transparent Man, a 1960 science
fiction/crime thriller about an invisible
safecracker.
Mad Monster Party included the Invisible Man
as part of the monster ensemble.
The Invisible Man featured a sympathetic main
character who used his abilities for good.
As with The Six Million Dollar Man before
it, the pilot was dark in tone, but the regular
series that followed was lighter. Doctor Daniel
Westin accidentally renders himself invisible
in a lab accident, while working for the sinister
KLAE corporation.
Gemini Man, a 1976 TV series using a "DNA
Stabilizer" to allow Agent Sam Casey brief
periods of invisibility.
The Invisible Woman, a 1983 TV-movie pilot
for a comedy series starring Alexa Hamilton.
Человек-невидимка, a 1984
Soviet movie directed by Aleksandr Zakharov,
with Andrei Kharitonov as Griffin. The plot
was changed: Griffin was shown as a scientist
talented but not understood by his contemporaries,
and Kemp as a vicious person who wanted to
become a ruler of the world with Griffin's
help. When Griffin rejected Kemp's proposal,
the latter did all his best to kill him. The
movie remained unknown to the Western audience
because of a violation of Wells's copyright.
The Invisible Man, a 1984 television adaptation
in six parts, shown on BBC 1.
Amazon Women on the Moon, a 1987 comedy anthology
film featured a spoof titled Son of the Invisible
Man, with Ed Begley, Jr. playing the son of
the original Invisible Man who believes he
is invisible, but is in fact visible – creating
an awkward situation when he confidently disrobes
in front of everyone.
Memoirs of an Invisible Man, a 1992 modernised
version of the story, starring Chevy Chase
as a man who is accidentally made invisible
and is then hunted by a government agent who
wishes to use him as a weapon.
Hollow Man, a 2000 film starring Kevin Bacon,
and directed by Paul Verhoeven; this film
spawned a 2006 direct-to-video sequel Hollow
Man 2 starring Christian Slater as "Michael
Griffin" and directed by Claudio Fah.
The Invisible Man, a Sci-Fi Channel television
series aired from 2000 to 2002, lasting two
seasons. It revolves around Darien Fawkes,
a burglar who gets arrested and goes to jail,
eventually negotiating his freedom to serve
as a guinea pig to a government secret project
run by his scientist brother Kevin through
"The Agency", a low-budget US department.
After being submitted to a surgical procedure
to have a synthetic gland implanted in his
cerebral cortex, he is able to secrete a substance
called "Quicksilver", which coats his skin,
hair, nails and clothes and renders him invisible.
However, the gland is sabotaged to leak Quicksilver
into the host's brain, creating the "Quicksilver
Madness", a state in which the host becomes
mentally unstable. The series was somewhat
more successful than the original 1975 series,
but was cancelled due to cost issues and internal
bickering between Sci-Fi and Universal.
The Invisible Man an ongoing animated television
series produced by Moonscoop which is loosely
based in the book.
A feature film entitled The Invisible Man
is currently in development. It will be the
second film in the Universal Horror Revival
series of remakes, following 2010's The Wolfman.
In the 2013 film "The Book Thief" the protagonist,
a girl growing up in Nazi Germany, saves a
copy of "The Invisible Man" from a Nazi book
burning and on several scenes reads aloud
parts of it. H. G. Wells was an author on
the banned authors list during Nazi Germany.
Stage
Ken Hill adapted the book to play form in
1991, and it debuted at Theatre Royal Stratford
East in 1991. It played in the West End in
1993 with Michael N. Harbour as Griffin. In
November 2010, the play was revived at the
Menier Theatre in London running until February
2011.
Radio
The 2001 Radio Tales drama "The Invisible
Man" is an adaptation of the novel for National
Public Radio.
In 2009 New York Public Radio's The Jerome
L. Greene Performance Space premiered "The
Invisible Man" a multimedia audio play written
by Arthur Yorinks. The play takes place during
one evening in a contemporary New York City
homeless shelter and in its minimalist fashion,
speaks to not only the timely subject of homelessness
and abandonment, but to the timeless and tragic
existential human condition of invisibility.
A collage of sound, live voices and sound
effects was joined by a never-before-heard
original piano score composed and improvised
by Michael Riesman, director of the Philip
Glass Ensemble, in a rare live musical performance.
Lighting, video and conceptual design were
by Mark Stanley, resident lighting designer
for The New York City Ballet. Arthur Yorinks
directed.
In other media
The character of the Invisible Man, given
a full name of "Hawley Griffin", appears in
the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen by Alan Moore. In the film adaptation,
he is replaced with a different character
named "Rodney Skinner", and instead of being
the inventor of the formula, he is a thief
who stole the formula. The film novelisation
reveals that the inventor was Hawley Griffin.
Skinner was especially created for the film
because of copyright issues regarding the
1933 Universal film.
A character in the television series Sanctuary
was named Griffin. He was one of the Five,
a team of scientists who injected themselves
with a blood serum and gained special abilities.
His ability was to make himself transparent
at will.
In 2009, Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire released
an Original Graphic Novel for DC Comics/Vertigo
titled "The Nobody". This story was inspired
by The Invisible Man with "John Griffen" as
"The Invisible Man". There are many other
allusions to the book.
In 2008, the creative team of Doug Moench
and Kelley Jones created a limited series
called Batman: The Unseen. It features Batman
fighting against the Invisible Man.
The famous cartoon series Tom & Jerry produced
an episode in 1947 called The Invisible Mouse,
parodying the book written by Wells.
The Invisible Man is Monster in My Pocket
No. 46. In the comic book series, he was allied
with the good monsters. In the animated special,
he was rechristened Dr. Henry Davenport and
became leader of the good monsters.
Castlevania often has enemies and bosses that
refer to old literature and films. In Castlevania:
Portrait of Ruin, The Invisible Man makes
an appearance as an enemy that dwells in the
sewers. His clothes reference those in the
novel The Invisible Man: he wears a long,
thick, tall-collared coat, gloves, and a wide-brimmed
hat. He also dies in a similar fashion.
In the book The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett,
the Invisible Man played an important role
in the story.
In the one-shot comic Van Helsing: From Beneath
The Rue Morgue, which presents Van Helsing
and Dr. Moreau, there is a monster created
by Dr. Moreau that is invisible. Van Helsing
finds the papers of this invisibility cure
and remembers something about an Englishman
who turned invisible in West Sussex.
In the 1970s, the Invisible Man appeared as
a mascot in television commercials for Scotch
Magic Transparent Tape.
In Queen B Productions December 2003 issue
of the Elvira Mistress of The Dark comic,
an invisible woman appears in the second story
"Mallville", a "Smallville" parody, as one
of the "Miss Mallville" beauty contest contestants.
She's only seen by facial features, her bikini,
and sunglasses.
The British rock band Queen released a song
called The Invisible Man as one of their singles
from their 1989 album The Miracle.
Another British rock band called Marillion
also has a song called The Invisible Man.
This track opens the album Marbles, released
in 2004.
In the anime series Naruto, the Second Tsuchikage,
Muu, is probably based on Griffin, the main
character of "The Invisible Man" due to his
combination of bandage-covering appearance
and the invisibility technique he uses to
avoid being spotted.
In the Monster High media, including video
games and web animations, there is a teacher
named "Mr. Where", who dresses in the Invisible
Man's bandages, trench coat, and gloves. He
is confirmed to be invisible beneath these
coverings on more than one occasion, where
his sleeves are shown bunching up to reveal
his invisible limbs. He also seems to have
the ability to turn further invisible, making
his clothing disappear as well.
In addition to Mr. Where in the primary Monster
High line, in the tie-in novels by Lisi Harrison,
there is a teenage boy named Billy Phaedin,
in reference to the teenage main characters
being the children of Universal Monsters and
other historical "monsters". It's mentioned
repeatedly that he is usually naked, otherwise
he'd just look like floating clothing. In
the third novel, a friend attempts to use
modern cosmetics to make him visible, with
limited success, but he ultimately goes back
to being invisible once these techniques fail
in a public setting.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured an episode
in its first season, "Out of Sight, Out of
Mind", that involved a young teenager who
becomes literally invisible due to her being
ignored by her classmates and teachers. At
the end of the episode, the FBI grab her so
that they can train her and other invisible
kids to be assassins.
In Team Fortress 2 a set of clothes is wearable
by the Spy called 'The Invisible Rogue' which
is based on this novel.
Classic Monster Novels Condensed by Joseph
Lanzara includes an abridged version of The
Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, along with short
adaptations of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley,
and Dracula by Bram Stoker. 2012. New Arts
Library. ISBN 978-1-4791-9322-6.
There is a "The Invisible Man Monument" in
city of Ekaterinburg.
Science
Russian writer Yakov I. Perelman pointed out
in Physics Can Be Fun that from a scientific
point of view, a man made invisible by Griffin's
method should have been blind, since a human
eye works by absorbing incoming light, not
letting it through completely. Wells seems
to show some awareness of this problem in
Chapter 20, where each of the eyes of an otherwise
invisible cat retains a visible retina.
Origins and moral
As a moral tale, The Invisible Man can be
seen as a modern version of the "Ring of Gyges"
parable by Plato.
See also
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Things Not Seen
References
External links
The Invisible Man at Project Gutenberg
Download The Invisible Man in TomeRaider format
for Free
Librivox recording of The Invisible Man—free,
human-read audiobook
3 may 2006 guardian article about Milton and
Nicorovici's invention
Horror-Wood: Invisible Man films
Complete copy of The Invisible Man by HG Wells
in HTML, ASCII and WORD
Audio review and discussion of The Invisible
Man at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
