It was published on 1 January The novel is set between 21 January to 5 January The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection.
The novel deals with a number of themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, human interference with nature , and the effects of trauma. The Island of Doctor Moreau is a classic work of early science fiction [ 4 ] and remains one of Wells's best-known books. The novel is the earliest depiction of the science fiction motif " uplift " in which a more advanced race intervenes in the evolution of an animal species to bring the latter to a higher level of intelligence. Edward Prendick is an Englishman with a scientific education who survives a shipwreck of his boat, the Lady Vain, in the southern Pacific Ocean.
A passing ship called Ipecacuanha takes him aboard and a man named Montgomery revives him. Prendick also meets a grotesque bestial native named M'ling who appears to be Montgomery's manservant. The ship is transporting a number of animals which belong to Montgomery, most strangely a puma. As they approach the island which is Montgomery's destination, the captain demands Prendick leave the ship with Montgomery. Montgomery explains that he will not be able to host Prendick on the island.
Despite this, the captain leaves Prendick in a dinghy and sails away. Seeing that the captain has abandoned Prendick, Montgomery takes pity and rescues him. As ships rarely pass the island, Prendick will be housed in an outer room of an enclosed compound.
The island belongs to Dr. Prendick remembers that he has heard of Moreau, formerly an eminent physiologist in London whose gruesome experiments in vivisection had been publicly exposed, and who fled Great Britain as a result of his exposure.
