I recently read both “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and “The Island of Doctor Moreau” by H. G. Wells. While the former is only loosely based on the latter, I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast the two, since I thoroughly enjoyed both for different reasons.

Both stories tell the tale of a scientist who performs experiments on animal and human DNA to make animal-human Hybrids. Having been run out of Europe for his experiments, the scientist named Moreau retreats to a remote island to continue his work in solitude. That, it seems, is where the plots of both stories differ, however, as both describe many of the characters in vastly differing ways.

Notable Characters

Setting

“The Island of Doctor Moreau”, written in 1896, takes place on an unnamed, remote island somewhere in the southern Pacific Ocean. This could be anywhere, really, in that part of the world, which I feel takes away from the realism of this text (though that could be said of EVERYTHING in the story, but ya know…). The island itself is fairly small, and was created through volcanic activity. There are two main parts, of which are noted by the narrator of the story, Prendick: The enclosure/living quarters, in which Moreau conducts his experiments, and the lean-tos of the Beast-Folk somewhere in the woods. This adds a great bit of separation between the men and the inhuman Beast-Folk.

“The Daughter of Doctor Moreau”, written in 2022, is set in the Yucatan Peninsula in the 19^th Century. Unlike Wells’s setting, Moreno-Garcia’s setting takes place all in the same location: The Hacienda owned by Lizalde. He funds Moreau’s work for the promise of obedient, strong human-animal hybrid workers. Here, Carlotta and Montgomery care for and befriend all of the Hybrids, spending time with them in their servants’ huts on the property. All of these Hybrids provide some form of service to the household, so intermingle quite often with the human characters.

Montgomery

In both stories, Montgomery is described as a drunkard who only does as he is told by the Doctor. While in “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau”, he came into debt because he wanted to win the affections of a woman with whom he was in love, “The Island of Doctor Moreau” leaves a lot more obscurity to how he came to live on the island.

Moreno-Garcia’s Montgomery is a bit more open to readers, probably given that half of the book is from his perspective. We get to see his thoughts on the Hybrids, on Carlotta, and on the doctor himself. He is a complex character who is both soft towards Carlotta and the Hybrids, but rough and abrasive to those around him, a coping mechanism after years of heartache and alcoholism. He often spends his time drinking with the Hybrids in their workers’ huts, sitting around a fire and conversing with them like old friends. I will note here that he is probably my favorite character in this version because of his complexity.

Wells’ Montgomery is not too different, but we definitely do not get as much of his mindset in this book, as it is told from Prendick’s perspective only. However, he is described as possibly having a soft spot for the beat-folk. There is not nearly as much detail about his camaraderie with them, but it is hinted at quite a bit by Prendick, as well as mentioned with disdain by Moreau. The one notable difference, though, is that this version of Montgomery has no qualms about beating the Beast-Folk while drunk and mocking them a bit when he is sober. He has a soft spot for them, sure, but they are still animals to him more than anything.

The Beast-Folk and the Hybrids

Wells’s story describes Moreau’s experiments as “Beast-Folk”, and often resorts to focusing on their very animal-like characteristics. Moreau asserts that every single one of his Beast-Folk have failed him in some way, often reverting back to one or more animalistic traits. He all but disregards that they have a level of complexity far beyond what animals are capable of (such as marrying, religion, building houses, etc.) and describes it as if it is a farce or a façade that they put on without really understanding what they are doing.

In addition, these Beast-Folk are able to reproduce, though they often do not survive. If they did manage to survive, Moreau would then experiment on them further to ensure as much “humanity” as possible.

This differs greatly from Moreno-Garcia’s Hybrids, as the Hybrids were created to be infertile. This version of Moreau wanted to ensure that the Hybrids could not reproduce, though his reasoning was never given in the book. I assume that it just wouldn’t be a viable specimen and would ultimately die; since this book was written in more contemporary times, it would make sense with our expanded understanding of how reproduction actually works on the genetic level.

Both stories contain at least one hybrid who was malformed and ultimately a danger to those around it. In Moreno-Garcia’s book, the children, Carlotta, Lupe, and Cachito find and awaken Moreau’s most recent experiment, accidentally loosing him on themselves. It attacks the children and must be killed. In Wells’s story, this hybrid is described as limbless and serpentine.

Both stories refer to a “house of pain”, of which both the Beast-Folk and the Hybrids are terrible afraid.

Deification of Moreau

This part is the most interesting, I think, in that in both versions, Moreau is seen as god-like to both the Hybrids and the Beast-Folk.

In Wells’s version, the religiosity of the Beast-Folk is spurred by missionaries who had journeyed to the island with Moreau initially. These missionaries, while at first terrified of the Beast-Folk, began to teach them how to read, how to talk, and eventually about morality. In addition, Moreau, while overall dissatisfied with how animal-like his creations continued to be, taught them his rules and enforced them with whippings, the “house of pain”, and other threats. While the Beast-Folk did not seem to fully grasp the concepts being taught to them, they had created, with the help of Moreau’s attempts at civilizing them, The Law, which forbade them from exhibiting any animalistic traits and other things, like eating meat. Of course, as with any “law”, these rules were broken repeatedly to the dismay of Moreau, Montgomery, and Prendick. Eventually, these laws did not matter to the Beast-Folk anymore, as they were tired of their hateful, pain-inducing creator, and they ended up giving in to their animal side.

Moreno-Garcia’s version, however,  humanizes the Hybrids much more than its older inspiration in that these creations have a higher understanding. What I mean is that the Hybrids are able to speak, work, and attend church services like any other humans. Their only pitfall is the pain they feel as part of their advanced aging. In her book, Moreno-Garcia shows the Hybrids attending a weekly church service led by Moreau in which he reads from the Bible but twists the words of scripture to fit his needs. He focuses on the “creator”, which of course the Hybrids latch onto, as he is their creator. As such, they fear him, but not in quite the same way that Wells’s Beast-Folk do.

The Hybrids revere Moreau, as he is often not the one who doles out punishment to them when they break rules. Normally, it is the job of the Mayordomo, and was often done by the one who preceded Montgomery before he came to the island. While the Hybrids were indeed scared of Moreau, he had never really given them reason to hate him, as he treated them (most of the time) as he would treat any person, at least to an extent. They were able to work in his household, live in actual houses, and were given medicine and alcohol to help cope with their pain.

Conclusion

There is so much more I would like to write about both of these books, but, really, I recommend both to anyone interested in science fiction. H. G. Wells is a marvel in that his mind created many science fiction worlds that were far beyond his time. As for Moreno-Garcia, I am a bit biased about her work, as she is a Latinx writer, and I am Mexican-American. Both of these authors created worlds that make you question morality in science, which I find fascinating. If you do read either of these books, or even just one of them, PLEASE leave a comment and let me know what you think. I loved both of them for different reasons, and I truly hope you do as well.