Taming the Beast in the Name of the Father: The Island of Dr. Moreau and Wells's Critique of Society's Religious Molding (H. G. Wells) (Critical Essay‪)‬

When H. G. Wells first published The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1896, its success was surprisingly dismal compared to his previous books. According to Bernard Bergonzi, critics were unable to get past the novel's "blatant sensationalism" and "consider [the novel's] literary merits" (97). H. G. Wells, however, did not put much credence in his reviewers' disparaging comments and went on to commend only one critic's remarks saying "The Guardian critic seemed to be the only one who read it aright, and who therefore succeeded in giving a really intelligent notice of it" (qtd. in Bergonzi 98). The unnamed columnist from the Guardian gave a rather interesting assessment of Wells's novel: Wells's acknowledgement of this review as an insightful interpretation of his work has set scholars to the difficult task of deciphering the underlying meanings of the religious aspects in the text.