Prendick's Argumentative Essay

feet or claws . . . . Punishment is sharp and sure. Therefore learn the law. Say the words.” (Wells 48) I noticed from this quote that the Sayer was talking about horrific moment. The Sayer of the Law explains to Prendick, at his first encounter with the beast-folk, the temptations with which various beast-folk must contend. He is warning Prendick and reminding the others that they are “Men” who must not behave like beasts, regardless of their inmost desires. Prendick assumes that they were once humans and that Moreau “animalised” them. The need for the Law and the dire warnings of punishment suggest that Moreau’s work has not been entirely successful, however. So Prendick just listened to what he said.

“The human shape I can get now, almost with ease, so that it is lithe and graceful, or thick and strong; but often there is trouble with the hands and claws,—painful things, that I dare not shape to freely. But it is in the subtle grafting and shaping one must needs do to the brain that my trouble lies. The intelligence is often oddly low, with unaccountable blank ends, unexpected gaps. And least satisfactory of all is something I cannot touch, somewhere—I cannot determine where—in the seat of the emotions. Cravings, instincts, desires that harm humanity, a strange hidden

Ironically, I later learn that Prendick himself has experienced parallel changes. When he is rescued at sea, his clothes are in tatters, his hair is long and matted, and his beard is extensive. Moreover, he has taken to living much like the beasts, hiding and snatching what food he can, a “strange brightness” in his eyes and a “swift alertness of movement.” Yet neither transformation is complete: The beast folk retain odd “dwindling shreds of humanity,” and of course Prendick retains his reasoning abilities. He also retains, mingled with his disgust and fear, some pity for what has become of Moreau’s