| Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not men? |
| Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not men? |
| Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not men? |
| Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not men? |
| Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men? |
In The Island of Dr. Moreau, the best of H.G. Wells’ science fiction fantasies, Moreau converts various basic animal types into what passes as human types of animal but, given what he sees as the imperfections of his method, must regulate his new people from above with edicts and the ‘Law’ which forbid some of their original behaviours, especially those of mammal predators. Moreau regulates and continues his work on his brave new world in his remote home, known by the Beast-folk as ‘The House of Pain’, for they are vivisected into further physical traits of humanity.
My favourite of these laws is: ‘Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men?‘. It is a law that must have made Wells giggle too. His aim is to show that human animality, and its needs and desires, is regulated by religious precept and law that pretends that breaking the law is a ‘bestial’ act, a reversion down the chain of human evolution. To all effects, this was indeed the stance of religion as it adapted itself, over a long period, to the truth of the scientific revolution in thought that was the thought and practice of Lamarck and then, more effectively, of Darwin.The side-swipe at the laws against queer sexuality is beautifully done, as is the recognition that instinctual drift, applies to more than four-legged animals predatory on each other.
The regulation of the instincts was a thing he never quite got his head round in his personal life – as far as we know his pursuit of the ‘Shadow-Lover’ was always in heterosexual terms, although he could and would never commit to a woman for long, especially in the moral thought that fed his Fabian socialism and/or liberalism. He founded the Progressive League:
The Progressive League was an organisation dedicated to the advancement of scientific humanism, founded by author H.G. Wells and philosopher C.E.M. Joad in 1932. Heavily inspired heavily by Wells’ 1928 book The Open Conspiracy, the League brought together progressive, socialist, and liberal campaigners to promote reform in a wide range of social issues, including the repeal of discriminatory laws on homosexuality and divorce, legalising abortion, and abolishing censorship. Its stated aim was to ‘provide a crystallisation of advanced opinion on all matters relating to human welfare as a whole’.
For Wells advanced opinion would and must accept that the regulation of instinct was problematic. But Human animals continued to be bound by a religion that regulated human desire without understanding either it or the animals he set up as the model of moral sin.
That’s all for today
Love Steven
Steve_Bamlett_blog 