The Invisible Man · Chapter
The Hunter Hunted explained
Dr.
What happens
Dr. Kemp flees from the Invisible Man, seeking refuge from neighbor Mr. Heelas, who refuses him entry. Kemp races downhill toward the town, pursued by Griffin. A crowd of townspeople, including navvies and a tram conductor, joins the chase and eventually subdues Griffin in a violent struggle. As Griffin dies, his body slowly becomes visible, revealing a young, albino man. His corpse is carried into the Jolly Cricketers, ending his tragic and destructive life.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Alienation
Kemp feels the vast desolation of the hill-road and the remoteness of the town, highlighting his isolation despite being pursued.
Madness and Descent
Griffin's final rampage and death represent the ultimate descent into madness and destruction.
Fear of the Unknown
The townspeople's violent reaction to the invisible pursuer reflects deep fear of the unknown and the invisible.
Characters to notice
- Dr. Kemp
Flees from his house and is chased by the Invisible Man; leads the crowd in subduing Griffin.
- Griffin
Pursues Kemp, is attacked by the crowd, and dies; his body becomes visible after death.
- Mr. Heelas
Kemp's neighbor who refuses to let Kemp into his house during the chase.
Key passages
“Mr. Heelas, Mr. Kemp’s nearest neighbour among the villa holders, was asleep in his summer house when the siege of Kemp’s house began.”
Kemp's neighbor Mr. Heelas was napping in his summer house when the attack on Kemp's home started.
Introduces Mr. Heelas and sets the scene for the siege.
“He saw Kemp stand on the sill, spring from the window, and reappear almost instantaneously running along a path in the shrubbery and stooping as he ran, like a man who evades observation.”
Kemp jumped from the window and quickly ran through the bushes, crouching to avoid being seen.
Describes Kemp's escape from his house.
“And there it was, on a shabby bed in a tawdry, ill-lighted bedroom, surrounded by a crowd of ignorant and excited people, broken and wounded, betrayed and unpitied, that Griffin, the first of all men to make himself invisible, Griffin, the most gifted physicist the world has ever seen, ended in infinite disaster his strange and terrible career.”
Griffin, the brilliant physicist who first achieved invisibility, died miserably on a cheap bed in a dim room, surrounded by a chaotic crowd, his life ending in catastrophe.
Concludes Griffin's story with a poignant reflection on his tragic fate.