THE INVISIBLE MAN - CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Mrs. Hall

•  Jenny Hall, the wife of Mr. Hall, is the owner of coach and Horses Inn.
•  Hospitable, considerate, down to earth woman.
•  Pays personal attention to her guests.
•  Modest and devoted. Gave her hundred percent care to the stranger when he came to her inn.
• Domineering wife, friendly with villagers.
•  Good Manager

Mr. Hall

•  George Hall, the husband of Mrs. Hall, is the co-owner of the coach and Horses Inn.
•  Lazy by nature, leaves the inn to the care of his wife.
•  Good natured, extremely sociable
•  Co-operative with wife.
•  Have a habit of drinking
•  When a dog bites Griffin, George Hall follows him to see if he was all right, but he was schocked to see a handless arm waving towards him.

Mr. Cuss

•  Dr. Cuss is doctor from Iping Village.
•  His interest was aroused on the report of bandaged stranger and thousand and one bottles.
•  Went to meet stranger under the pretence of asking donations,
• but was scared
•  Along with Bunting, tried to investigate the papers, diaries of the stranger.
• Colonel Adye
•  Colonel Adye is the law-abiding chief of police in the town of Port Burdock.
•  Brave police officer
•  Reaches at kemp's house when the Invisible Man went to Kemp's House.
•  Mostly follows Kemps suggestions
•  Judiciously plans the campaign against the Invisible Man.
•  In the last shot, by the Invisible Man with Kemp's revolver. Vicar Bunting
•  Mr. Bunting was the esteemed vicar of Iping village.
•  Brave man. At the time of burglary in the vicarage he exhibited courage in place of panic.
• Tried his best to locate and capture tresspasser.
•  Accompanied cuss to investigate coded books of Griffin.
•  Man of religion, responsible member of society. 

Bobby Jaffers

•  Constable of the Iping village
•  Man with serious intents.
•  He comes forth to arrest headless Griffin with devotion, commitment and sincerity.
•  He had absolute confidence in his ability to arrest any criminal,
• however powerful, visible or not visible.
• Costume Shop Owner
•  The owner of the Costume shop is alert and has sharp ears.
•  Even a little sound cannot escape his sense of hearing.
•  When the Invisible Man enter his shop very quietly, he got the feeling.
•  Finding no one, does not go lethargic
•  Very protective of his property.
•  Repeated noise made him furious. He is ready with pistol to face any eventuality.

Teddy Henfrey

•  Investing character
•  Villager and a clock Jobber
•  Regular visitor at Coach and Horses Inn.
•  Told to fix a clock. Takes long time on purpose.
•  Curious and Interested in Stranger.
•  He is of the opinion that stranger is either some mad scientist or some criminal wanted by police.
•  He is gossipier and shares his views with everyone who is ready to listen.

Fearenside

•  A cartsmen who delivers luggage from the station whenever he is needed.
•  He is suspicious about the stranger staying at the coach and Horses Inn.
•  Own a dog.
•  His dot bites the stranger and he notices darkness through a torn part where there should be pink flesh and starts the story of Griffin being either a black man or a piebald.

Marvel

•  A short, fat tramp, poor homeless, jobless wanderer, sported shabby, old fashioned clothes and thrive on chartiy.
•   He is lazy and did not show any intention to work hard.
•  His Cowardice did not let him defy Griffin's commands.
•  Assisted Grrifin much against him on wish.
•  Marvel was more of a slave than an accomplice in crime.
•  He never revealed to anyone that the three books of Griffin were in his possession.
• He exhibits his keen busisness acumen by wisely investing Griffin's money to open an inn.
•  Earned well by selling his experiences with the Invisible Man.

Griffin

•  Main character of the Novel, gifted young scientist.
•  Shifted his interest from Medicine to Physics.
•  Extremely obsessed with his experiment
•  Facinated by the phenomenon of invisibility.
•  Very secretive by nature
•  Writes the books in codes
•  Hides the secret of his success from his professor
•  Unsociable person having no regard for the people and their affection.
•  Revengeful, violent, criminal minded,
•  Robbed his own father and does not feel guilty or sad when his father committed suicide
•  wanted to rule the world and unleash a region of terror.
•  Employs Marvel for his services but illtreats him.
•  Was ready to kill his old friend Dr. Kemp who gave him food and shelter.
•  Meets a tragic end.

Dr. Kemp

•  Dr. Kemp is a scientist living in the town of Port Burdock.
•  Tall and slender, has flaxen hair with white moustache.
•  Self-centered, industrious, ambitious, wants fellowshiop of Royal Society.
•  Law abiding person, maintained his sense of maturity.
•  Informs local police about Griffin's plan to create a reign of terror.'
•  Advices Adye to use glass powder on the roads since Griffin is barefoot.
•  Puts his own life in jeopardy when Griffin Chases him.

CHARACTER SKETCHES OF MAIN CHARACTERS

 Griffin : 

The Invisible Man. He is an albino college student who had changed his area of study from medicine to physics and had become interested in refractive indexes of tissue. During his studies he stumbled across formulas that would render tissue invisible. Eventually he tries the formula on himself, thinking of all the things he could do if he were invisible. Unfortunately, the conveniences are far outweighed by the disadvantages; Griffin turns to crime as a means of survival. Griffin is the model of science without humanity. He begins his road to decline in college when he becomes so obsessed with his experiments that he hides his work lest anyone else should receive credit. When he runs out of money, he kills his own father-a crime that makes the rest of his crimes pale in comparison. He goes from scientist to fanatic when he begins to focus all of his attention merely on the concept of invisibility and neglects to think about the consequences of such a condition. He may not have had any intention initially of trying the potion on himself, but the interference of his landlord and prying neighbour lady motivate him to cover his work and remove himself from further confrontation. The evil that he could commit does not occur to him until after he has swallowed the potion and seen the reaction of the landlord and others. The irony is, that his invisibility is good only for approaching unseen and for getting away. Any gains from his crimes are useless to him. He cannot enjoy any of the normal comforts of life-such as food, clothes, and money. He cannot eat without hiding the action, as the food in his system will render him visible. Clothes, when he is able to wear them, must be used to cover him from head to foot in order to conceal his real “concealment”—hardly a comfortable state in the heat of the summer. He can steal money, but cannot spend it on his own accord. Thus the condition that would make him invulnerable also renders him helpless. In spite of his predicament, Griffin at no time expresses any remorse for his behaviour or for the crimes, which he merely describes as “necessary.” His only regret is frustration over not having thought about the drawbacks of invisibility. For nearly a year, he works on trying to perfect an antidote; when  time runs out for that activity, he first tries to leave the country, and then, that plan failing, tries to find an accomplice for himself so he can enjoy his invisibility and have all the comforts of life as well. He goes from obsession to fanaticism to insanity. 

Marvel :

 The first character whom Griffin tries to use as an accomplice. Mr. Marvel is short, fat, and a loner. He is the area tramp. Griffin perhaps also thinks that he is a little stupid and will thus not be able to resist and will not be believed if he tries to tell anyone about his predicament. Mr Marvel is the local tramp. He is harmless, eccentric, fat, but not nearly as stupid as Griffin thinks he is. He is smart enough to know when a good thing has happened to him; the stories he tells to the press bring him much attention and sympathy. In the end, he gets to keep all the money Griffin stole, and he contrives on his own to keep the books of Griffin’s experiments. He becomes the owner of an inn as well as the village bard, as it is to him that people come when they want to know the stories of the Invisible Man. In spite of his earlier torment, he is the only one who actually benefits from Griffin’s presence.

 Mr. HALLS : 

Mr. Hall, the landlord of the Coach and Horses Inn, where Griffin takes a room. Proprietors of the Coach & Horses. Mrs. Hall is the one who is primarily in charge. She is happy enough to leave Griffin alone so long as her money is coming in on time. Her husband is more suspicious but does not interfere until Griffin’s behavior starts to become obvious. Mrs. Hall, his wife. The Halls are the first to be puzzled by unexplainable activities on the part of their guest. Unintimidated, however, Mr. Hall swears out a warrant for Griffin’s arrest after the lodger becomes abusive because of ill feeling over an unpaid bill. After a struggle, Griffin at last unmasks and escapes in the ensuing horror and confusion.

 Kemp :

 A, former associate of Griffin’s in his college days. Griffin had been a student and knew Kemp to be interested in bizarre, and idiosyncratic aspects of science. It is to Kemp’s house that Griffin goes in his final attempt to find an accomplice and live a more normal life. Kemp, however, has no particular sense of loyalty to a former student and is not prepared to participate in Griffin’s grand schemes. He is also more deceitful than Griffin knows and betrays the invisible man even while pretending to accept his confidences. Kemp is referred to as “the doctor,” but his degree seems to be an academic one rather than a medical one. He continues his own study in hopes of being admitted to “the Royal Fellows.” 

 Colonel Adye 

Colonel Adye was the Chief of Police in Burdock. He was a dutiful officer who worked conscientiously and according to the demands of the situations. He responded promptly and fearlessly to Dr. Kemp’s call to arrest the invisible man. Adye also had the will to take quick and wise decisions. He knew that it would not be an easy task to capture Griffin single-handedly, so he decided to get hounds that could sniff and locate the Invisible Man. This venture was indeed an act of bravery because he knew very well that Griffin was present in the compound of the house and could harm him. But a fearless person like Adye could not be intimidated by any threat. He turned around with alacrity to overpower the Invisible Man when the latter tried to move him back into Kemp’s house. Another quality of Adye was his simple and trusting nature which is revealed when he follows all the instructions given by Kemp to arrest the Invisible Man. At the same time, his moral uprightness does surface when he opposes Kemp’s suggestion to spread powdered glass along the path that was expected to be followed by the Invisible Man. But Adye believed that the idea was to injure, by treachery, was unsportsmanlike’. He was a courageous n and he had immense faith in his ability to capture the culprit solely by his power, this he did not wish to resort to any other ways. Towards the end, the shooting down of Adye by the Invisible Man, evokes both sympathy and admiration for his sincere, committed and brave officer.