Man - The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man

Summary

On a day in February a stranger arrives at the Coach-and-Horses Inn at Iping

village and takes a room. When Mrs. Hall, the Innkeeper's wife, goes in to

serve lunch he is still wearing his hat and coat. He is also wearing blue

spectacles and a big beard. When he takes lunch he removes his hat and Mrs.

Hall sees that his head is covered with a white bandage, leaving nothing

exposed but his pink pointed nose. Mrs. Hall thinks that the man might have

had an accident and tries to imply him into a conversation but he cuts her

short. Later, when she comes in again to ask if the clock mender can wind

the clock, he tells her that he does not want to be disturbed and that he

wants his luggage to be brought from the station as soon as possible.

The next day his luggage arrives. The stranger is bit by the carrier's dog

and runs up into his room, followed by Mr. Hall who, trying to push in, is

thrown out of the room. He cannot understand it. After the stranger has

changed his clothes he appears again and unpacks his boxes which are full of

glass bottles of all shapes and sizes. In the bar to the Inn the carrier

tells the others that when his dog bit the stranger he could only see

blackness in the holes of the trouthers. They think that he is a black and

white man.

The stranger goes for lonely walks in the evening, always completely

jacketet. As he is always angry and unfriendly nobody likes him. People have

different theories about the stranger. Some think that he has had an

accident, some think that he is a criminal hiding from the police by

wrapping up himself and others think that he is part white and part black.

After three month Dr. Cuss beeing very curious knocks on the stranger's door

to talk to him. After ten minutes Cuss dashes out of the stranger's room

with a white face and runs away. He goes to Bunting, the vicar, and tells

him that he has been touched by the stranger's fingers, which were

invisible.

On Whit Monday Mrs. Buntig hears a noise and wakes her husband who arms

himself with a poker and goes to the room where the sounds came from.

Through the half-open door he sees a burning candle, but no thief. Mr.

Bunting rushes into the room but he can see nobody. They can hear sneezing

and the kitchen door shut and then they realize that their household money

has been stolen.When Hall comes downstairs early in the morning he finds the

stranger's door open and the front door unbolted. He calls his wife and in

the stranger's room they find his clothes and his bandages lying around.

Suddenly the bedclothes begin to move and a chair comes at the Halls and

pushes them out of the room. Later, the stranger suddenly appears in front

of his room and walks down into the parlour and locks himself up. When Mr.

Hall knocks on the door and demands an explanation he is sent away. At

midday he rings his bell several times to get food but as Mrs. Hall doesn't

react he has to leave the parlour. Mrs. Hall wants him to pay his bill and

when he pays it she wants to know where he got the money from and what all

this strange happenings meant. He gets very angry and takes off his nose and

hands it to her. It is made of cardboard. Then he removes his glasses,

beard, bandages and hat and behind those things there is nothing. Everyone

begins to scream and the people rush from the inn. Mr. Hall has called the

village policeman who tries to arrest the headless figure. But when he

enters the room with some other men the stranger throws off his clothes and

so gets invisible. There is a great confusion and the Invisible Man escapes.

The village policeman gets killed in the struggle.

Some time later Mr. Marvel, a tramp, sitting by the roadside is adressed by

a voice. First Marvel thinks he has gone mad, but when the Invisible Man

throws stones at him he believes in his existence. The Invisible Man forces

him to get clothes, shelter and other things for him. Marvel goes to the

Coach-and-Horses Inn in Iping village where Cuss and Bunting are searching

the stranger's room. Marvel opens the door and goes out again so that the

Invisible Man can enter the room. He attacks Cuss and Bunting and after some

time Cuss rushes out the room and tells the people to hold the Invisible

Man, for he has taken some books and also his and Bunting's clothes. But the

Invisible Man hands the books and clothes to Marvel to get invisible again

and knocks down Cuss and some others. The villagers flee in panic and the

Invisible Man is able to escape again. He now forces the frightened Marvel

to help him by carrying books and taking the money he has stolen from the

bank, shops and inns. Marvel tries to escape from him and flees into an inn.

There are a policeman and an American who has a gun. They are waiting at the

front door for the Invisible Man but he gets into the house through the back

door and drags Marvel into the kitchen. There is a big struggle and shots

are fired but the Invisible Man gets away.

After that the story continues in Dr.Kemp`s house. He is working in his

study when he hears th shots. Then the front door bell rings but there is no

one there. When he finishes his work and goes to bed he finds blutstains

leading from the frontdoor up to his bedroom. Then Kemp hears the voice of

the wounded and starving Invisible Man begging for help. The intruder tells

Kemp that he once has been a fellow student of him and that his name is

Griffin. Kemp gives him food and drink and then he goes to bed. The next

morning Griffin tells his story. As a student he made experiments to make

solid objects invisible. He succeeded but now he needed money which he stole

from his father who killed himself because it was not his. Griffin installed

his apparatus in his room and made his experiments. It was only possible to

make things with no color pigments invisible, so he chose white things for

his tests; first some white wool and then a white cat. When his landlord

came knocking on his door and asking why there was so much noise he pushed

him out and decided to make himself invisible. He was an albino so this was

possible. Next morning, when the painful procedure of getting invisible was

finished, the landlord and his three sons came into the room but they

couldn`t find Griffin. When they had left, Griffin set the house ablaze to

wipe out his tracks. He tells Kemp how he had got some clothes, how he got

food and drink, he tells him of the shelter he found and the beds he slept

in until he came to Iping.

Now he wants his books back from Marvel, the tramp, who is in jail

voluntarily because of his fear of the Invisible Man. So Griffin has to

change his plans and he decides to start a reign of terror and kill

everybody who disobeys his orders. Kemp hears footsteps outside and opens

the door. He tries to shut the door on the Invisible Man and lock him in the

room, but the key falls on the floor and after a struggle Griffin escapes.

The police now hunts the Invisible Man with bloodhounds and warns the people

to lock themselves in their houses. Somewhere the Invisible Man kills a

harmless man with an iron bar and writes a letter to Kemp where he declares

that the reign of terror has began and that it will begin with Kemp`s death.

Griffin attacks Kemp`s house and Kemp`s servant Adye is shot dead. Griffin

enters the house through the backdoor while two policemen come in through

the frontdoor. There is a big struggle and Kemp runs away, chased by his

invisible enemy who has been insured. There is a fight and a crowd of people

comes to help Kemp by hitting at the Invisible Man. There is a cry and Kemp

feels that Griffin has stopped breathing. Slowly the broken body of a young

man with white hair becomes visible.