Penguin Readers Factsheets
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E
T e a c h e r’s n o t e s
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The Invisible Man
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by H G Wells
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UPPER
INTERMEDIATE
S U M M A R Y
his story was written by H G Wells, sometimes
called the ‘father’ of science fiction, in 1897. The
story takes place in an ordinary village among
ordinary people in the south of England about a hundred
years ago. One winter’s day, a strange figure arrives at the
inn in the small village of Iping. The landlady is pleased to
have a winter guest and makes sure he has everything he
needs. When the visitor takes off his hat and coat,
however, the landlady is shocked. His head is completely
covered in bandages. He becomes an increasingly
difficult guest and it soon becomes clear that he has no
money to pay his bill.
T
When a burglary takes place in the village and the
stranger is not in his room at the time, the suspicions of
the local people fall on him. His behaviour becomes wilder
and more irrational, and the villagers begin to realize that
he is not all he seems. Then they make the shocking
discovery that under his bandages, the man is invisible.
He leaves the inn, creating terror wherever he goes. He
becomes more and more violent as he pursues his mad
dream of power. The fights and chase scenes which
follow are comical. The ending, however, is tragic, with
Wells making the point that scientific discovery must not
be allowed to develop without social and ethical control.
ABOUT H G WELLS
Herbert George Wells was an important English writer in
his own day and is remembered today as an innovative
writer in the new genre of science fiction. Born in 1866 he
came from a poor background, which was unusual for a
writer at that time. He won a scholarship to study science
at university. With a first-class degree in biology, he briefly
became a teacher. His career in the classroom was ended
by a sharp kick in the kidneys from an unhappy pupil,
which left him too unwell to continue teaching. He then
lived on a small income from journalism and short stories,
until his literary career took off with his first science fiction
novel, The Time Machine, in 1895.
Wells wrote with tremendous energy throughout his life,
producing many science-fiction stories, short stories,
sociological and political books, autobiographical novels
and histories. He became very successful as a writer,
perhaps because his work was both popular and
© Pearson Education 2000
intellectual, and he lived in some style. He married twice
and had a reputation as a womanizer. He moved in
socialist circles and used fiction to explore his political
ideas.
Contemporary political and social issues underlie the
plots of Wells’s stories. The War of the Worlds (1898) and
The Time Machine (1895) were attacks on the selfsatisfaction of society rather than genuine attempts to
predict the future. The Invisible Man (1897) marked a
move towards more realistic subject matter. Although the
idea of the invisible man is obviously a fantasy, the reader
meets him through the eyes of the ordinary villagers rather
than the aliens of his earlier books. Wells often reaches
pessimistic conclusions in his work, as in this story, but he
said that he was neither a pessimist nor an optimist, more
an observer.
As he grew older, Wells wrote more and more social
comment rather than science fiction. He drew on his own
experiences as a young man growing up in poverty. ‘Who
needs invented stories,’ as he wrote himself in 1933,
‘when day by day we can watch Mr Hitler in Germany?’
BACKGROUND AND THEMES
H G Wells called his science fiction stories ‘science
romances’ or ‘grotesque romances’. They are a mixture of
the comic and the serious, the strange and the familiar.
Although he was a scientist himself, he did not pretend
that he was predicting great scientific inventions or
discoveries. Instead he was using science fiction as a
basis for exploring extremes of human behaviour. By
putting his characters in imaginary situations, he could
examine how they behaved when pushed to the limits of
experience. The invisible man finds himself with
tremendous power to fight and flee, a power which he
uses with great delight. As he is invisible, no one can
catch him, so there is no moral restraint on his actions.
Wells himself paid tribute to the remarkable forecasts of
Jules Verne, another father of science fiction, who
accurately predicted submarines, hot-air balloons and
space travel. Wells likened his own stories to Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein, another grotesque story where
man plays God.
Science and scientific investigation were very important
Penguin Readers Factsheets
T e a c h e r’s n o t e s
and popular at this time. The world was still coming to
terms with Darwin’s Origin of Species (published 1859),
whose ideas are found throughout the literature of the
second half of the 19th century. In his novels, Wells
questioned the idea that evolution was a force that would
make things better and better for mankind.
At the beginning of The Invisible Man, we are not quite
sure whether to feel sympathy and pity for Griffin or hate
and contempt. Until we learn about Griffin’s past when he
meets Dr Kemp, we may feel that Griffin is surrounded by
fools. The more we learn about him, however, the more he
fits the stereotype of the ‘Mad, Bad Scientist’ who will
stop at nothing in his pursuit of his scientific goals. Dr
Kemp comes into the story as the ‘Good, Sane Scientist’,
whose personal morality is strongly against Griffin’s
science without humanity.
A classic film of The Invisible Man was made in 1933 in
the USA starring Claude Rains in the title role.
Chapters 14–17
Put students into small groups. Ask them to write down
five questions they would want to ask H G Wells, if he was
in the classroom that day. Ask groups to read out their
questions to the class, and discuss any interesting points
raised.
Chapters 18–22
1 Put students into groups. Ask them to discuss what
they think of Griffin. Do they think he is totally bad or
do they feel some sympathy for him? Did they feel any
sympathy for him at the beginning of the story?
2 Ask students to discuss what makes Griffin behave in
the way he does.
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK
Put students into small groups. Ask them:
(a) if they can think of good uses for invisibility – things
that would help the world and not harm it. Compare
ideas across the class.
(b) what they think H G Wells is trying to say in The
Invisible Man.
Communicative activities
The following teacher-led activities cover the same
sections of text as the exercises at the back of the reader,
and supplement those exercises. For supplementary
exercises covering shorter sections of the book, see the
photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of this Factsheet.
These are primarily for use with class readers but, with the
exception of discussion and pair groupwork questions,
can also be used by students working alone in a selfaccess centre.
ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK
Put students into small groups. Tell them that The Invisible
Man is about a scientist who has made himself invisible.
Ask them to discuss: Should science be limited by moral
arguments? Should science continue to make
developments in areas such as cloning (making a baby
from a single cell)?
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION
Chapters 1–4
Put students into pairs. We already know that the main
character in this story is invisible because of the title of
the story. Ask students if they think the opening chapters
would be more exciting if they didn’t already know the
stranger was invisible? At what point in the story do
students think they would guess and why?
Chapters 5–8
Put students into groups. Tell them that they are putting
this story on the stage. Ask them these questions: What
would be the main problems when staging the burglary
scene and the furniture that goes mad? Can you suggest
some solutions?
Chapters 9–13
Put students into small groups. Ask them to think of a
plan for catching the Invisible Man. Compare the groups’
plans as a whole-class activity. The class votes for the
best plan.
© Pearson Education 2000
Glossary
It will be useful for your students to know the following new words.
They are practised in the ’Before You Read’sections of exercises at
the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman
Active Study Dictionary.)
Chapters 1–4
carriage (n) a vehicle with wheels that was pulled by a horse in past
times
coach (n) a closed vehicle with wheels that was pulled by horses in
past times
growl (v) if a dog growls, it makes a deep, angry sound
inn (n) a small hotel, usually in the countryside
invisible (adj) impossible to see
napkin (n) a small piece of cloth used for protecting your clothes
when you are eating
parlour (n) a comfortable room in a house used especially for
meeting guests in past times
scythe (n) a tool with a long, curved blade, used for cutting grass and
other crops
shilling (n) a piece of money used in the past in Britain
vicar (n) a priest in the Church of England
Chapters 5–8
arrest (v) if the police arrest somebody, they take them away because
they think they have committed a crime
bare (adj) without any clothes
poker (n) a metal stick used for moving wood or coal in a fire
sneeze (v) if you sneeze, air suddenly comes out of your nose in a
noisy way
tramp (n) somebody who has no job and no home and moves from
place to place
visible (adj) able to be seen
Chapters 14–17
cabman (n) somebody who drives other people for a fee
colonel (n) a high-level position in the army or navy
cricketer (n) somebody who plays the game cricket
experiment (n) a scientific test done to find out or prove something
revolver (n) a type of small gun
Chapters 18–22
axe (n) a tool used for cutting wood, with a long handle and metal
head
bloodhound (n) a large dog with a very good sense of smell
Publis hed and d is tribu ted by Pearson Ed ucation
Factsheet written by Jane Rollason
Factsheet series developed by Louise James
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Penguin Readers Factsheets
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Student’s activities
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The Invisible Man
Photocopiable
These activities can be done alone or with one or more
other students. Pair/group-only activities are marked.
(a) What particular ability did H G Wells reveal in his
science-fiction works?
(b) Why did he stop writing science fiction and start
writing books based on his personal experience?
(c) How does Wells try to make the idea of
invisibility believable in this story?
2 Talk to another student. What would you see if an
invisible man
(a) went out in the snow?
(b) swam in a river?
Activities while reading the book
CHAPTERS 1–4
Chapter 1
Answer these questions.
(a) What details do we learn about the appearance of the
stranger in this chapter? Make notes. Compare your
notes with a partner’s notes.
(b) What do you think Mrs Hall finds most frightening
about the stranger’s appearance?
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CHAPTERS 5–8
Chapters 5 & 6
1 Answer these questions.
(a) What sounds do Mr and Mrs Bunting hear while
the burglar is in the house? Make a list. Compare
your list with another student’s list.
(b) Can you think of a way to trap an invisible
burglar? Make a plan.
2 When Mr and Mrs Hall are in the stranger’s room, the
stranger makes the bedclothes fly, laughs loudly and
chases Mrs Hall with a chair. How do you explain his
behaviour?
Chapter 7
1 Talk to another student.
In this chapter people run about and fall over each
other. How does this affect the mood (atmosphere) of
the story?
2 The words in italics are in the wrong sentences. Put
them in the right places.
(a) In the dark parlour there is a sharp smell of
bandages in the air.
(b) Mrs Hall doesn’t bring the stranger’s nose
because she wants him to swear his bill first.
Chapter 2
(c) Mrs Hall asks the stranger not to pay.
Answer these questions.
(d) The stranger takes the breakfast off his head and
gives Mrs Hall his false gas.
(a) What explanations do (i) Mrs Hall and (ii) Mr Henfrey
have for the stranger’s bandages?
(b) What two reasons does the stranger give for not
being interrupted?
Chapter 8
Talk with another student.
Answer these questions.
(a) Why do you think the Invisible Man chooses a tramp
to ask for help?
(b) The stranger says to Thomas Marvel, ‘An Invisible
Man is a man of great power.’ What power does he
have?
(a) What do you think the stranger is trying to do with all
his bottles?
CHAPTERS 9–13
(c) Why does the stranger get angry with Mr Henfrey?
Chapter 3
(b) You are a villager. You were watching when the
carrier’s dog bites the stranger. Tell a friend about it.
Chapter 4
1 Make a list of adjectives and phrases from Chapter 4
that describe the stranger’s character. Compare your
list with a partner’s.
2 Work with a partner. One of you is Dr Cuss. The other
is the stranger. Use Cuss’s description of his visit to
the stranger on pages 15 and 16 to act out their
conversation.
Chapters 9 & 10
Answer these questions.
(a) On page 33 Mr Hall and Teddy hear the noise of
something falling about followed by a sharp cry. What
is it?
(b) Why does Mr Bunting say that everything is ‘quite
right, quite!’?
(c) They hear Mr Bunting say, ‘I tell you, sir, I will not.’
What will he not do?
(d) Why do they hear the parlour window being opened
and closed?
© Pearson Education 2000
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Activities before reading the book
1 Read the introduction to the book on pages iv-vi.
Answer these questions.
2
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UPPER
INTERMEDIATE
Penguin Readers Factsheets
Student’s activities
Chapters 11 & 12
CHAPTERS 18–22
Work with another student.
You are the sailor. Tell your sailor friend (the one who saw
the handful of money) about your conversation with the
tramp. You could start like this:
‘I sat next to an old tramp today. I told him all about the
Invisible Man. Then he said ...’
Chapters 18 & 19
Chapter 13
Correct the words that are wrong in these sentences.
(a) Dr Kemp is working at his desk in the early morning.
(b) He sees a little man, whose eyes are wide with anger.
(c) Not far behind the first man, the villagers see a
second man rush by.
(d) The second man rushes ahead of the first man and
seizes the town.
1 Answer these questions.
(a) Why does Griffin change his plans after meeting
Kemp?
(b) Why is Kemp unable to lock Griffin in the room?
(c) How would you describe Griffin’s mental state
before he escapes from Kemp’s house?
2 Talk to another student.
(a) What things does Kemp suggest that the police
do in order to catch Griffin? Make a list. Which
do you think will work?
(b) What does Kemp mean when he says, ‘He
[Griffin] has cut himself off from the human race’?
Chapter 20
CHAPTERS 14–17
Make notes.
Chapter 14
(a) What additional things do the police and Kemp do as
well as Kemp’s earlier suggestions?
Answer these questions. Try not to look in the book!
(a) There are four men in the Happy Cricketers when
Marvel rushes in. Who are they?
(b) What physical clues does the Invisible Man leave
behind him?
(b) Who bangs on the inn door and makes it shake?
Chapter 21
(c) In which room do they lock Marvel?
1 Colonel Adye leaves Kemp’s house to get men with
dogs. What mistakes does he make?
(d) Who unlocks the inn door?
(e) Who drags Marvel into the kitchen?
Chapter 15
1 Answer these questions.
(a) What are Kemp’s changing reactions to the idea
of an invisible man?
(b) When did Kemp and Griffin meet before?
2 Discuss these questions with another student.
(a) Why does the Invisible Man think Kemp will help
him?
(b) Before he goes to sleep, Griffin says that he and
Kemp ‘can do great things together’. What do
you think he means?
3 Write Kemp’s note to Colonel Adye.
Chapter 16
Answer these questions.
(a) How do we know that Griffin wants the power that
invisibility will bring him more than anything else?
(b) Do you think he is responsible for his father’s death?
Chapter 17
1 Answer these questions.
(a) Why does Kemp turn the Invisible Man away
from the window at the top of page 51?
(b) Why does the Invisible Man need to find Thomas
Marvel?
(c) How did Griffin make the owner of the house
very angry?
2 What do you think Kemp feels about Griffin? Talk to
another student.
© Pearson Education 2000
2 Put these sentences in the right order.
(a) The Invisible Man goes into the passage with the
axe.
(b) Kemp and the police go into the dining room.
(c) Dr Kemp escapes through the dining room
window.
(d) He knocks down one policeman while the other
policeman hits him with a poker.
(e) The Invisible Man escapes through the passage
window.
(f) A policeman knocks the gun to the floor.
(g) The Invisible Man breaks down the back door
with an axe.
(h) The police arrive at the front door.
(i) The Invisible Man rushes in with an axe and the
revolver.
Chapter 22
Find words that tell us that
(a) Kemp is very frightened.
(b) the Invisible Man has injured one arm.
(c) the Invisible Man is badly hurt.
(d) the Invisible Man’s body is becoming visible.
(e) Griffin’s dead face is terrifying.
Activities after reading the book
1 Writers often ask us to believe impossible things so
that they can tell us a good story. Did you believe the
man was invisible while you were reading? Why/Why
not?
2 How would modern technology help in the capture of
the Invisible Man? Talk to another student.
Publi sh ed and dist ri bute d by P ear so n E duca tion
Fac ts he et w ri tten b y J ane R ol lason
F act sheet s eri es d evel oped by L oui se J ames
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