H. G. Wells wrote this science fiction novel during the late 19th century when the European society was absorbed with concerns about degeneration and animal vivisection. The story begins with a protagonist named Edward Prendick who finds himself shipwrecked in an ocean. A passing ship rescues him, and a doctor named Montgomery revives him. He explains to Prendick that they are bound for an unnamed island where he works, together with the animals aboard the ship. When they arrive on the island, however, both the captain of the ship and Doctor Montgomery refuse to take Prendick with either of them, stranding him between the ship and the island. The crew pushes him back into the lifeboat from which they rescued him. When they see that the ship truly intends to abandon him, the islanders take pity and end up coming back for him. Montgomery introduces him to Doctor Moreau, a cold and precise man who conducts research on the island. Prendick was housed in an outer room of the enclosure in which they live. Prendick is exceedingly curious and starts questioning about what exactly Moreau researches on the island. Then, Prendick suddenly recalls that he has heard of Moreau, an eminent physiologist in London before a journalist exposed his gruesome experiments in vivisection.