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Situational Irony
Definition of Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost thoughts and feelings as if... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself... read full definition
Chapter 18: The Invisible Man Sleeps
Explanation and Analysis—An Invisible Animal?:
In Chapter 18, after Doctor Kemp has taken in Griffin, who has gone to sleep, Mr. Kemp vocalizes his thoughts about the Invisible Man with a soliloquy:
“Invisible!” he said. “Is there such a thing as an invisible animal? … In the sea, yes. Thousands—millions. All the larvae, all the little nauplii and tornarias, all the microscopic things, the jelly-fish. In the sea there are more things invisible than visible! I never thought of that before. And in the ponds too! All those little pond-life things—specks of colourless translucent jelly! But in air? No! “It can’t be. “But after all—why not? “If a man was made of glass he would still be visible.”
Doctor Kemp, even after having experiential evidence regarding the existence of the Invisible Man, still has to ponder whether it’s possible. This disbelief shows his intense tendency towards skepticism. Doctor Kemp, being a scientific man, believes only in things that accord with his scientific worldview. He is willing to trust in the scientific evidence of whether invisibility occurs in nature rather than the evidence that his own senses have given him.
The soliloquy shows Doctor Kemp’s fascination and sets up the scientific explanation that Griffin eventually gives. It additionally demonstrates that Doctor Kemp has anxiety about things he can’t understand with science. Doctor Kemp's worldview also seems to dehumanize Griffin by comparing him to something animalistic. In Mr. Kemp’s world, invisibility is for ghosts and jellyfish, not something possible for human beings.
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