Doktor Moreau’nun Adası: Posthümanizm Üzerinden Ada Kavramı

Year 2025, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 43 - 58

Fatmanur Kalkan

Abstract

H. G. Wells’in Doktor Moreau'nun Adası adlı eseri, insan kimliği ve posthümanist düşünce arasındaki karmaşık etkileşimi bir ada ortamında betimleyerek “İnsan nedir?” sorusunu gündeme getirir. Bu ortam, Dr. Moreau, Montgomery ve başkahraman Edward Prendick karakterlerine odaklanarak insanlık ve ahlak sınırlarının bir mikrokozmosu işlevi görür. Prendick’in aksine, kendilerini doğanın üzerinde tanrılar olarak gören ve doğayı amaçları için kullanan Dr. Moreau ve Montgomery, insanı merkezî konumundan eden ve bütünün bir parçası olarak gören, böylece geleneksel insan üstünlüğü ve önceliği fikirlerini altüst eden posthümanizmin aksine, insanmerkezciliğin eksikliklerini temsil ederler. Okurlar, Prendick aracılığıyla, insanların ve hayvanların doğalarında var olan vahşet ve acımasızlıkla karşı karşıya kaldıklarında yaşadıkları ahlaki ikilemlere ve varoluşsal mücadelelere tanık olurlar. Roman, insanlar ve hayvanlar arasındaki ayrımı belirsizleştirerek insanların istisnai olduğu fikrine şüpheyle yaklaşır ve insanların içindeki hayvani özü ön plana çıkarır. Doktor Moreau’nun Adası, insan olmanın salt biyolojik ayrımların ötesine geçerek akıl, duygu ve ahlakın karmaşık bir etkileşimini kapsadığını öne sürer. Roman, okurları dünyadaki doğal yerlerini yeniden değerlendirmeye ve tüm canlıların birbirine bağlılığını kabul etmeye davet ederek, insan istisnacılığını reddetmesi ve tüm yaşam biçimlerine empati ve saygıyı teşvik etmesiyle posthümanizm ethosunu yansıtır. Dolayısıyla bu makale, H. G. Wells’in Doktor Moreau’nun Adası adlı eserinde olduğu gibi, bir ada ortamında insan kavramını üç ana karakter üzerinden posthümanist bir bakış açısıyla tanımlamaktadır.

Keywords

Posthümanizm , Ada ortamı , İnsan/hayvan ikilemi , H. G. Wells , Doktor Moreau’nun Adası

Ethical Statement

The author of this article confirms that this research does not require a research ethics committee approval.

The Island of Doctor Moreau: The Notion of the Island through Posthumanism

Abstract

H. G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau raises the question of “What is a human?” by its delineation of the complex interplay between human identity and posthumanist thought within an island setting, which serves as a microcosm for the boundaries of humanity and morality focusing on characters Dr. Moreau, Montgomery, and the protagonist Edward Prendick. Unlike Prendick, Dr. Moreau and Montgomery, who regard themselves as gods above nature and use it for their purposes, epitomize the shortcomings of anthropocentrism, in contrast to posthumanism, which decentralizes the human being and sees her/him as part of the whole, thus subverting the conventional ideas of human superiority and primacy. Through Prendick, readers witness moral dilemmas and existential struggles when confronted with the brutality and savagery inherent in humans and animals. Thus, the novel casts doubt on the idea that humans are exceptional by obfuscating the distinction between humans and animals, which foregrounds the animalistic essence within humans. The Island of Doctor Moreau suggests that being human transcends mere biological distinctions, encompassing a complex interplay of intellect, emotion, and morality. The novel challenges readers to reevaluate their place in the natural world and recognize the interconnectedness of all living beings, echoing the ethos of posthumanism in its rejection of human exceptionalism and promotion of empathy and respect for all forms of life. Therefore, this article defines the concept of human being in an island setting, as shown in H. G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, from a posthumanist perspective through its three main characters.

Keywords

Posthumanism , Island setting , Human/animal dichotomy , H. G. Wells , The Island of Doctor Moreau

Ethical Statement

The author of this article confirms that this research does not require a research ethics committee approval.

References

• Ağın, Başak. Posthumanizm: Kavram, Kuram, Bilim-Kurgu. Siyasal Kitabevi, 2022.
• Barad, Karen. “Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter.” Signs, vol. 28, no. 3, 2003, pp. 801–831. doi:10.1086/345321.
• Bolton, Benjamin. “Posthumanism and Animal Rights: Rethinking 'The Human', Rethinking the ‘Self’.” Animal Studies Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, 2014, pp. 48–56.
• Bowen, Roger. “Science, Myth, and Fiction in H. G. Wells’s Island of Dr. Moreau.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 8, no. 3, 1976, pp. 318–335.
• Bozzetto, Roger. “Moreau’s Tragi-Farcical Island.” Science Fiction Studies, translated by RMP and Russell Taylor, vol. 20, no. 1, 1993, pp. 34–44.
• Braidotti, Rosi. The Posthuman. Polity Press, 2013.
• Brown, Alistair. “Rereading Posthumanism in The War of the Worlds and Independence Day.” eSharp, vol. 12, 2008, pp. 1–25.
• Chiew, Florence. “Posthuman Ethics with Cary Wolfe and Karen Barad: Animal Compassion as Trans-Species Entanglement.” Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 31, no. 4, 2014, pp. 51–69. doi:10.1177/0263276413508449.
• Christensen, Timothy. “The ‘Bestial Mark’ of Race in The Island of Dr. Moreau.” Criticism, vol. 46, no. 4, 2004, pp. 575–595.
• Dwyer, June. “Leaving The Island of Dr. Moreau: How David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle Reconceives Animality and Disability.” Modern Language Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 2014, pp. 10–23.
• Gomel, Elana. “The House of Pain: The Island of Dr. Moreau and Post/Trans/Humanism Today.” Journal of Posthumanism, vol. 3, 2023, pp. 219–232. doi:10.33182/joph.v3i3.2069.
• Göktürk, Akşit. Ada: İngiliz Yayınında Ada Kavramı. YKY Yayınları, 2004.
• Horzum, Safak. “Proto-Posthumanist Subject for Swift: Gulliver as a Non/human Hybrid in Lilliput.” Orbis Litterarum, vol. 80, no. 3, 2025, pp. 224–238. doi:10.1111/oli.12482.
• Le Juez, Brigitte, and Olga Springer. “Introduction: Shipwrecks and Islands as Multilayered, Timeless Metaphors of Human Existence.” Shipwreck and Island Motifs in Literature and the Arts, edited by Le Juez and Springer, Brill Rodopi, 2015, pp. 1–13.
• Kennedy, Melissa, and Paloma Fresno Calleja. “Introduction: Island Narratives of Persistence and Resistance.” Interventions, vol. 25, no. 1, 2023, pp. 1–10. doi:10.1080/1369801X.2022.2054010.
• Meeker, Joseph W. “Subtleties of the Isle: Islands and the Imagination.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 18, no. 1, 2011, pp. 197–202.
• Rosenfeld, Cynthia. “The Great Divide: What Dr. Moreau Tells Us About Posthumanism and the Anthropocene.” Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, vol. 17, 2018, pp. 37–52.
• Scott, Heidi C. M. “Havens and Horrors: The Island Landscape.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 21, no. 3, 2014, pp. 636–657. doi:10.1093/isle/isu075.
• Snyder, E. E. “Moreau and the Monstrous: Evolution, Religion, and the Beast on the Island.” Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, vol. 2, no. 2, 2013, pp. 213–239. doi:10.5325/preternature.2.2.0213.
• Ulmer, Jasmine B. “Posthumanism as Research Methodology: Inquiry in the Anthropocene.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 30, no. 9, 2017, pp. 832–848. doi:10.1080/09518398.2017.1336806.
• Wells, H. G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. Stone &Kimball, 1896.
• Wolfe, Cary. What is Posthumanism. University of Minnesota Press, 2010.