payment page
"Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may be, I fancy, that I have seen more of the ways of this world’s Maker than you,—for I have sought his laws, in my way, all my life, while you, I understand, have been collecting butterflies. And I tell you, pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell.”
These contemptuous words are spoken by Dr. Moreau in Chapter XIV, when he finally explains his work to Prendick. Here, Moreau is responding to Prendick’s moral objection to the pain he inflicts on the animals he vivisects. When Moreau claims that his scientific experiments are his way of seeking God’s laws, he is not professing his acceptance of any traditional religion. Rather, he is equating scientific knowledge with divine truth, the pursuit of which is a holy cause that justifies his extreme methods. Although Prendick is also a scientist, Moreau belittles him as a mere butterfly collector, suggesting that Prendick’s devotion to scientific truth is inferior to his own. Moreau also chastises Prendick for his moral code, particularly his objection to inflicting pain on animals, which Moreau disdains as a false doctrine that impedes scientists from taking their investigations far enough.
