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“I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world when I saw it suffering the painful disorder of this island. A blind Fate, a vast pitiless mechanism, seemed to cut and shape the fabric of existence and I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions, were torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably, amid the infinite complexity of its incessant wheels."
This quotation appears at the end of Chapter XVI, just after Prendick shoots the Leopard-man. In this moment, Prendick reflects despondently on the fundamental cruelty of life, which subjects all—humans and animals alike—to a brief, painful existence that ends in death. Prendick’s comparison of Fate to a blind cutter and shaper of fabric alludes to the Fates of Greek mythology, personified as three old women who spin, measure, and cut the fabric of life. However, this language also invokes the work of Moreau, who cuts and shapes the bodies of his creations, the Beast People. In both cases, the forces that create and shape life are ruthless and blind to the pain and suffering they cause. This passage paints a bleak picture of the world as devoid of sense and purpose, and life as a cursed existence from which none escape.
