The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H.G. Wells published in 1897. Wells' novel was originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, and published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it absorbs and reflects no light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse the procedure. Instead, his plight becomes known.

When he attempts to enlist the aid of former acquaintance, he is betrayed. Griffin's attempt to begin a "Reign of Terror" by murdering his betrayer ends in his own death.

While its predecessors, The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first-person narrators, in The Invisible Man Wells adopts a third-person objective point of view.


The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H.G. Wells published in 1897. Wells' novel was originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, and published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it absorbs and reflects no light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse the procedure. Instead, his plight becomes known.

When he attempts to enlist the aid of former acquaintance, he is betrayed. Griffin's attempt to begin a "Reign of Terror" by murdering his betrayer ends in his own death.

While its predecessors, The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first-person narrators, in The Invisible Man Wells adopts a third-person objective point of view.

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