Major Themes

Rumours

When the stranger arrives at the village of Iping, he arouses the curiosity of everyone due to his strange behaviour. He is covered up completely and acts weird. His unwillingness to face people and his need to be in isolation give rise to different kinds of rumours about him. His luggage too creates a lot of speculation because of its contents. This gives way to strange stories being circulated about him. Some people assume that he has a skin problem that compels him to cover himself, while others think that he is a terrorist who is making some kind of an explosive. The robbery at the vicar’s house further ignites the flame of rumours. The speculation and rumours become severe due to the Invisible Man’s anger and intense behaviour towards everyone. Even when the dead body is found, different rumours make rounds about the method of killing. The whole novel revolves around rumours about Griffin and his strange behaviour, the ignorance of the people about Griffin’s tragedy and scepticism towards him. The antagonism shown to Gri…