The Invisible Man: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

Griffin admits that before becoming invisible, he did not think of the disadvantages and difficulties that invisibility would bring. He has no food or lodging, and if he puts on clothes he loses all the advantages of being invisible in the first place. He can’t go outside in snow, rain, or fog, because it makes an imprint of him visible. After returning to watch his old apartment on Great Portland Street burning, Griffin spots a shop that sells news, toys, and other miscellaneous items including masks. He enters the shop and plans to lie in wait until it closes, when he can peruse the items freely.

Griffin stands hesitantly as the shopkeeper comes in and out of the shop, seemingly suspicious that someone else is there. He keeps waiting while the shopkeeper, who is frustratingly alert and keeps moving around, eats his meal. Finally thinking that the shopkeeper has left, Griffin sits in the man’s chair to warm himself by the fire. Without thinking he puts on a coal, and this noise makes the shopkeeper return. The man stands staring for an excessively long time. Griffin tries to leave but keeps almost bumping into the shopkeeper, who suddenly stands still to listen. Griffin realizes that he must have exceptional hearing. 

Eventually the shopkeeper leaves, slamming the door in Griffin’s face. The shopkeeper locks Griffin inside the house, but after Griffin accidentally brings a pile of clothes crashing down on himself, the shopkeeper returns once more, this time touching Griffin. The shopkeeper is now frightened and starts walking around the house with a gun in his hand. Griffin manages to knock him out with a stool and throws his body down the stairs. He then gags him and ties him up with a sheet. At this point in the story Kemp interrupts, horrified at Griffin’s breach of morality. Griffin insists that he had no choice, and Kemp seems to halfheartedly agree.

After tying up the shopkeeper, Griffin eats some bread and cheese he found in the shop and drinks brandy and water. He then rigorously searches the whole shop, collecting anything he might find useful and putting it in a bag. He finds a mask, dark glasses, a beard, a wig, and some clothes. He also steals money from a locked cupboard. Griffin then stares at himself in the mirror and wonders if his appearance is “credible.” Eventually, he leaves. Kemp asks if he ever heard anything more from the shopkeeper, and Griffin replies that he didn’t.

Griffin continues his story: now that he has a full outfit, he briefly assumes that he will finally be able to reap the advantages of invisibility. He fantasizes about stealing money and treating himself to a sumptuous feast; however, after going to a restaurant he realizes that he cannot eat in public, or else others will notice that he’s invisible. He laments that all the joys of life are no longer available to him because he is invisible, and that he is now “a swathed and bandaged caricature of a man.”

Kemp asks how Griffin got to Iping, and Griffin explains that he went there to work. He recalls the snowy day when he first arrived. Griffin asks if he killed “that fool of a constable,” and Kemp replies that it is believed he will survive. Griffin then wonders about “that tramp of mine.” He emphasizes how angry it makes him to have worked so hard and have his efforts be ruined by foolish people. He threatens that if things continue like this, “I shall start mowing ‘em.” Kemp comments that he can imagine it must be frustrating.