Human Intelligence and its Limits Theme Analysis

The two main characters in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea—Captain Nemo and Professor Arronax—are both highly intelligent, and the novel explores the value and significance of human knowledge. None of what either Nemo or Arronax achieves would be possible without their unusually advanced intelligence, and thus the novel indicates that intelligence can be important and transformative. At the same time, there are also clear limits to the intelligence of all the characters in the novel, as well as a forceful indication that intelligence isn’t everything. For example, the behavior of several characters, particularly Nemo, illustrates that high intelligence does not necessarily align with increased happiness or morality (indeed, the opposite can actually be true). Moreover, even the most intelligent humans can still behave in a foolish manner. Ultimately, human intelligence pales in comparison to the complex, fearsome mysteries of the natural world, and the novel suggests that it is important for humans not to become so hubristic that they allow themselves to believe they are particularly intelligent on the scale of all creation.

In the case of both Nemo and Arronax, their unusual intelligence makes it possible for them to leave a uniquely exhilarating kind of life. Trained as a medical doctor, Arronax becomes a naturalist with particular expertise in the deep sea. This career provides him with opportunities to travel the world in service of the pursuit of knowledge, which he appears to care about above anything else. On a similar note, Nemo’s intelligence means that he has the ability and resources to construct the Nautilus and abandon human society in order to live on it. Both men devote themselves to exploring the world—both in a literal, geographic sense, and in the sense of analyzing their surroundings.

Yet there are also obvious downsides to Nemo and Arronax’s intelligence. In both cases, the men’s intelligence distances them from the rest of society, isolating them from others. Indeed, it is arguably for this reason that the men develop such a close friendship, one that survives bursts of mutual suspicion and even dislike. Nemo and Arronax connect over their discussions of nature, history, geography, and philosophy, and in doing so establish a profoundly deep bond. Yet this bond is arguably a toxic one since it is grounded on Nemo’s nonconsensual capture and confinement of Arronax, and even leads Arronax to develop a Stockholm syndrome-like affection for his captor even after it becomes obvious that he would be better off fleeing the Nautilus and returning to land.

Furthermore, the novel also shows that not everyone’s intelligence is valued in the same way as the two main characters. Conseil, for example, is frequently described as highly intelligent and “learned,” yet because he is Arronax’s servant he is not afforded much respect as a thinker in his own right. Despite his natural capabilities, the class system into which Conseil is born limits what is possible for him to pursue in life. All evidence suggests that he is at least as intelligent as Arronax, yet he is still forced to permanently remain in Arronax’s shadow. On a similar note, Arronax haughtily labels the indigenous Papuan people “savages,” indicating that he believes they have inferior intelligence to white men like himself. Of course, in reality this is not true, and is simply a product of the racist, colonial ideology to which Arronax subscribes. Indeed, this in itself becomes proof of the limits of intelligence. While Arronax is one of the wisest and highest-educated men within his own culture, his adherence to false and foolish racist ideology starkly reveals the limits of the system of knowledge of which he is part.