Summary
The Time Machine introduced the concept of time travel to a mass audience and established H.G. Wells as a sci-fi pioneer and visionary author. This seminal 1895 novella follows an unnamed Time Traveller as he ventures hundreds of thousands of years into the future, where he encounters the child-like Eloi and the savage Morlocks—descendants of humanity that have evolved into two distinct species. Through this far-future world, Wells offers pointed commentary on class divisions and social degeneration in Victorian England. While relatively short at around 32,000 words, The Time Machine had a major impact, introducing many of the tropes that have become staples of time travel fiction, including the idea of a vehicle or device for traveling through time, and coining the term “time machine” itself.
Plot
The Time Machine opens in late Victorian England with an unnamed scientist known as the Time Traveller, who demonstrates a miniature time machine to his dinner guests. A week later, he returns disheveled and exhausted to recount his journey to the year 802,701 AD. There he encountered two distinct human species descended from modern humans—the childlike Eloi who live on the surface, and the brutish Morlocks who dwell underground.
The Time Traveller initially believes he has found a utopian society free of conflict. However, he soon realizes the Eloi are docile and unintelligent, while the nocturnal Morlocks prey on them for food. When his time machine disappears, he explores the Morlock tunnels to search for it. He rescues an Eloi woman named Weena from drowning, but later loses her during a Morlock attack.
After recovering his machine, the Time Traveller journeys even further into the future. He witnesses the final days of life on Earth as the planet grows cold under a dim red sun. Escaping back to his own time, he tells his story to his skeptical dinner guests. The next day, he departs on another time travel expedition, promising to return shortly with proof. However, he never reappears.
The novel ends with the narrator, one of the Time Traveller's guests, reflecting on the implications of the story and the uncertain fate of humanity. He expresses hope that human intelligence and virtue may yet triumph over the degeneration witnessed in the far future. The ultimate fate of the Time Traveller remains a mystery.
Themes
The dangers of unchecked technological progress
Social inequality and class division
Evolution and the future of humanity
The relativity and malleability of time
The decline of civilization and human regression
The relationship between knowledge and power
Humanity's place in the universe
Setting
The Time Machine is primarily set in two distinct time periods. The story opens in late 19th- century Victorian England, specifically in Richmond, Surrey, where the unnamed Time Traveller lives and first demonstrates his invention to a group of dinner guests. This framing narrative establishes the contemporary setting from which the protagonist embarks on his journey through time.
The bulk of the story takes place in the distant future, approximately 802,701 AD. In this far-off era, the Time Traveller finds a drastically altered Earth. The landscape has become a lush garden-like paradise inhabited by the childlike Eloi who live in small communities among deteriorating futuristic buildings. However, this idyllic surface world is revealed to have a dark underside—the subterranean realm of the ape-like Morlocks who operate machinery underground and prey on the Eloi at night.
In the final sections of the novel, the Time Traveller ventures even further into the future, witnessing the final days of Earth. He observes a dying world approximately 30 million years from his own time, where the last vestiges of life cling to existence on a beach beneath a swollen red sun. This bleak far-future setting provides a haunting conclusion to the Time Traveller's journey through the ages of Earth.
Characters
The Time Traveller: The protagonist and narrator of most of the story, an unnamed scientist who builds a time machine and travels to the distant future. Intelligent and curious, the Time Traveller is also eccentric, a bit arrogant, and increasingly reckless in his adventures through time. His observations and experiences in the year 802,701 AD form the core of the novel's plot and themes.
Weena: An Eloi woman whom the Time Traveller befriends in the future. Childlike and afraid of the dark, she develops an attachment to the Time Traveller. Weena represents the devolved state of humanity in the far future, having lost much of her intelligence and survival instincts. Her fate is left uncertain at the end of the novel.
The Medical Man: One of the dinner guests who listens to the Time Traveller's story. He is skeptical of the Time Traveller's claims but engages in scientific debate about the possibility of time travel.
The Psychologist: Another dinner guest who attempts to rationalize the Time Traveller's story. He proposes psychological explanations for the fantastical tale.
Filby: An argumentative dinner guest who frequently challenges the Time Traveller's assertions. He serves as a voice of skepticism throughout the framing narrative.
The Editor: A minor character who attends the Time Traveller's dinners. He represents the popular press and its tendency to sensationalize scientific discoveries.
The Journalist: Another minor dinner guest who listens to the Time Traveller's story. He is eager for a scoop but ultimately dismissive of the tale's veracity.
Quick facts
H.G. Wells wrote the first draft of The Time Machine in just seven days in 1894.
The novel was serialized in the New Review magazine from January to May 1895 before being published as a book.
The Time Machine has never been out of print since its first publication in 1895.
The book popularized the concept of using a vehicle for time travel, coining the term “time machine."
The Time Machine is considered one of the earliest examples of the “dying Earth” subgenre of science fiction.
Wells based the Time Traveller's workshop on his own laboratory at the Normal School of Science.
The Morlocks were inspired by Wells's teenage experience working in a basement as a draper's apprentice.
Wells wrote a deleted scene describing the Time Traveller's visit to the far future, which was later published separately as “The Grey Man."
The 1960 film adaptation, directed by George Pal and starring Rod Taylor, won an Oscar for its time-lapse photographic effects showing the world changing rapidly.
The author's great-grandson Simon Wells directed the 2002 film adaptation starring Guy Pearce.
About the Author
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) was a visionary English novelist and one of the most influential writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his groundbreaking works of science fiction, including The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau.
Born into a working-class family in Kent, England, Wells overcame a challenging childhood to become a prolific author and social activist. His vivid imagination and scientific knowledge allowed him to create stories that were both fantastical and grounded in real scientific concepts. He is credited with popularizing many tropes that are now commonplace in science fiction, such as time travel, alien invasions, and invisibility. Beyond his fiction, Wells was also a respected social commentator and futurist. He accurately predicted many technological advancements, including nuclear weapons, satellite television, and the World Wide Web.
As a political thinker, Wells was a committed socialist and member of the Fabian Society. He used his writing to advocate for social reform and a more equitable society. His nonfiction works, such as The Outline of History and The Rights of Man, had a significant impact on political thought in the early 20th century. Wells was also an outspoken critic of organized religion, particularly in his later years.
Wells's legacy extends far beyond his own lifetime. His works have been adapted countless times for film, television, and radio. He inspired generations of science fiction writers and helped establish the genre as a respected form of literature. Today, Wells is remembered not only as a master storyteller but also as a visionary who helped shape our understanding of science, technology, and society in the modern world.
