Griffin is a college-educated scientist. He has a condition called albinism, resulting from an absence of pigment in the skin and hair. Distress over his uncommonly pale skin prompts him to research a serum that can turn something from white to translucent—and then invisible. He is brilliant, but his scientific success awakens his darkest qualities. He is arrogant and antisocial, maligning England as “a beast of a country [...] and pigs for people” (41). His newfound powers of invisibility are intoxicating, and almost immediately he begins devising ways to abuse his power for personal gain at others’ expense.

Life as an invisible man proves more inconvenient than expected, so he attempts to reverse the invisibility, but the reversal fails. Enraged, and driven by an insatiable lust for power, he turns to violence and murder. Eventually, he is consumed by the idea of total, despotic control. His character arc is defined by the transformation from an ordinary man to an extraordinary monster, and his moral decay illustrates the perils of the individual dissociated from all social ethic.

A foil to Griffin, Dr. Kemp has a strong ethic which he maintains even in the face of threat and temptation.