Footprints without Feet — RBSE Class 10 English (Footprints without Feet)
Two boys following muddy footprints that appear from nowhere — with no feet making them — are our first clue that something impossible has happened: a man has made himself invisible. H.G. Wells's story imagines that dream come true, and then shows its dark side: a gifted scientist who uses his discovery not to help the world but to rob, threaten and escape — a chilling warning about science without conscience.
1. The mysterious footprints
The story opens with two boys in London seeing fresh, muddy footprints appear on a doorstep — and then move along, made by no visible feet. They follow the prints in wonder until the mud wears off and the trail vanishes. The invisible man leaving them is Griffin, a brilliant scientist.
2. Who is Griffin?
Griffin was a brilliant but eccentric scientist who had carried out experiment after experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. He finally swallowed rare drugs and his body became as transparent as glass — though he remained solid. He had become invisible.
But Griffin was also a lawless, homeless and bitter man. When his landlord tried to evict him, Griffin set fire to the house in revenge and, to escape unseen, removed his clothes and became invisible. Now invisible, he found being unclothed in cold London winter miserable, and became a strange, cold, unhappy figure roaming the streets.
3. Griffin's misadventures
Invisibility, which should have been a triumph, only led Griffin into crime and trouble:
- To get warm and clothed, he slipped into a big London store (a shop), spent the night wearing stolen clothes and eating food, but overslept and had to flee, shedding clothes to stay invisible.
- He robbed a theatrical company for clothes and bandages to wrap his face, then left London for the quiet village of Iping.
- At Iping he took two rooms at an inn and paid with stolen money, arousing the curiosity of the villagers because of his strange, bandaged appearance.
4. Exposure at Iping
At the inn, Griffin's odd behaviour and disappearing money drew suspicion. When a burglary at the clergyman's house occurred (money handled by "no one"), and when the landlord and his wife found his room empty but heard sounds and saw furniture apparently moving on its own, they were terrified. Confronted, an angry Griffin threw off his bandages and clothes — revealing that he was headless and invisible — and, in the chaos, attacked those present. A constable (Mr Jaffers) tried to seize him, but how do you arrest a man you cannot see? Griffin knocked people about and escaped, invisible once more, leaving the village in uproar.
5. Themes
- The misuse of science — a great scientific achievement (invisibility) is wasted, even turned to harm, because its inventor lacks conscience and self-control.
- Science without responsibility is dangerous — power without morality leads to lawlessness.
- The lonely, destructive path of a brilliant but flawed mind — Griffin's genius brings him only isolation and ruin.
- Science fiction and imagination — Wells imagines a fantastic possibility and its very human consequences.
6. Closing thought
"Footprints without Feet" is thrilling as a mystery, but its real power is as a warning. Griffin has done something extraordinary — he has made himself invisible — yet he uses it only to steal, frighten and flee. Wells's point is quiet but sharp: a scientific gift is only as good as the character of the person who holds it. Invisibility gives Griffin freedom from being seen, but not freedom from his own anger, greed and lawlessness — and so his triumph becomes his downfall.
For the RBSE board, remember the opening footprints and who Griffin is, how he became invisible and why (the fire, the clothes), his misadventures (the shop, the theatrical company, Iping), the exposure at Iping, and the theme of science misused / power without conscience. Character- and theme-based questions are common.
