3 ideas
In 1870s Yucatán, Doctor Moreau runs his hybrid experiments at the remote hacienda Yaxaktun, funded by the landowner Hernando Lizalde. The research is presented as medical inquiry, but its purpose is to manufacture workers who cannot rebel.
His protection, education and affection turn out to be the same custodianship he exercises over the creatures. The book argues that care which is not accountable to the one cared for slides into possession, and that a daughter's obedience and a subject's obedience share the same structure.
Seen through this lens, the romance is a deal between patrons in which the woman is the asset whose consent is assumed. The lens shows that a woman's choice of husband decides who owns what, which is why the powerful men around her try to steer it.