The Time Machine Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
The Time Machine follows an inventor known only as the Time Traveller, who builds a machine and travels to the year 802,701. He finds humanity split into two species: the gentle, childlike Eloi above ground and the brutal Morlocks below, who feed on them. Going further, he sees the slow death of the Earth.
The story is told by one of the dinner guests who heard the Traveller's account.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| The Time Traveller | Inventor and narrator of the main tale |
| Weena | Eloi woman he saves from drowning |
| The Eloi | Small, gentle people of the future |
| The Morlocks | Pale underground creatures |
| The narrator | Guest who records the story |
How does the story begin?
At a dinner, the Time Traveller explains that time is a fourth dimension and shows his guests a small model that vanishes. A week later he staggers in, dirty and limping, and tells them what happened.
↑ Back to the topWhat does he find in the future?
He arrives in a garden world near a huge White Sphinx. The Eloi are delicate, carefree and lazy, living on fruit in ruined palaces. He thinks humanity has reached a perfect, easy life and grown soft. Then his time machine disappears, dragged inside the hollow sphinx. He saves an Eloi woman, Weena, from drowning, and she follows him everywhere.
↑ Back to the topWho are the Morlocks?
At night, pale ape-like creatures emerge from deep wells. He climbs down and discovers the Morlocks, who live underground, tend machinery and come up in the dark to feed on the Eloi. He concludes that the old division between the idle rich and the workers has split humanity in two.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Weena?
Looking for weapons, he and Weena explore a ruined museum, the Palace of Green Porcelain, where he takes matches and an iron bar. Crossing a forest at night, they are surrounded by Morlocks. A fire he starts spreads out of control, and Weena is lost in the chaos.
↑ Back to the topHow does The Time Machine end?
He finds his machine in the sphinx, escapes and goes forward millions of years. He sees a red, dying sun, giant crabs on a beach and finally a cold, dark world with only a strange creature moving in the shallows. He returns to his own time. His guests doubt him, so he shows two strange flowers Weena gave him. The next day he leaves with a camera and never returns. Three years later, the narrator still wonders where in time he went.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Time Machine
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.