There is evil inside everyone whether it is a small amount such as telling a lie once in a while or a large amount such as murder or drug dealing. There are two sides to every person that is expressed largely in the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stephenson. Duality is also expressed in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In this essay I will compare the duality between The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the play Romeo and Juliet. In the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it talks about how man has two natures a good nature and an evil nature. “I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life” (123). Henry Jekyll was a good man he helped people, he had great friends, was very intelligent …show more content…
Friar expressed duality when he says “In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;” (II,III, 28). Friar Lawrence also talks to Juliet about how one small pretty flower holds the power to kill “Within the infant rind of this small flower poison hath residence and medicine in man as well as herbs, grace and rude will…” (II, II, 23-31 Shakespeare). There is evil in beauty and beauty in evil. This compares to where Jekyll and Hyde live. Hyde lives in a pretty neighborhood with a nice courtyard and shops but when you see Hyde’s house it is the complete opposite of the neighborhood it is old and decrepit the paint is peeling and the door has no knob this is an example of evil or ugliness in beauty. Jekyll live is this older part of the city the building are not beautiful but when you see Henry Jekyll’s house it is beautiful this is an example of beauty living alongside …show more content…
Out of death comes freedom. When Jekyll commits suicide to free himself and Hyde he is committing a huge sin in the Catholic Church. Which shows where there is good there is evil and where there is evil there is good. In the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Jekyll compare Hyde to a child. When most people compare someone to a child they think or innocence and how a child really is sweet and has no evil in it they are angels. When Jekyll compares Hyde to a child he compares him to a child of Hell “He, I say I cannot say, I. That child of Hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear and hatred” (153 Stephenson). Duality its two but one, it’s good but evil, its love but hate and it is human but not human. In the Victorian society you could only be respected and not have fun or you could be hated because you are not a perfect human. During this epoch in history everyone hid everything that remotely seemed bad or human. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare he includes the duality of love and hate and enemy and friend. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stephenson he compares the duality in human nature about how man is not only good but
The story illustrates this in the two characters of Dr Jekyll. and Mr. Hyde. Mr Hyde is on the evil side of Dr Jekyll, but he is restrained from being. wholly evil by Victorian society. Looking closely at Dr Jekyll.
...ve duality of man;… if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” Thus, Stevenson creates in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two coexistent, and eternally opposed components that make up a “normal” individual. However, here, good and evil are not related but are two independent entities, individuals even, different in mental and physical attributes and constantly at war with each other. Evil now does not require the existence of good to justify itself but it exists simply as itself, and is depicted as being the more powerful, the more enjoyable of the two, and in the end ultimately it is the one that leads to Dr. Jekyll's downfall and death. Stevenson creates the perfect metaphor for the never-ending battle between good and evil by using Jekyll and Hyde. However, this novella is perhaps one of the few that truly show the power of Evil.
Duality are opposites being evil or good, love or hate, life or death. In the story of Romeo and Juliet one of the Friars makes a connection between man and a plant. The Friar states “In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will” ( Act II Scene III Line 35-6 ) this comparison is conveying how closely human's nature is related to those of plants. Both have power to be used as medicine but have enough potential to be used as something harmful. The story of Romeo and Juliet is full of opposites, including the two main families: the Montagues and the Capulets they have been sworn to hate each other. The two main characters that fall in love with each other are from different families. Romeo and Juliet are suppose to feel loathe against each other, but on the contrary they fall in love. When Juliet finds out of the devastating news that Romeo is a Montague, she states “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that i must love a loathed enemy”(Act I Scene V Line 53-4). The hatred between the families caused the deaths of Juliet and Romeo. The deaths are a used as pathway for both families to live in peace. Prince Escalus sums it up by saying “a glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun for shadow will not show his head (Act V Scene III Line 309-310 )”. By saying this he is trying to tell us that out of misery and woe
Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.”(Jekyll and Hyde chap 10, last paragraph). This quote shows how Jekyll was willing to give up his life, which at that time was profoundly frowned upon, to let Hyde live; even though he knew Hyde wouldn’t last long at all. This human corruption and good vs evil theme also shows up in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. “Within the infant rind of this small flower/ Poison hath residence and medicine power/ In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;/ And where the worser is predominant, /Full soon the canker death eats up that plant”(II iii 23-30). Friar Lawrence makes the connection in this quote with plants; that there are good and evil parts, and that if evil has more power than the good: the plant will die. As Shakespeare said that the evil will overpower the good, Stevenson does the same with the personalities of Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll started out stronger than Hyde, but the longer he stayed Hyde, the more he enjoyed what he was doing as Hyde; this shows how humans will indulge in sins even if it meant eternal damnation. Another novel from around the same time as Jekyll and Hyde that shows the duality of man in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. At a glance
Innocence is a trap. It is strangled with the ideals of perfection and suffocates the cravings of curiosity. Goodness is expectant and evil is poisonous. However, good and evil resides in even the most innocent of people. Both are nefarious and pestilent to easily corrupt targeted souls in sinister actions. Both equate to uncontrollable factors. Goodness tends to covet the sensations of evil since it depreciates its own purity. In the oscillating novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, goodness was trapped by evil just as Jekyll was trapped as Hyde. Jekyll’s pure spirituality desired the holy richness of evil and all its wrongdoings. His laboratory experiments discovered his desire to feel the sensation of evil without truly being evil. His laboratory experiments discovered a way for him to escape. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fought the battle between good and evil proving the apparent strengths and weaknesses that overall transformed two souls into a single corpse.
Good and Evil in Human Nature in Lord of the Flies and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Victorian morals are significant in the establishment of duality due to the moral conflict it initiates. Stevenson introduced the theme of duality not merely because of contrasting characters and an appealing storyline. Present evidence indicates that Victorian society was constantly disturbed by an inescapable sense of division (Saposnik 88). The presence of two opposing personalities conflicted with the Victorian conscience. Likewise, Victorian society feared the type of behaviors and person represented by Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde is considered the "brutal embodiment of the moral, social, political, and economic threats which shook the uncertain Victorian world" (Saposnik 100). Everything about Jekyll was eerie and defied the Victorian ethics from his physical appearance to his inconsiderate actions. The setting also played an important role with Victorian morals. London was a location where virtue and vice was most clearly present. This is where evil battled the good of Christianity. London was the center of the Victorian world and was the great arena of moral conflict as well....
... man. Society in the Victorian era was consisted of two classes, trashy and wealthy. Jekyll was expected to be a gentleman, but he wanted to have fun. This was the reason he created Hyde, so he could both be respected and have fun. He was delighted at the freedom he now had. Lanyon was overly contolled, but Utterson knew all men had both good and bad within them and could control it. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dual nature of man is a recurring theme. Jekyll constantly struggles with good and evil, the expectations of Victorian society, and the differences between Lanyon and Jekyll.
Do you have any idea what the word duality means? Duality is “an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something; a dualism.” The theme of duality is a major theme in many books and these two books have a lot of dualistic features in them. Many books you have read may have had duality in them and you may not have even known it. In this paper I am going to compare and contrast the duality of Romeo and Juliet against Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In order to do that I will provide a summary and explain the plot of each book, and then look at the dualities within each book. Once I have covered this information not only will you know what duality means but you will also understand how to look for it in your readings.
Due to their concealed yet present inner evil, humans are naturally inclined to sin but at the same time resist temptation because of influence from society, thus illustrating a duality in humanity. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on how humans are actually two different people composed into one. The concept of dual human nature includes all of Hyde’s crimes and ultimately the death of Jekyll. Jekyll proposes that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and describes the human soul as a constant clash of the “angel” and the “fiend,” each struggling to suppress the other (Stevenson 61, 65). Man will try to cover up his inner evil because once it rises to the surface everyone will know the real...
This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong Calvinist beliefs, portrays his thoughts and opinion throughout the story in his characters; good and evil.
Jekyll plays man as a whole, good and bad, he was “wild” and also “smooth-faced” at the same time. Both characters lack vital emotional outputs that make humans socially, even though the psychopath is more cunning than the sociopath. “…lack of conscience, remorse or guilt for hurtful actions to others….There may be an intellectual understanding of appropriate social behavior but no emotional response to the actions of others” (“Psychopath vs. Sociopath” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Psychopath_vs_Sociopath). Both are social defaces, and cannot be helped; however to the naked eye, these two characters are savage. Both victims of anti-social disorder are lacking factors that make humans acceptably sociable, one lacking empathy while the other lacks sensibility. Diffen, a website, tells us, “Psychopaths…lack of empathy; no conscience…sociopaths…high impulsivity” (“Sociopathy versus Psychopathy” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Sociopathy_versus_Psychopathy). Dr. Jekyll shows no empathy by using and manipulating people close to him, and Mr. Hyde, as intended, has no sensibility to act with caution resulting himself in trouble for barbaric actions. This, in turn shows the comparison and contrast of the psychopathic creator and his sociopathic creation which in reality are two halves to a whole.
Dr. Jekyll is a symbol of both the good and the bad in mankind, while Mr. Hyde represents pure evil. For instance, when Dr. Jekyll is himself, he is seen as a respectable man who is adored by his colleagues: “he became once more their familiar quest and entertainer; and whilst he had always been known for his charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion” (Stevenson 29). However, when Dr. Jekyll transforms to Mr. Hyde his morals are quickly disregarded. An example of this occurs when Mr. Hyde murders Sir Danvers, shortly after Dr. Jekyll submits to the temptation of changing to Mr. Hyde: “instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me…with a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow” (Stevenson 56). Even though the carnal side of Dr. Jekyll enjoys the incident, this event also illustrates the conscience side of Dr. Jekyll because in the mist of this brutal murder, he begins to feel guilty for committing the crime.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both different is morality. Both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have highly different morals. For example Dr. Jekyll’s morals are to contain the evil inside him and to keep his good side away from his bad side. Eventually Dr. Jekyll’s for trying to isolate his evil side it took over him. Dr. Jekyll’s mind was too weak that is how Mr. Hyde took over. Which now lead to Mr. Hyde’s evil mind, Mr. Hyde is the evil side to Dr. Jekyll and now he has full control. Mr. Hyde is the moral downfall of Dr. Jekyll.