“Identity crisis is a psychological term that describes someone who in the constant of searching for his/her identity. So identity crisis doesn’t refer to a real crisis but it just describes a normal stage of personality development.”(M.Farouk Radwan). Many people in this world suffer from it, and some may not know they do. First off, what is identity crisis? To simplify, it is when a person has a hard time finding who they really are, and for some people it’s a difficult thing to do. Here are some question to consider. Why do people hide their true identity? Is there a deeper meaning then we know about? When not knowing who you truly are is it hard to connect to society? What are some causes and effects of identity crisis? There …show more content…
In the book Dracula by Bran Stoker there is a character that goes by the name Renfield. Within In the novel Renfield has a troublesome time choosing a side, is he going to be evil and be with Dracula’s and be his slave, or is he going to be good and help Dr. Seward, Mina , Jonathan, and the gang kill Dracula. You can first see Renfield showing signs of wickedness is in chapter 6 when Dr. Seward refused to give him a cat as a pet because Dr. Seward knew Renfield’s intention if he was to get him a cat, as we continue on reading Dr. Seward goes to visit Renfield and he found him humming a tune, spreading out his sugar on the window like normal and resumed back to catching his flies. Dr. Seward continues on and asks where his birds were and he replies and said that they flew away. Seward notices a few feathers around the room and some on his pillow and a drop of blood. Later he diagnosed him as a “zoophagous (life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he can” (76). As we skip ahead a little bit we can see him acting evil again in chapter 12 when he escapes the asylum and attacked two men carrying boxes of earth from Carfax, as the fight settles down the attendants were trying to put a strain-waistcoat on him and before they could he shouts out “ill frustrate them! They shan’t rob me! They …show more content…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the book the character Dr. Jekyll has a hard time coping with who he has become and doesn’t feel like he belongs in society and he tries to hide it, but this is a difficult task for him. “Enfield, describing Hyde to Utterson, "There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable." (15) When the author first introduced him in the novel, Dr. Jekyll represents an ideal person; naturally gracious, good hearted and respectful. He was also highly known for being a doctor. On the other hand the author introduces the readers Edward Hyde, the opposite pole of Dr. Jekyll, an uncouth and devilish person who has unacceptably bad behaviors. Surprisingly these two short different personalities are belonged to one man. The contrast amongst these two characters, focuses on the effect of society on an individual actions. In the novel, the author privations to show that Dr. Jekyll develops more than one identity in order to be recognized by society. Furthermore, he suppresses his evil feelings and tendencies unconsciously and goes against his own nature. Ultimately, Mr. Hyde, the horrific side, grows in power. In the novel Jekyll, highlighting his lack of control over Mr. Hyde, "I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with
This fictional character was soon to be famous, and modified for years to come into movie characters or even into cereal commercials. But the original will never be forgotten: a story of a group of friends all with the same mission, to destroy Dracula. The Count has scared many people, from critics to mere children, but if one reads between the lines, Stoker’s true message can be revealed. His personal experiences and the time period in which he lived, influenced him to write Dracula in which he communicated the universal truth that good always prevails over evil. Religion was a big part of people’s lives back in Stoker’s time.
Renfield is seemingly an irrelevant character. Stoker created an almost chorus-like character that, as we examine Renfield, we understand more of the story. The central themes of invasion, blood and otherness are portrayed through this character. Renfield is connected to Dracula by an unseen power, which not only foretells the attempted invasion by Dracula, but also the final outcome. Renfield parallels Dracula need for life (blood) throughout the novel. The novel as a whole is centered on the complex, mysterious creature Dracula. Stoker’s use of the character Renfield functions as an abstract representation for a better understanding of Dracula. The idea of an omnipotent vampire is unbelievable and Renfield provides clarity through his madness.
“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” is a novella written in the Victorian era, more specifically in 1886 by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. When the novella was first published it had caused a lot of public outrage as it clashed with many of the views regarding the duality of the soul and science itself. The audience can relate many of the themes of the story with Stevenson’s personal life. Due to the fact that Stevenson started out as a sick child, moving from hospital to hospital, and continued on that track as an adult, a lot of the medical influence of the story and the fact that Jekyll’s situation was described as an “fateful illness” is most likely due to Stevenson’s unfortunate and diseased-riddled life. Furthermore the author had been known to dabble in various drugs, this again can be linked to Jekyll’s desperate need and desire to give in to his darker side by changing into Mr Hyde.
While studying the diabolical figures in the devil, the idea of presenting Dracula came to mind. Dracula represents the devil in many similar ways. Dracula remains as a character in many diabolical movies and films. For instance, Van Helsing provides a good interpret of how Dracula remains noticed in the past and in present day. Although Dracula’s character obtains different views in every movie and film, he plays an important role in Stephen Sommers Van Helsing movie. In the movie, he acts as many different things. Demonstrating both the kind and evil inside, Dracula portrays his character as a mystery. Different views of Dracula throughout the movie include harsh, strong, powerful, evil, the devil, and unstoppable. The studies of Dracula
Within the text of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays a complex power struggle between Dr. Jekyll, a respected individual within Victorian London society, and Mr. Hyde a villainous man tempted with criminal urges, fighting to take total control of their shared body. While Dr. Jekyll is shown to be well-liked by his colleagues, Mr. Hyde is openly disliked by the grand majority of those who encounter him, terrified of his frightful nature and cruel actions. Throughout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson portrays the wealthy side of London, including Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, as respected and well-liked, while showing the impoverish side as either non-existent or cruel.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author Robert Louis Stevenson uses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to show the human duality. Everyone has a split personality, good and evil. Stevenson presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as two separate characters, instead of just one. Dr. Jekyll symbolizes the human composite of a person while Mr. Hyde symbolizes the absolute evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who are indeed the same person, present good and evil throughout the novel.
Page, Norman. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson." Encyclopedia of the Novel. Eds. Paul Schellinger, Christopher Hudson, and Marijke Rijsberman. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.
Stokers Dracula was a well thought out novel that successfully boggled some minds in the Victorian era also known as the fin de siècle. Stoker made sure to focus on gender roles in the novel concerning men’s masculinity and the role of the ideal Victorian women which I’m sure baffled some readers. He made sure to show that men are meant to be the protectors, fighters, and providers in the novel but also didn’t shy away from showing how women can be more resourceful than being just the house wife. He still makes sure to put the overall security in the man’s hand to let it be known that men do overcome and come out victoriously.
In the book, Dracula by Bram Stoker there are many characters that display qualities of good verse evil. The Count Dracula is a mysterious character who appears as an odd gentleman but the longer the story goes on Dracula shows his true self. Dracula started infiltrating the lives of anyone who crossed his path and he was not stopping his destruction of others’ lives. Many people were affect by Dracula’s actions but there were two people that Dracula caused an impact on during his rampage. Dracula is an evil, cunning, and selfish character who harms the life of a young man and ruins the future of an innocent woman.
Despite being published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson remains to be recognized and referred to as one of the initial studies of the duality of human nature and mans struggle between two natural forces – good and evil. The story takes place during the Victorian Era in which society is already somewhat constrained and cruel and explores the human struggle between being civilized and facing the more primitive aspects to our being. According to author Irving S Saposnik, “Henry Jekyll’s experiment to free himself from the burden of duality results in failure because of his moral myopia, because he is a victim of society’s standards even while he would be free of them.” Henry Jekyll, an English doctor faces duality when he comes into battle with his darker side. Creating a personification under the name of Edward Hyde in order to fulfill his desires, Dr. Jekyll feels as if he will be able to control the face that he wants seen to public vs. the one in which he wants to keep more private. “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me, and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (10.1) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about how people are scared to acknowledge personal duality so they keep silent and in this case, create a personification in order to fulfill evil desires without thinking through the consequences of such actions.
Dracula, as it was written by Bram Stoker, presents to us possibly the most infamous monster in all of literature. Count Dracula, as a fictional character, has come to symbolize the periphery between the majority and being an outsider to that group. Dracula’s appeal throughout the years and genres no doubt stems from his sense of romanticism and monster. Reader’s no doubt are attracted to his “bad-boy” sensibilities, which provide an attraction into the novel. Looking first at his appearance, personality, and behaviour at the beginning of the novel, we can easily see Dracula’s blurred outsider status, as he occupies the boundaries of human and monster. Related to this is Dracula’s geographic sense of outsider. For all intents and purposes, Dracula is an immigrant to England, thus placing him further into the realm of outsider. To look at Bram Stoker’s Dracula as solely a monster in the most violent sense of his actions would to be look at a sole aspect of his character, and so we must look at how he interacts with the outside world to genuinely understand him.
In novels it is not uncommon for characters to be identified as morally ambiguous. It can be extremely difficult to identify a character as purely evil or purely good. In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker presents a morally ambiguous title character, Dracula. Dracula can be seen as evil by the obvious: he is a vampire that bites people to get their blood. But on the other hand, Dracula can also be seen as good. Dracula is not purposely trying to kill people, he is just trying to protect himself. Lots of people believe that they can understand and analyse other people and try to come up with conclusions on how that person is but Stoker shows how in some cases, analyzing a person cannot easily be done. Most people are not black and white. Their
While the character of Renfield is ostensively extraneous to the central plot of Dracula, he fulfils an important role in Stoker’s exploration of the central themes of the novel. This paper will examine how Renfield character is intertwined with the three central themes of invasion, blood and otherness. Firstly, through Renfield’s inner struggle we learn that he is ‘not his own master’ (Stoker, 211). The theme of invasion is revealed by the controlling and occupying powers of Count Dracula. Secondly, the recurring theme ‘the Blood is the Life’ (Stoker, 121), is portrayed throughout the novel and has been interpreted through Stoker’s character Renfield. Then finally, a look at the social construction of the ‘other’ in Dracula and how, through Renfield, who is ‘unlike the normal lunatic’ (Stoker, 52), the Count emerges as the ‘other’ of all ‘others’.
Stevenson’s most prominent character in the story is the mysterious Mr Hyde. Edward Hyde is introduced from the very first chapter when he tramples a young girl in the street, which brings the reader’s attention straight to his character. The reader will instantly know that this person is a very important part of this book and that he plays a key role in the story. This role is the one of a respectable old man named Dr Jekyll’s evil side or a ‘doppelganger’. This links in with the idea of duality. Dr Jekyll is described as being ‘handsome’, ‘well-made’ and ‘smooth-faced’. On the other hand, Mr Hyde is described as being ‘hardly human’, ‘pale and dwarfish’, giving of an impression of deformity and ‘so ugly that it brought out the sweat on (Mr Enfield) like running’! These words all go together to conjure up an image in the mind of an animal, beast or monster. During the novel...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.