Monstrous Characters of Horror Fiction Many human beings contain opposite forces within him or herself; an alter ego that hides behind one’s polite facade. In the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact a single character. It is not until towards the end of the novel that the two personas seem nothing alike. Dr. Jekyll is the well-established, moral, doctor and Mr. Hyde is a nefarious weird looking man whose appearance looks so strange that it is hard to explain. Their relationship involves a complicated dilemma. While it is true dr. Jekyll appears to us as a moral and courteous man, he does not exemplify honor and integrity the way that Hyde exemplifies evil. Although Jekyll engages in in the experiment to attempt to isolate the good
Jekyll. Hyde commits acts of murder and assault yet can be seen as Dr. Jekyll’s id or deep desires. By trying to separate good and bad . Dr. Jekyll passed scientific and social borders to isolate his personality. In doing so, he lost control of who he wanted to be. As a last resort he created a poisonous potion that Hyde drank and died through act of suicide. Dr. Jekyll although not working with anyone took matters in his own hands which makes him seem like an outlaw hero. He did not turn himself into the police when he had control. However, Dr. Jekyll seems to have qualities of a official hero in his maturity in handling the situation. He knows how evil his alter ego is, so he isolates himself from others as a safety precaution. Jekyll tries to live a normal life, but is unable to. His status as a well distinguished doctor and sociability skills with his
The dark and twisted demeanor of Mr. Hyde showcases the glaring contrast between both characters. Although “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” can be seen as a novella strictly dealing with the duality of human nature, it directly points at societal pressures. The hounding of perfection from society using the maintenance of reputations, suppression, and building of interest unveils the incitement in Victorian society. His wish to become the ideal man leads to him to separate both natures of his character. The events leading up to the creation of Mr. Hyde can be linked to a quote by Mario Andretti that states,“Desire is the key to motivation.” This quote accurately describes the title character as every decision he makes leading to the separating of his natures are what he wants. The protagonist’s need to please society works against him as it hinders him from expressing who he truly is. The main character spurred his demise the moment he succumbed to his dark
Jekyll is respectable man with a very good career. He is a doctor that is highly regarded in his community for what he does as far as charity and his manners. As young man growing up, he was secretly involved in weird behaviors that made him a bit questionable. Dr. Jekyll finds his other side to be quite bothersome and he decides to experiment so he could try a separate the good from the evil. He creates potions and other things that really do not help. After so many attempts of trying to restrain his evil side, he brings forth Hyde through his failed experimentation. Therefore, he only accentuates his evil self to come forth. Hyde is an extremely ugly creature that no one could stand the sight of. He is deformed, violent, and very evil. Throughout the story, he fights against Jekyll to take over his life eventually causing Jekyll to murder one of his good friends, Mr.
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.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we find out both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are actually the same person. One of Dr. Jekyll’s friends, Dr. Lanyon finds this out. The Victorian Society is what Dr. Lanyon has believed in all his life. He believes there is only one side to every person, and when he finds out that’s not true he’s devastated. Dr. Lanyon himself sees Hyde’s transformation, during all of this Hyde is tempting Lanyon, “Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors” (119). All he believed in, turned out to be a lie. Dr. Lanyon wrote in a letter, “My life is shaken to its roots; sleep has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night; and I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I shall die incredulous”
In this essay on the story of Jekyll and Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson I will try to unravel the true meaning of the book and get inside the characters in the story created by Stevenson. A story of a man battling with his double personality.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde create a tension between the world of reason and science and the world of the supernatural, and show the limits of reason in its inability to understand or cope with the supernatural. In the end of the book, Jekyll confesses that he has been fascinated by the duality of men, and took to both chemical and mystical methods to get to the truth. Jekyll’s spiritual side to his philosophy shows that his mind is unlike those of the lawyers and the doctors of his society, who restrict themselves to traditional reason. As we see, the result of Jekyll’s explorations is Mr. Hyde, who is something beyond reason. This shocks and overwhelms the sensitive intellectual dispositions of the other characters, and leaves Dr. Jekyll permanently removed from his educated, medical
Jekyll’s character actually confesses he has been fascinated by the duality of his own nature. Specifically, how man being truly two, affects all men. Dr. Jekyll suppressed the evil nature of himself by morphing into Hyde, “A small deformed,disgusting man somewhat younger than Dr.Jekyll”(Robert Louis Stevenson) Dr. Jekyll describes he and Hyde as polar opposites,which reinforces the theory of duality considering they are the same person. Also, in the first chapter the reader learns that Hyde’s home portrays an extremely run down and neglected place which contrasts Dr.Jekyll’s well kept, expensive home. In the end of the story, the reader learns about the mysterious door which holds Hyde’s dwelling and connects to Dr.Jekyll’s home. The door is confirmation that Dr.Jekyll hid his dark secret of Mr. Hyde. ”Both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering” (Dr.Jekyll) One can infer from this quote once Jekyll let Hyde take over, his evil side slowly tried to destroy him and it allowed the dark nature of Jekyll to
Jekyll unveils his story, it becomes evident that Dr. Jekyll’s efforts to keep Mr. Hyde, his immoral outlet, reticent are in vain. Dr. Jekyll succumbs to Mr. Hyde once and eventually the pull of his worse self overpowers Dr. Jekyll completely. His futile attempts to contain Mr. Hyde were more damaging than auspicious, as Mr. Hyde would only gain a stronger grip on Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll writes, “I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught… My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring” (115). Dr. Jekyll’s inevitable passion for debauchery is only further invigorated by his repression of Mr. Hyde. By restraining a desire that is so deeply rooted within Dr. Jekyll, he destroys himself, even after his desires are appeased. Like a drug, when Dr. Jekyll first allowed himself to concede to Mr. Hyde, he is no longer able to abstain, as his initial submission to depravity resulted in the loss of Dr. Jekyll and the reign of Mr.
Throughout the story of “The Strange Case Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, presents his idea of the duality of man- where Dr Jekyll and Hyde have a dark, wicked side within them, where evil is held in waiting to surface, but they hide it away, they pretend it does not exist, and they keep it tame. He presents this idea by using two protagonists, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, who are actually the same person. One of these characters signifies the normal side of a person represented by Dr Jekyll, who is a typical upper class person, and the other, Mr Hyde, a deformed man, signifies the purest of evil.
Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it 's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea can be dangerous and once it sticks to the mind, it gains control and ultimately becomes the centerpoint of a person’s conscience. An idea that both Jekyll and Victor had contributed to their downfall due to the focus they had on it. The unconventional and fantastical beliefs of Dr. Henry Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein cause these two individuals to isolate themselves and carry out their scientific endeavors in such a way as to prevent the possibility that they can be blamed for their actions but eventually these actions catch up with them and this leads to their downfalls.
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
Jekyll is given as a respected man raised in a wealthy family. During the era, people are meant to be well-mannered and polite without any sign or thinking of violence and crime; however, Dr. Jekyll secretly has a desire to perform evil. Conflicted with the ideal of society, he has repressed his emotion through many years and eventually he decided to conceal his pressure as he said, “And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. 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.” (48) From this quote, Dr. Jekyll discloses that he’s not desired to be cheerful, as many do, and decides to fake his pressure in front of the public eyes. After many years, he then realizes he was only hiding his true emotion. Eventually, to resolve his situation, he is inspired to create a potion that could transform himself to Mr. Hyde that could free him from the struggle between protecting his reputation and following his emotion and
The human mind is composed of two separate identities engaged in a constant war for superiority. Good and evil exist in all men, and each man must choose which side overcomes him. In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll experiences this struggle between good and evil. Dr. Jekyll’s home is a building with two very different components— a dank and decaying laboratory, and an affluent and comfortable main house. Although these two buildings are part of the same whole, they appear to be unconnected. The contrast between these separate but united buildings reflects Dr. Jekyll’s dual nature.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a little different then Frankenstein in a way that the monster isn’t identified as a monster as much for his appearance as he is for his actions. Dr. Jekyll was a scientist and as a scientist he had to keep a good name but he didn’t want to be good he want to be bad. So, he decided he would have two personalities. Thinking that if he had two personalities he could be good and evil. He made a potion that transforms himself into a man without a conscience. So, He could do all those bad things that he wanted to do but then had a way to cover it up by saying it was someone else. Eventually this plan got out of hand. Having two personalities of Dr. Jekyll being the good doctor and then Mr. Hyde being the murder, he started not being able to control when he was Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. He fears that he will turn into Mr. Hyde permanently. Society doesn’t except this because your not supposed to be two different people. Trying to be two different people is monstrous because that just doesn’t happen and him to think that is okay is monstrous. Also, for him to murder people makes him a monster. By Dr. Jekyll’s friend starting to get suspicious about this situation drive Dr. Jekyll to worry. Then, he turns back to Mr. Hyde and thinks it’s a good idea to kill himself. So, society drove his monstrosity to kill himself, which made him to continue to be a monster. Having two identities is not only monstrous but it’s psychological. (Dr. Jekyll and