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Thesis statement about good and evil in dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
Thesis statement about good and evil in dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
Good and evil in dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
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(Aronson 2) Being from Edinburgh, Stevenson was surrounded with the well-known tales of the past and a history of duality in his hometown. Deacon Brodie and Dr. Knox were both from Edinburgh and both lived “double-lives”, this undoubtedly had a major impact upon Stevenson’s imagination and later his writings. (Stefan 5)
“While growing up Stevenson had a friend and the son of Sir James Simpson, the developer of medical anesthesia, the two friends would “experiment” with chloroform, for the enjoyment of it.” (Stefan 5) This experimenting carries a familiarity with it that would later be found in the character of Dr. Jekyll in Stevenson’s novel, where Dr. Jekyll tells in the letter upon his death that he began turning himself into Mr. Hyde for the fun of it. (Stevenson 6) As Stevenson approached his adult life, he decided to enroll at Edinburgh University. (Aronson 2) His desire to be a writer also drove him into joining social clubs that were “anti-establishment” and participate in other liberal associated activities. “He was reportedly more interested in socializing and strolling around the campus grounds than attending classes. He became involved with the bohemian culture; an anti-establishment movement made up of artists and intellectuals, and took to drinking and visiting brothels.” He dropped the name of Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson and changed it to that of Robert Louis Stevenson (Aronson 2), which was the first presence of duality in Stevenson. Although Stevenson changing his name may appear to be of small significance, it has deeper implications. Stevenson’s father, Thomas, did not like the idea of a writing career for his son and wanted him to pursue a different path for his career choice. (Aronson 2) “He had hoped his ...
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...r of this dual nature as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In conclusion, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written as a reflection of the duality of mankind and the multi personas that every man possesses, those of good and those of evil. Furthermore, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows insight into Robert Louis Stevenson’s way of seeing himself and the world around him. We, as humans, live in a world filled with good and tainted with evil. We are filled with both of these traits, Robert Louis Stevenson saw this and put this simple, yet so complex peculiarity of humans into a book that we can more easily understand. By doing this Robert Louis Stevenson allows us to unlock the realization that we are dual natured creatures and at one point or another we must come to terms with the Mr. Hyde that lives deep inside of us.
In the book, Stevenson talks about the moment he realized that his life and the work he does, was full of brokenness. IT occurred after he talked with Jimmy Dill, right before Dill was to be executed. Despite the fact that he had intellectual disabilities, and could not afford a decent lawyer, Jimmy Dill was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die. After fighting to get stay requests, the requests were ultimately denied and Dill was executed. After being denied and talking to Dill, it was then that Stevenson realized how broken the criminal justice system was. In the book he recognizes that “his clients were broken by mental illness, poverty, and racism.” (Stevenson 288) At that moment, he wanted to given up.
Stevenson then went on to put a scary touch to the story by telling us
The sense of conflict being created through disapproval portrays duality that the Victorians had at the period; it is almost as if they were in a dilemma and confusion in deciding which element of sanity to maintain. Stevenson wrote the story to articulate his idea of the duality of human nature, sharing the mixture good and evil that lies within every human being. In the novel Mr Hyde represents the evil part of a person and of Dr Jekyll.
Stevenson uses a combination of: horror, supernatural, moral messages, and mysteries. The use of horror captures us because it’s normally shocking and frightening to think about. When you combine that with mystery you get an effect that makes you feel edgy and nervous to read on but you want to read on because if you don’t you’ll never get the answers to your questions. His uses of moral messages is effective in keeping the reader’s interest because it will make the reader question and doubt themselves on things because they might feel more like Hyde than they would like to.
In conclusion, Stevenson expressed his thoughts on the attributes of loyalty, how friendship contributes to loyalty, and how his own life affected his writing on loyalty extremely well. His writing techniques were very creative, he truly has a skill for setting a deeper meaning.
Stevenson starts the novella by introducing us to Mr. Utterson who is a discrete lawyer who is ‘never lighted by a smile’ and his enigmatic friend Mr. Enfield. He does this because he is using the technique of foreshadowing when the authors put in little hints to then explore in further detail later in the story. Further on we can see that Utterson is microcosm of the rest of the story; however this isn’t the only reason that Utterson is in the story because soon after this he starts to become the narrator along with Enfield. While they are talking to each other the audience is finding out what is happening. Next, later in the novella we find out that Utterson is actually representing schizophrenia and duality that is in the personality of Jekyll.
Profound Duplicity Exhibited by Jekyll as a Reflection of the Victorian Way of Life. Robert Louis Stevenson was a famous author during the Victorian era. He was born in 1850 and as a young child had many nightmares which he brought to life in his books. His nanny also influenced his stories. with her strong Calvinist beliefs.
“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.
Kerr, Calum A. "Literary Contexts in Novels: Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Strange Case of Dr.
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.
To begin with, Stevenson shows duality of human nature through society. During the Victorian era, there were two classes, trashy and wealthy. Dr. Jekyll comes from a wealthy family, so he is expected to be a proper gentleman. He wants to be taken seriously as a scientist, but also indulge in his darker passions.“...I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality/ of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in/ the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said/ to be either, it was only because I was radically both..."(125).
The reader is drawn to the plot of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde through the literary devices Stevenson employs. Foreshadowing displays the sense of mystery throughout the novel, the foreshadowing of the actions of Mr. Hyde leaves the reader wondering what will happen next. The ironic nature of Dr. Jekyll relates to the reader as a person, no person is completely perfect and Dr. Jekyll exhibits the natural wants and desires of humans. The irony behind Mr. Hyde adds an enigmatic side to the plot. These two devices expose the readers to the complexity of the novel and reveal the inner meaning of the hidden details.
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...
we deny our bad side. It looks at a doctor called Dr Jekyll who feels