The Strange Case by Robert Louis Stevenson

945 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Schizophrenia essays

The functioning of the average human mind has intrigued and plagued philosophers and thinkers over centuries, one of the most curious and fascinating studies have been made into personages with dual personalities, schizophrenia being one of the factors. Similarly, in the book, The Strange Case, as well as in the film, Psycho, the books are taken place in late Victorian London, but Psycho is in late 60’s in the USA. The respective authors in these two texts portray that duality of human nature exists in society and humanity through the use of characterization and setting. Stevenson in this story uses characterization to describe that duality of human nature exists in humanity and society: “There comes an end to all things; my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul…all men's respect, wealth...murderer.”( Stevenson 51) Stevenson uses the malaise of Schizophrenia to characterize Dr.Jekyll and his dual personality Mr. Hyde. In the above quote Dr.Jekyll realizes that he has done in justice the whole time without realizing it. Mr. Hyde’s actions have been proven to be inhumane and he has been characterized a “human juggernaut”; Dr. Jekyll is not solely responsible for his actions because of his dual mindset that precludes an individual from a rational thought process. In the quote above Dr. Jekyll had everyone’s respect and love, and now society labels him as a murderer: “clubbed him to the earth…with ape-like fury…shattered…the body.”(Stevenson 9) Mr. Hyde is malevolent in nature, “alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil”(Stevenson 45) whereas, Dr.Jekyll is a calm character. He uses “ape-like fury”, from that he shows embodiment of a murderer. In Psycho, Norman Bates is a maniac with a dual personality. Although... ... middle of paper ... ...to dark areas of the working unstable mind, and which generally are away from the norms of society and wants to experiment with other areas, this what leads to the motivation that could be the dual mindset. The exception could be for an individual who has complete control over his rationality, but is not the case in these given texts. People who have schizophrenia use violence as an essential element to soothe their mind. My reaction to both Psycho and The Strange Case has been one of horror, which I think is a normal reaction of an individual. I have experienced myself having a different personality, not necessarily a dual mindset, in and out of school. In school I tend to show less off my real emotions, than I do outside of school. Even though for me keeping up with societal norms is a ‘must do’ task, failing to keep with societies rules will fail me internally.

Show More
Related

  • Mr Hyde Eulogy

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    Essentially, the two men are complete opposites. Reputable and successful, Dr Jekyll was outlined “… [possessed] every mark of capacity and kindness” (Stevenson, 1978 pg. 14) . Paradoxically, Stevenson gave a man that hides from people the name Mr. Hyde. A couple examples of crimes which reflect his evil disposition include an incidence where he “trampled calmly over [a] child’s body and left her screaming on the ground,” (Stevenson, 1978 pg. 5) and his attack on Sir Danvers where “…with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.” I did not, however, outline the severity of criminal events in which Mr Hyde (or in case Dr Jekyll) had triggered, as it would be too unbefitting to include in the

    Read More

  • Use Of Diction In Dr Jekyll And Hyde

    169 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson uses diction, imagery, and details to characterize both sides of his main character

    Read More

  • The Psychopath Test By Jon Ronson

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias.

    Read More

  • Bryan Stevenson Just Mercy

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stevenson was born and grew up in a poor, racially segregated rural. His grandfather was murdered by several teens because they want to steal the television. His neighborhood is inundated with racial discrimination. However, the environment does not affect him, and he is positive and becomes a student at Harvard Law School. As he states in the book, “the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice” (18). Stevenson bent to struggle for racial inequality and to be equitable and fair with one another with determination. Similarly, the more cases Stevenson works for, and these create his goals to be a lawyer who make advantage of the law's ability to help people. Stevenson’s grandmother tells Stevenson, “‘you can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close” (14). She tells him to close to the questions and find out the answers personally. After Stevenson gets an opportunity in his internship to meet a prisoner, Henry. Stevenson is impressed by Henry's words and deeds, and he gradually understood what his grandmother said. Henry affects

    Read More

  • Insanity: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Keyse

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    Insanity is a blurred line in the eyes of Ken Kesey. He reveals a hidden microcosm of mental illness, debauchery, and tyranny in his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The remarkable account of a con man’s ill-fated journey inside a psychiatric hospital exposes the horrors of troubling malpractices and mistreatments. Through a sane man’s time within a crazy man’s definition of a madhouse, there is exploration and insight for the consequences of submission and aberration from societal norm. While some of the novel’s concerns are now anachronous, some are more vital today than before. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a compelling tale that brings a warning of the results of an overly conformist and repressive institution.

    Read More

  • Jekyll And Hyde Polarity Analysis

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    In reading the Gothic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, a number of questions come to the reader’s mind. Many pertain to the boundaries of the real and the supernatural, or the literary meanings behind the relationships of particular characters, but one question applies not only to the story itself but also the very condition of life. This question addresses the qualities that make a person truly good or truly bad, and if there can ever be a balance. The Law of Polarity allows you to explore the depth of your own character as well as the characters of Jekyll and Hyde as manifestations of both positive and negative forces.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Evil In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    First of all, the main theme in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is good vs. evil. In the novel, Mr.Utterson compares the inhabitants to crooks and thieves by saying the sales women are more unholy by inviting people to their shops (Stevenson 10). Then Mrs.Moss states how Dr. Jekyll describes how one part to the duality of his personality,

    Read More

  • Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Character Analysis

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia Film Summary

    252 Words  | 1 Pages

    The purpose of this film is to show how different cultures view schizophrenia. The film will first show how people suffer from this disease in the eastern part of the world, like the article Ellie Zolfagharifard wrote stating how all people that were for this article, all of them stated that what they experience were negative qualities. This film would then introduce this professor that studies schizophrenia in the western world. Showing how, like in Zolfagarifard’s article, that people in the western countries of the world looks at schizophrenia.

    Read More

  • Jekyll And Hyde Duality Essay

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stevenson focuses on two different characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but in reality these are not separate men, they are two different aspects of one man’s reality. In the story, Dr. Je...

    Read More

  • Insanity as a Metaphor in The Yellow Wall-Paper, The Tell-Tale Heart, Hamlet, and Mad Song

    1630 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through the use of insanity as a metaphor, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, William Blake, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, introduced us to characters and stories that illustrate the path to insanity from the creation of a weakened psychological state that renders the victim susceptible to bouts of madness, the internalization of stimuli that has permeated the human psyche resulting in the chasm between rational and irrational thought, and the consequences of the effects of the psychological stress of external stimuli demonstrated through the actions of their characters.

    Read More

  • Stevenson's Use of Literary Techniques to Portray Evil in Jekyll and Hyde

    3971 Words  | 8 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde's Theory Of Human Nature

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oftentimes, we’ve heard many real-life stories about good people who commit evil deeds, they have sacrificed their morality, consciousness and reputation for the sake of their inner needs. In the story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Stevenson demonstrates the theory of human nature’s duality by the internal conflict of Dr. Jekyll who has suffered in his consciousness and inner needs, or virtue and vice. The point is we all are struggling in the duality of human nature with our good side and bad side everyday. Accordingly, the best solution to deal with this conflict is to let both of our good side and bad side out but do so with lots of control and measure.

    Read More

  • Characteristics Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    Psychotic characteristics are one component of anti-social disorders, in which both Hyde as well as Jekyll display throughout the novel. Both characters in the book show these

    Read More

  • Mr Brooks Character Analysis

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main character of Mr. Brooks is nothing short of a self-made man with a loving family and a productive business. However, not everything is what it seems. Mr. Brooks has a constant urge to kill. Like most real life serial killers, Mr. Brooks has a charming personality on the outside but a twisted brain on the inside. Every single action he took was thoughtfully played out, as if he were acting in a stage play with no chances of failure. Many psychopaths portray a high IQ and intelligence just like Mr. Brooks had. However, Mr. Brooks was not a psychopath. Deep down inside, he still harvested a strong familial love for his wife and daughter, and understood the mental and physical consequences of his actions. Instead, Mr. Brooks is the type of character that cannot be explained with just one theoretic analysis. The story illustrates that Mr. Brooks was a psychotic suffering from schizophrenia and that somehow his urge to kill could be passed down by generations. With this outline the

    Read More

More about The Strange Case by Robert Louis Stevenson

Open Document