Comparing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mary Reilly, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

2173 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: First chapter the strange case of dr jekyll

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mary Reilly, and Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson's short novel, The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has spawned many retellings of Dr. Jekyll's

tale, as well as variations on the theme. The Jekyll and Hyde conceit

is one that lends itself to many different forms of literature, such

as motion pictures and sequential art. Sometimes liberties are taken

in reinterpretations of Mr. Hyde from the original text. This can be

distinguished in two recent works, The League of Extraordinary

Gentlemen, a comic book miniseries by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill,

and Mary Reilly, a film by Stephen Frears.

The appearance of Mr. Hyde has always tended towards the

stereotypical hairy man. In fact, the transformation of Jekyll into

Hyde in movies seem like werewolf transformations. This comes from

the frequent mention of Hyde's hands as being "of a dusky pallor and

thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair" (82). Although Hyde's

face is never described as hairy, it tends to be a logical

assumption that if the hands are hairy, then the face may be as

well. Jekyll's own appearance is described by his lawyer, Utterson,

as being a "smooth-faced man of fifty" (44) and Hyde, for all

intents and purposes, is the opposite of Jekyll. The hairiness of

Hyde is maintained in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Hyde is

drawn as a dark brown man with coarse hair all over his arms and

chest, whereas Jekyll is a sm...

... middle of paper ...

...er features are in common. Robert Louis Stevenson, in writing The

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde touched upon an universal

theme that many others would return to in the years after

Stevenson's novel was published.

Return to Writing Stuff

WORKS CITED

Mary Reilly. Dir. Stephen Frears. Perf. Julia Roberts and John Malkovich.

Columbia/TriStar, 1996.

Moore, Alan, and Kevin O'Neill. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,

Vol. One. [reprints 1-6 and Bumper Compendiums] 2nd Print. La

Jolla, California: America's Best Comics, 2000.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Ed. Martin A. Danahay. Orchard Park: Broadview Literary Texts, 2000.

Show More
Related

  • Jekyll And Hyde Compare And Contrast Essay

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    In both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the 1941 movie adaptation, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a strong representation of evil is present. Both the film and the novel are surrounded with sense of immorality and sin. The text and the film have economical and historical characteristics that help define evil. While the film alone has a strong representation of evil surrounding gender and relationships.

    Read More

  • Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel about dual identity, Dr. Henry Jekyll, an affluent surgeon, creates a potion by which he can transform into Edward Hyde, the physical manifestation of his evil side. After many months of thrilling nighttime criminal escapades through the streets of London, his antics under the cloak of Hyde get him in trouble when he slays prominent public figure Danvers Carew. Jekyll is so shocked by this deed of evil that he decides an end will be put to his transformations, a science he calls transcendental medicine. Much to his alarm, Jekyll finds that he now turns into Hyde without his wanting it, undeniably a side effect of the drug. After locking himself into his cabinet, in order to facilitate his use of the drug in case of spontaneous transformations, his concerned butler Poole alerts good friend Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer. Together, they break into the cabinet, only to find they body of Hyde, lifeless on the floor. The pair finds an envelope addressed to Utterson which shall supposedly explain why they cannot find the body of Henry Jekyll.

    Read More

  • The Political History of Italy

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...e the beginning of its unification, Italy has battled with the differences of the north and south. It will take a long time to achieve economic stability in the south, but one that must be reached in order to increase the economic growth for the whole country. With its strong nationalistic views, Italy is well on its way to achieving its goals.

    Read More

  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    my true hour of death, and then as I lay down my en, and proceed to

    Read More

  • Italy: Conflicting Identity In The World Of Italy

    1894 Words  | 4 Pages

    Italy’s national self image was disjointed in the past and remains this way today. According to Neapolitan historian Luigi Blanch, “The patriotism of the Italians is like that of ancient Greeks, and is love of a single town, not of a country; it is the feeling of a tribe not of a nation. Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united. Leave them to themselves and they split into fragments.” (Koellhoffer) In “Conflicting Identity is Part of Italy’s History”, Patriarca, who grew up in the region of Piedmont says “The Northern League has attacked the idea of Italian unity by asserting that the south is different and a burden on the population.” Patriarca agrees with Blanch that there is no unity and blames the northern part of the country. She claims that the north is responsible for splitting the nation after the Cold War due to economical differences. (Sassi) However, there has been occasional unity. Unity can be brought about by a strong leader like Machivelli or Dante. Many people still will not join even the strongest political leader in order to support their country beca...

    Read More

  • Risk Management in the Hospital Setting

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order for hospitals to be reimbursed from government based insure companies certain standards must be met. When standards are not met, any subsequent cost in relationship to preventable errors will not be remunerated (Youngberg, 2011). These preventable errors are termed never events. Never events are considered error that can be prevented if certain checklist and guidelines are in place are followed such as medication errors, falls with injury, wrong surgical site, and pressure ulcers (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012). There are currently ten mandated never events (Youngberg, 2011). In order to avoid these preventable human errors, risk manager help implement policies and procedure. This process based on risk analysis and outcomes which helps to improv...

    Read More

  • Marxist Theory and Class Relations in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robert, Stevenson L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publications, 2013. Print.

    Read More

  • And Contrast Jekyll And Mr Hyde And The Victorian Era

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stevenson, Robert Louis, and Richard Dury. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Edinburgh:

    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

  • dr jekyll and mr hyde

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde becomes Jekyll's demonic, monstrous alter ego. Certainly Stevenson presents him immediately as this from the outset. Hissing as he speaks, Hyde has "a kind of black sneering coolness . . . like Satan". He also strikes those who witness him as being "pale and dwarfish" and simian like. The Strange Case unfolds with the search by the men to uncover the secret of Hyde. As the narrator, Utterson, says, "If he be Mr. Hyde . . . I shall be Mr. Seek". Utterson begins his quest with a cursory search for his own demons. Fearing for Jekyll because the good doctor has so strangely altered his will in favor of Hyde, Utterson examines his own conscience, "and the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded a while in his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there" (SC, 42). Like so many eminent Victorians, Utterson lives a mildly double life and feels mildly apprehensive about it. An ugly dwarf like Hyde may jump out from his own boxed self, but for him such art unlikely creature is still envisioned as a toy. Although, from the beginning Hyde fills him with a distaste for life (SC, 40, not until the final, fatal night, after he storms the cabinet, can Utterson conceive of the enormity of Jekyll's second self. Only then does he realize that "he was looking on the body of a self-dcstroyer" (SC, 70); Jekyll and Hyde are one in death as they must have been in life.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Jekyll personality displays morality, whereas the Hyde personality exhibits evil. “In the novel, Stevenson creates a hero in Dr. Jekyll, who aware of the evil in his own being, and sick of the duplicity in his life, succeeds by way of his experiments on himself in freeing the pure evil part of his being as Mr. Hyde, so that each can indulge in a life unfettered by the demands of the other” (pg. 222). These personalities are as contrasted as light and dark. Throughout the experimentation, he begins to switch uncontrollably back and forth. He is afraid of who he has become and how the evil is taking over his life.

    Read More

  • Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jung insisted pleasure seeking, and conflict resolution is a part of human nature: Plus, religion and mystical archetypal combined influence one’s personality and behavior. Some conflicts arise due to repressed ancestral memories and past experiences that can impact the individual’s future aspirations (Alho, 2009). Likewise, Carlisle (1993) recalled, dissociative behaviors appear as pathological manifestations necessary for the conscious to operate unhampered by life’s demands. In this respect, dissociation applies to the natural hierarchy of the human psyche, with underlying attitudes for normal functioning. Adding the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde functionality of the human mind” (p. 25). Carlisle (1993) concluded, each bare reason for the structural interplay between the adult, parent, and Gerald’s child-self.

    Read More

  • Characteristics Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    ​Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a highly acclaimed novel, in which Jekyll is painted as the loving victim while Hyde is the murderous villain. In the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the fact of the matter is one is a psychopath born cold-hearted, while the other is a sociopath created by society. Anti-social disorder is at the crux of the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, which reveals the psychotic characteristics, deprived social relations, and *** of the psychopath, Dr. Jekyll, and the sociopath, Mr. Hyde.

    Read More

  • Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mr. Hyde is the monstrous side of Dr. Jekyll from their book “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” In their story, Dr. Jekyll is a brilliant scientist who has created a formula that turns him into Mr. Hyde. It is stated that, at some point, Dr. Jekyll became addicted to the potion. Though it is unclear what would cause the addiction, since it would be Hyde who would experience the “high” and not Jekyll himself. Hyde is the contrast to Dr. Jekyll, and is considerably more brutal and immoral. Modern incarnations depict him as becoming incredibly muscular after the transformation, though in the original work it is only implied that Hyde is stronger, retaining his previous physique. It is consistent that Hyde is shown to be ugly, perhaps even deformed.

    Read More

  • The Relevance of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Today

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    we deny our bad side. It looks at a doctor called Dr Jekyll who feels

    Read More

More about Comparing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mary Reilly, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Open Document