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
...himself changed into Hyde without drinking the serum. After this, Dr. Jekyll decided to stay himself and for two months and he was a good man. But then Hyde took control. One night he struck at Sir Danders Carew until his cane broke. Realizing that he would soon be caught, Hyde went to his apartment in Soho and burned all of his papers and fled.
Dr. Jekyll’s first evil side is shown through Mr. Hyde when he “trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (Stevenson 8). When Hyde was walking home and ran into her around the corner, he did not even care that she was hurt on the ground. Mr. Utterson, the witness, said that “[Hyde] was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but
Being an old friend of Jekyll he can see the changes but stops himself from interfering into Jekyll’s life but makes him depressed to handle with the weird dual nature of the Jekyll-Hyde relation but starts with investigation. But when he was informed by the servants of Jekyll that Jekyll has killed himself he takes quick action and breaks the door of the laboratory. When his friend Dr. Lanyon left a note for him which was not to be read until Dr. Jekyll's death, he stopped himself showing his loyalty by staying away from that documents though he was in search if he can get any
Jekyll created this potion in which he switches to another person, Mr. Hyde. This experiment ended up going horribly wrong because Mr. Hyde would start randomly coming out and taking over Dr. Jekyll. Since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are apart of the same body, it is an internal conflict. Nothing from the outside world shapes how Jekyll changes to Hyde. It is a deal where Jekyll is battling against Mr. Hyde and eventually just trying to contain him from coming out.
To start with, when Hyde killed Sir Danvers for no apparent reason he went through with writing a letter in Hyde's name, “ “Well sir” returned the clerk, “there's a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped”(Stevenson 21). When Hyde murdered Sir. Danvers Hyde had to go into hiding and for no one to go looking for him Jekyll goes on and writes a letter on Hydes behalf saying that he will not be found and forever be in hiding and gives it to Mr. Utterson. Although, Utterson found it suspicious that it was not mailed but rather received personally, so he goes to a specialist and finds out it is Jekyll's handwriting at another angel. Additionally, another length that Jekyll went through to keep Hyde in the dark was by isolating himself, “On the 12th, and again on the 14th, the door was shut against the lawyer….On the 15th , he tried again and was again refused…… he found his return of solitude to weigh upon his spirit” (Stevenson 22). After Hyde had gone into hiding Jekyll went back to his old self and hanged out with his two friends, but when the side of him that he tried to repress, which is Hyde, came back into the picture he went back to isolating himself and shutting out everyone. Nevertheless, the lengths that Jekyll had to go through to hide Hyde ,
Jekyll adds meaning to this novel. In the last chapter readers learn that even though Jekyll and Hyde are portrayed so differently by those observing the actions of these “two” characters, they were the same man all along. This reveals to readers that when one struggles with a conflict that leads the mind in different directions, consequences can occur. The consequences suffered by Dr. Jekyll include seclusion, loss of respect, and more internal struggle caused by being associated with the horrible deeds of Mr. Hyde. Stevenson’s purpose in writing this might have been to bring attention to what can happen when a man struggles with internal conflict. His description of the struggle between Jekyll and Hyde from Jekyll’s perspective and from the perspective of others shows how society views one who may be struggling with oneself.
The first conflict between Jekyll and Hyde is when Jekyll could not control when he turned into Hyde. One night Hyde ran headlong into a child for no reason. Jekyll thought that he was taken precaution to furnish safely for Hyde, but two months before Sir Danvers Carew was murdered, a terrifying thing occurred. Jekyll awoke and realized that he was not himself. He thought that he was gone to bed in his own body he was not sure for he realized that he was awakened in the small misshapen body of Hyde. It became clear to Jekyll that he was to triple the dosage of the drug in order to keep Hyde in check. Jekyll did not have a choice because he was not just losing himself. He was losing the power to return to his normal self (Roberts). A second conflict between Jekyll could not control Hyde’s actions. Hyde ran over a little girl, and for the first time he feared for his life. In order to cheer up the little girl’s family, Hyde opened the door to the dissecting room. He went inside, and wrote a check on Jekyll’s account. Jekyll was okay with Hyde’s first incident but when Sir Danver died, Jekyll had enough of Hyde. Sir Danver was a well respected man in England, whom Hyde had murdered by using a cain to club him to death. A maid witnessed Hyde murdering Sir Danver. Utterson asked Jekyll if he had heard about the murder of Sir Danver. Jekyll says that he heard the paper boys’ yelling about it earlier, when
Jekyll would like to keep the guilt separate from himself and Mr. Hyde, it is undeniable where the origin of Mr. Hyde lies: inside Dr. Jekyll. He states in his narrative, “There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet…I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine.” Here, Jekyll is describing the first time he transformed into Hyde. The descriptions he uses are not those of repulsion. It would seem Jekyll felt finally free in Hyde’s skin. Before, as a respected man, Jekyll couldn’t give himself over to his dark feelings. As Hyde, a lower class vermin, he could let loose his violent thoughts. This is where Jekyll shows his true colors. If he had kept Hyde locked up within him, he could have saved his soul. The major fault in Jekyll’s life is that he gave into those thoughts and let Hyde take over. Jekyll chose to act on his dark side instead of his
Dr. Jekyll is a man who is “caring“ and was “very well educated';, he like was the good side, and he had morals, and he was able to determine the difference between right and wrong when he was Dr. Jekyll. Once the potion started to backfire in Jekyll’s face because Hyde turned to evil and wants to kill him, Jekyll is upset and says only, “ Oh what a lesson I have learned! “. This shows that at least Dr. Jekyll realizes he made a mistake in the first place, he says to “ let him (me) alone to suffer for a great evil deed that I have committed';. He realizes that morally what he did was wrong. And that one shall just be as they are, and not try to change that. He tried, and he failed.
Jekyll eventually confesses his secret to his dear friends. He is no longer living a secret, impure life. Jekyll explains to them that he is not only but he is two. He explains that Hyde is the evil part of Jekyll’s psyche, while Jekyll remains as the pure, tender-hearted man he has always been. Although Jekyll admitted to enjoying the spell at first due to the fact that he could disobey laws and rules without the overwhelming guilt, he realizes that enough is enough. Jekyll decides that Hyde is far too much to deal with and basically feels the need to get rid of him as soon as he can without causing anybody new any harm what so ever. In order to follow through with his plan, Jekyll kills himself in order to be able to escape
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is equally scandalous, if not more than the fading bond between Basil and Dorian. Stevenson’s story line only consists of one duplicitous person, Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll is an intellectual scientist who is able to drink a potion and morph into an evil brute. The freedoms he utilizes when he is Mr. Hyde fascinate him and he develops an addiction to the evilness of Hyde. Time only tells that “Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s parasite” (Nabokov 22). Thus, Jekyll loses touch with his soul as his transformation into Hyde becomes increasingly irreversible. As Hyde, Jekyll is deformed and monstrously unattractive. Jekyll takes his intellectual ability of transforming into Hyde to the extremes and as a result becomes uglier when he is Hyde, similar to how Basil remains flawed because of his intelligence. Dr. Jekyll, fearful that he has gone too far with his experiment cries, “The ugly face of iniquity stared into my soul” (Stevenson 77). At this point Hyde has manifested himself within Jekyll and there is no resolution to keep the two separated. The goal was “to make Jekyll’s evil side before and after the hydization a believable evil” (Nabokov 21). The blood of both personalities is so cold, allowing believable evilness to occur. It is not until Jekyll’s suicide of himself and Hyde is complete that the blood can rid itself of its evil
Towards the end of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, readers discover more about Henry Jekyll's battle of reason versus emotion. The novella revealed how Jekyll, most of his life, battle between upholding his family’s and his reputation, and being able to do activities he found enjoyable, but were improper for his status. Jekyll was ashamed by his behavior and even admitted "the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition . . . ." He knew the things that brought him pleasure were undignified, but he could not resist the strong emotion. So, Jekyll tries to solve this internal struggle by creating the potion that turns him into Mr. Hyde. Jekyll believed at first that he fixed the issue because as Hyde he could