Profound Duplicity Exhibited by Jekyll as a Reflection of the Victorian Way of Life The Victorian society was filled with many divisions. It consisted of two extremes, the very wealthy and intense poverty. It was these divisions that contributed to the causes behind the life of Henry Jekyll to be split between the two. However, there are many other reasons as to why Jekyll wanted the best of both worlds. Within the Victorian period, there were many successes, including inventions such as the first public railway link between the coal mines of Darlington and the port of Stockton; this was built by an engineer named George Stevenson. Also was the improvements in people's health, this was due to progresses with clean water and better drains. Victorian scientists, for example, Michael Faraday, also made discoveries such as various inventions including the telegraph, the telephone and the electric light. In addition to this the British Empire had grown like never before. At this point the Victorians were in a time of sanguinity and fulfilment. However in the country's capital, London, not everywhere was quite like this. The city was divided in to two, the rich and the poor. Regents Park was filled with respectable and hard working people. Conversely a few streets down backing on to Regents Park, was Soho, a place of squalor and deprivation, yet the wealthy were not going to make any changes, they liked the way it was and saw no need for the situation to change. Religion was an important aspect of Victorian life, and acted as a form of control of retaining the status quo. It was religion that kept the two divisions standing. The poor we... ... middle of paper ... ... search the rooms of the house, this showing another side to her personality. Duplicity was not only shown through the characters, or in the divide of the cities, but also within Jekyll's house itself. Jekyll's house was situated in Regents Park and from the front looked respectable, with a tidy interior and a typical example of how people should be living, but attached to the back of the house was the laboratory. This was the complete opposite of the House Jekyll lived in, and was where Hyde use to come and go. This part of the house helps show the differences in Jekyll and Hyde and again the idea of duplicity. Although Henry Jekyll was not the only character to show duplicity, he was the main focus; the novel shows the readers a contrast between Jekyll and Hyde, and lets us see how, in the end, evil wins through.
“That in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?” (Stevenson 57). This is our main character, Dr Jekyll’s, continuous inner monologue. He constantly wants to know why he’s the way he is and who the “polar twin” really is. Dr Jekyll switches between himself and Mr Hyde; one good and one evil. This can be supported numerously throughout the book. Two reasons to support this being that Dr. Jekyll shared the same handwriting as Mr Hyde; the other being that Hyde walked right over a child, harming the child, and continued walking without caring (“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground,” Stevenson 11.)
In the first chapter of the book we are introduced to one of the main
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.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, repression appears to be a common theme. Stevenson chose to incorporate this because it was a common Victorian belief. So what is Stevenson trying to say about repression by making Dr. Jekyll secretly self indulgent? Many people believe that Jekyll assumes the role of Hyde in order to carry out these indulgences that he otherwise could not. Also Jekyll chose to repress his urges because Victorian society frowned upon them. This idea is further elaborated on by Masao Miyoshi, in “Dr. Jekyll and the Emergence of Mr. Hyde”:
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s struggle between two personalities is the cause of tragedy and violence. Dr. Jekyll takes his friends loyalty and unknowingly abuses it. In this novella, Stevenson shows attributes of loyalty, how friendship contributes to loyalty, and how his own life affected his writing on loyalty.
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 suspicion starts when Mary follows the sound of footsteps, thinking it to be Hyde. When when she enters the laboratory, she finds Jekyll’s checkbook left open and blood-stained. The mystery deepens when Jekyll remains inside and rarely comes out. The hideous clothing of Hyde, his similar appearance to Jekyll, and his similar handwriting makes Mary grow more confused. “That was how we passed the days when Master could have been on the moon across the yard, for all we knew of his doings” explains the way things were back
Stevenson’s novel shares the profile of women in the current era. Throughout the novel, the few women that are present are seen as figurative damsels in distress. On many occasions, Stevenson provides evidence that the woman's reaction to disturbing events often include screaming or fainting. During the first section of the novel, a little girl is trampled by Mr. Hyde and the note about her is the screaming emanating from her lips, “quote quote quote” (Stevenson ). She is pictured as helpless and in need of a strong figure to save her. Mr. Utterson comes to the rescue and
In the novel “The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” a number of
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.
The Victorian era was a period that sourly revolved around Queen Victoria and her reign at the time. There was an excessive amount of change that also occurred throughout the Victorian era, "from advances in medical programs, to technological and scientific knowledge to changes in population growth and location" (Goodlad). All this change was starting to affect the mood of the population, what was once a confident and optimistic time led to economic downfall growth and wealth which soon plummeted into doubt and disbelief. In the social class ranking there is the working class, middle class and upper class. The working class are men and women who perform physical labor and they get paid daily or weekly wages. The men and women of the middle class perform mental or "clean" work and are paid monthly or annually. The upper class, on the other hand, do not work, but their income in fact came from inherited land and investments.
The archetypal theme of the repression of a desire is rendered in various ways in the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, with the repercussion of these subdued urges resulting in both favorable and adverse outcomes for the restrained individual. The novella takes place in the Victorian Era, a time where the suppression of vehement emotions and impulsive conduct was immensely urged, to the extent that it was considered an acquired behavior, as they believed an exposure of true expression would lead to the loss of a dignified demeanor, as well as a loss of morality. While this theory is reasonable, it is also indisputably inaccurate in certain instances. The repression of certain aspects, such as curiosity,
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...
Penny Fielding highlights his point of view on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that the novel paints ‘a damning portrait of society defined by repression and its inevitable twin, hypocrisy’. Fielding also insists later that the relation between repression and hypocrisy is one theme of this novel that cannot be overlooked. This opinion can be approved of a truth after reading the novel. Repression and hypocrisy run through the whole story which reflect on descriptions of every character. In this essay, I will focus on the repression and hypocrisy that appear to be connected in the novel by analyzing the background and main characters. Especially, I will quote some fragments from the novel to discuss in details.