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The duality of man in jekyll and hyde
The duality of man in jekyll and hyde
The duality of man in jekyll and hyde
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Jekyll is not a hypocrite and neither is Hyde, but together they are used to represent a hypocritical society. Jekyll and Hyde were separate individuals, each acting upon their own will. Hypocrites do act under their own will, but Hyde was solely controlled by himself, and soon Jekyll would not even be able to control his coming. Neither character was a hypocrite, but the idea that they portrayed was. As Jekyll says, " `both sides of my were in dread earnest,' " he is right. Jekyll, in public and in private, acted as virtuously and honest as can be. Hyde also acted the same in public and in private, mean and rude. Poole, for example, observed this, " `Have I been twenty years in this man's house, to be deceived about his voice? No, sir; master's
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
For this reason I’ll be explaining Jekyll’s mental health. Jekyll has as what we now call Multiple Personality Disorder; “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 be rightly said to be either, it was only because I was radically both,” Stevenson 57.) The disease was first discovered by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He would ask patients symptoms that he found common in MPD. Many patients know about their alternate personality but refuse to acknowledge it’s existence. In some cases they may even refer to it as a separate person entirely. In this case Jekyll is very much aware of his alternate personality, going as to so far as to willingly change into him. However despite this he also categorizes Hyde into a separate being. For example when Hyde does something unappealing or distasteful he blames it on a separate person. Consciously though he is aware that he is Hyde and Hyde is him. (MD, Arnold Lieber. "Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder." PsyCom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986. Vertical Health LLC, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016).
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.
Robert Louis Stevenson shows a marvelous ability to portray. He depicts the surroundings, architectural details of the dwellings, the inside of the houses, the instruments and each part of the environment in detail. He even specifies that the laboratory door is “covered with red baize” (p.24). Not only does he offer a precise picture of the setting, but also he draws accurately the characters. About 200 words are used in order to describe Mr. Utterson the lawyer (p.5). Dr.Lanyon, the gentleman who befriends Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, is described as “a healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white.” (p.12). Each of the characters are described according to their importance in the novella. Each of them except
In creating Hyde, Jekyll breaks the balance between good and evil within himself. Without that balance Jekyll cannot survive. Each time Hyde becomes active he gains more power over Jekyll, and ultimately leads to his downfall. Hyde started out as just the small things that Jekyll refrained from doing or even thinking about because he knew that he would not be accepted by society if he indulged in them, but as he grew more powerful little “undignified” pleasures turned into murder, and other horrible heinous crimes. The evil that Hyde possessed turned into something uncontrollable, while Jekyll remained Jekyll, not purely good and not purely evil. In the end Hyde’s evil overwhelmed Jekyll’s normalcy. Maybe there was a reason that society originally prompted Jekyll to repress Hyde within
In reference to the comparison of Hyde and Jekyll’s handwriting, Utterson is told “‘Well, sir,’ returned the clerk, ‘there’s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped’” (Stevenson 54). The resemblance of the handwriting is what clues one into suspecting Jekyll of illicit acts. Utterson does not come to the correct conclusion, but he does think “‘Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!’” (Stevenson 54). This is not the complete truth, but the handwriting does reveal a fact that was previously hidden to him: Jekyll is somehow involved in the murder of Carew. The reason why Utterson is incredibly shocked is because of Jekyll’s high-class status. As O’Dell argues, Utterson is concerned in maintaining social order, and Jekyll being a murderer destroys the image of gentlemen that Utterson is attempting so hard to keep up. Unfortunately, the truth is revealed through a series of handwritten letters from different people, leaving the burden, and trust, on Utterson to decide what shall be done with the
From the beginning of time, humans have questioned the validity of the intrinsic duality of man. Are humans born with both pure goodness and pure evilness or is the latter cultivated? Or simply altogether is man an existence embodied with both? In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one man, a scientist named Henry Jekyll, concludes that all men are both good and evil. Through his own understanding of human nature, Henry Jekyll transforms and reveals himself to become and show the characteristics of both the protagonist and antagonist of the story.
For instance, Henry Jekyll who is seen as the good, or light character describes Jekyll as being ‘“a second form and countenance substituted, none the less natural to me because they were the expression and bore the stamp, of lower elements in my soul”’ (qtd. in Singh and Chakrabarti). Dr. Jekyll adds “Edward Hyde, along in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil”. When revealing this, Dr. Jekyll admits Hyde is not different from himself, because he feels Hyde’s desires within him. Jekyll attempts to rationalize his behavior throughout the chapter of “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case”. He continually defends his pure evil side by arguing everyone has the power to become their own version of Hyde, most people do not show it. Jekyll realizes his personal duality in the book by adding ”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” (Stevenson 84). Jekyll believes Hyde is harmful to the world, yet he keeps letting him out. His actions prove he realizes Hyde is detrimental to society, but releasing Hyde feels too good to Jekyll to subdue him any longer, however, this is Jekyll’s greatest mistake. In the novella, Dr. Jekyll describes his opposing side by asserting, “My devil had been long caged, he came our roaring”
Henry Jekyll’s innermost vices, but since he held himself to an extremely high standard of moral excellence, he needed to find another way of releasing. He creates Hyde as his way of getting these primal urges out. During this time period, the focus on reputation and credibility was huge, and this is how men were judged. He had many urges that he was internally repressing, as a result of existing in the Victorian era, which was well known for how incredibly stuffy and repressed it was. Jekyll was widely respected in the community as a doctor and he had many friends, so it is understandable that he didn’t want to lose his reputation, which came first for men of his social standing in this time period. He went to great lengths to create and cover for Hyde, including renting a place for Hyde to live, and making a bank account for his alter ego. The creation of Hyde turns out to be way more sinister than Jekyll initially imagined. Hyde’s own name is a pun, as he is the part of Jekyll that he must keep hidden away for fear of
In horror fiction, you usually see a monster as something big, ugly, maybe even slimy. Another common form of monsters in fiction are vampires, aliens, zombies, ghosts, etc. How the monster is presented changes everything in the story. It changes how the main character will react and deal with the monster, or how he may overcome it. However, when it comes to the monster’s gender, it is a different story.
wrong, a lot like the way Mr Hyde was thought of. So to Mr Utterson,
Mr Hyde represents the evil side of the personality where Dr Jekyll corresponds to the good side.
One of the major ideas presented in Jekyll and Hyde is the need for both good and evil to live in coexistence within an individual’s conscience. Jekyll’s experiments prove that a balance between the two sides of nature is crucial to be content in the world. He realizes that the only reason he is able to be one of the two sides of his nature is because he has the capacity to be either as long as both are present within him. He makes this clear in the quote, “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). Jekyll aims to segregate his good side from his bad side. He begins on his endeavor to create a potion that creates an entirely new identity for the evil element of his nature named Mr. Hyde. Jekyll is pleased with himself and feels that he has been successful in his undertaking. He maintains this happiness until Hyde begins to commit unspeakable crimes without Jekyll’s rationality and sense of morality to temper him. Jekyll becomes miserable trying to contend with his evil counterpart and it is then that Stevenson’s message is evident. It is difficult to maintain true happiness without both sides of nature present within one’s conscience to balance each other out and to coexist.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a little different then Frankenstein in a way that the monster isn’t identified as a monster as much for his appearance as he is for his actions. Dr. Jekyll was a scientist and as a scientist he had to keep a good name but he didn’t want to be good he want to be bad. So, he decided he would have two personalities. Thinking that if he had two personalities he could be good and evil. He made a potion that transforms himself into a man without a conscience. So, He could do all those bad things that he wanted to do but then had a way to cover it up by saying it was someone else. Eventually this plan got out of hand. Having two personalities of Dr. Jekyll being the good doctor and then Mr. Hyde being the murder, he started not being able to control when he was Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. He fears that he will turn into Mr. Hyde permanently. Society doesn’t except this because your not supposed to be two different people. Trying to be two different people is monstrous because that just doesn’t happen and him to think that is okay is monstrous. Also, for him to murder people makes him a monster. By Dr. Jekyll’s friend starting to get suspicious about this situation drive Dr. Jekyll to worry. Then, he turns back to Mr. Hyde and thinks it’s a good idea to kill himself. So, society drove his monstrosity to kill himself, which made him to continue to be a monster. Having two identities is not only monstrous but it’s psychological. (Dr. Jekyll and
Hyde chooses to kill an innocent man towards the middle of the novel. Dr.Jekyll says in his letter, “Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delighted from every blow; and it was not till weariness had begun to succeed, that I was suddenly, in the top of my delirium, struck through the heart by a cold thrill of terror” (Stevenson 87). I don’t think there was no real motive behind this act, but Dr.Jekyll felt really guilty and shocked by what happened. Another incident occurs when Mr.Hyde knocks over a child. He ends up deciding to pay the people under Dr.Jekyll’s name which becomes suspicious to Utterson. I feel bad that at times Dr.Jekyll has to pay the consequences for Mr.Hyde’s