Stevenson's Representation of Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde In this piece of coursework, I am asked to first of all, discuss how the novel is mainly concerned with the struggle between good and evil. Next, I will be moving on to discovering the historical, social, and cultural issues of the novel; this will discus what Stevenson's literary influences were. Subsequently, I will be exploring the actual evil character oh Mr. Edward Hyde; this will include a character description of Hyde. Then, I will be analysing the evil incidents that Hyde commits; how Stevenson actually describes these attacks. The symbols of evil will then follow; what the door and the fog essentially represent.
“All human beings are commingled out of good and evil” Robert Louis Stevenson once said. In this one of a kind novel entitled The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by the wonderful Robert Louis Stevenson. Throughout this literary work, the idea of good vs evil as well as your dark side being tough to handle is greatly expressed. Which is why the theme of this novel is good versus evil and having trouble controlling your dark side.Now some people may believe that your good side almost always triumphs over your bad side mnly becasue thats what wither see or hear about, the yin and yang sign for good and evil is perfectly balanced, and some others may believe that a person cannot have two completely opposite personalities. According
Personality and the Beast Within in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Everyone has a dual personality, two sides, good and evil. Robert Louis Stephenson uses the book to explain this, he wanted people to realise that not only Dr Jekyll carries a double personality, but the other characters in the book too. Also the people reading it must see that they too, are a part of this frightening uncontrollable fact, that there is “the beast within” us all. Stephenson suggests that all gentlemen keep secrets, suppress emotions, desires, and hide their true inner self. In the story Mr. Utterson is a great example of a gentleman (lawyer) needing to suppress his less socially acceptable side for the sake of preserving his respectable standing in society.
As we can see in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and also in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein" people who play with nature and do not take responsibility for their work and creations ultimately end up creating evil things which they do not understand or know how to control. It could be said that Stevenson wrote the story as a warning to Victorian society about repression and science or maybe it was just an interesting mystery story, which happens to have like many fictions and stories to have become almost true. To conclude I think that evil is effectively portrayed in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'.
However, all too often, people lie for self-serving, immoral purposes. In this quote, Twain elegantly shows the delicate balance between good and evil in the performance of the same act. Furthermore, Twain also shows this complex thought in his portrayal of characters in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twains novel emulates his quote, juxtaposing the good and bad aspects of stretching the truth. Throughout the novel, Twain provides numerous commentaries on the morality of characters.
Fear in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe used fear to attract his readers into his gothic world. Poe realized that fear intrigues as well as frightens, and sew it as a perfect motif for many of his stories, particularly The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe emphasized the mysterious, desolate, and gloomy surroundings throughout the story to set up the fear that got the reader involved. Then he extended the fear to the characters in order to reveal the importance of facing and overcoming fear. Poe suggested in the story that the denial of fears can lead to madness and insanity.
A good example would be the diction in Robert Stevenson’s novel “The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. The theme of evil hiding within every man is compared to the violent and dark writing style that hides in the proper and Victorian writing of Stevenson’s era. Stevenson makes his diction within the literature formal so that when the diction becomes gruesome it symbolizes the uncivilized and evil side that lurks within every
The most obvious example in the book if the double life of Jekyll/... ... middle of paper ... ...hown to us by Stevenson as an evil character through the use of the word ‘Juggernaut’, which has a sense of overpowering strength for a evil purpose, and the child makes us see how Hyde is abusive and does not care for other people. It is hard to explain how Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is worth reading. The characterisation lets us understand the characters in a way that modern-day horror doesn’t – and the method of storytelling is unique and compelling. Stevenson uses thorough use of language throughout that helps us understand characters emotions and the environments that Stevenson chose to set the novella in. So in Conclusion, there is not a single reason why you should not read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which in every way, is a perfect horror story.
In conclusion, this whole novel is based on good versus evil. The symbolism in the novel helps to portray that as much as possible, with the conch and Ralph, Piggy, and Simon representing the “good,” and the sow’s head and Jack and his hunters representing the “evil.” One of the main themes of The Lord of the Flies is man’s inhumanity to man. It is also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. This novel deals with all the corruption in the world, and no matter whom you are, while reading it, you can always relate it to real life situations. Works Cited http://plmartinwrite.blogspot.com/2009/10/lord-of-flies.html http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmLordFlies30.asp http://bookstove.com/classics/good-vs-evil-in-lord-of-the-flies/
This simple description implies that Utterson will be helping to solve a problem in this novel, though it is not identified whose problem he will try to solve. This also foreshadows a problem in the book; Utterson leads the reader to believe that a horrid situation will arise between Jekyll and Hyde. Mr. Hyde is driven purely by the temptations of evil; the urges that Dr. Jekyll is unable to act on. This temptation causes Mr. Hyde to murder Sir Carew with the wal... ... middle of paper ... ...(43). The reader is draw to the wishes of Dr. Jekyll, each person wants to better themselves and each person finds themselves straying from the correct path in life.