The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Discussion as an example of Gothic Fiction and as a critique of Victorian society. This book was written at a time of change in the world of fiction as a new form of gothic literature emerged. Fin de Siecle was a new type of New Gothic that had elements that differed from previous gothic stories. Stevenson's story is based around various shards of the gothic and is mainly focused on exposing the "duality of man" and his struggle to hide it from the outside world. The symbolism of Jekyll and Hyde is truly extended to all with differing parts in all of us. It was not a new idea as it had been seen in the classic example of a good and bad guardian, a devil on one shoulder and an angel on another, and also in gothic literature before it, such as Frankenstein with the duelling personalities of Frankenstein and the monster, creator and creation which is easily comparable with the roles of Jekyll and Hyde, ". Stevenson had his influences apart from classic novels, his past had a tremendous affect on this novella as the language, used by Jekyll in particular is similar to Stevenson with possible links between the two, gives the reader an insight into his mind. His Calvinistic upbringing has a bearing on the way Jekyll tries to describe Hyde in his final statement. We get a lexical set of words like "hellishbut inorganic", "That child of Hell" and "an ordinary secret sinner". Stevenson was strictly brought up believing that good people went to heaven and sinners went to burn in hell, and the idea of 2 different sets of people with a divide between them stuck in his mind throughout his life. We can see how the idea intrigued him in this story with Jekyll representing the ... ... middle of paper ... ... Jekyll is a powerful and successful doctor and not some average, doctor of the people. It is common knowledge that he had troubles with his father and he joined an organisation, which "disregarded everything our parents taught us". The relationship between Jekyll and Hyde is similar to Stevenson and his father, and Jekyll's relationship with the outside world is also like Stevenson's. In some ways he is portraying himself as the lead character and perhaps the character of Hyde is in fact a personification of his illness that kept him bedridden for a long time. The main force behind this book is the duality of men but this battle raging inside him may also have influenced his story and given Hyde a more disgusting, exaggerated image, "lean, corded, knuckly, of a dusky pllor and thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde."
The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a book based on a man with two different personality’s and two physical appearances, his own as well as a strange man who goes by the name of Mr Hyde a mysterious dark individual who lurks in the dark and pounces once spotting his prey weak an vulnerable. The character of Mr Hyde was created after Dr Jekyll created a special chemical solution which he drank, subsequently transforming himself into this different creature. Dr Jekyll ever since has been fighting with this other side, this evil vicious man in order to bring peace among him self and others, but the evil Mr Hyde is forever eager to release his side. This leaves Dr Jekyll fighting to maintain normality, and get rid of the demon he has created.
What is human nature? In almost every century someone has asked this question to try and find the answer. Each individual had a specific way of debating the matter. One specific author, Robert Louis Stevenson, described the duality of human nature in his book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll had been transformed into the evil Hyde and committed many injuries and crimes. As another example, “He would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal city; then of the figure of a man walking swiftly; then of a child running from the doctor’s; and then these met, and that human Juggernaut trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams” (Stevenson 1682-1683). He also ends up killing himself, Dr. Hyde, by keeping his own evil soul. Overall, the story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written as a reflection of the values of the Victorian era. Hyde could have, and probably would have been punished or executed for his crimes.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde takes place during a time in London when people flocked to the city for jobs which resulted in great competition and deceit. As the city grew in size with powerful men there became issues of appearance and reputation where men of high status began to dance with the devil allowing their evil nature to show itself. The social scene at the time required people to hide this evil nature so men and women began to create two sides of themselves so that they could maintain and uphold their reputation hypocritically. The text of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde reveals human nature to have two sides; one represented by what a man claims and the other represented by how he/she acts.
my true hour of death, and then as I lay down my en, and proceed to
In the book The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde one of the main focuses is how there are two different sides of man, the “good” side which Dr. Jekyll represents and the “bad” side which Mr.Hyde represents. The moral of the story is that man needs both “good” and “bad” for the two put together and how man deals with it is how man is defined. In the story Jekyll makes a drug that separates the “good” and “bad” in man and it will furthermore become true that man needs both “good” and “bad” to be defined. After reading The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and exploring the “ good” and “bad” sides of man it will become evident that there are two sides of man.
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.
When Jekyll first turns into Hyde, he feels delighted at his newfound freedom. He states: "... And yet when I looked upon /that ugly idol in the glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, /rather of a leap of welcome..."(131). Now he could be respected as a scientist and explore his darker passions. Stevenson shows duality of human nature through society.
Thus in conclusion, the concept that texts are a reflection of their context is applicable in Robert Stevenson’s novella: “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. This is due to the values of the nineteenth century Victorian England such as technological advances, reputation and masculinity being reflected through the main characters of the text through Stevenson’s use of literary devices support.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by author Robert Louis Stevenson is a novel about a man who
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...
Oftentimes, we’ve heard many real-life stories about good people who commit evil deeds, they have sacrificed their morality, consciousness and reputation for the sake of their inner needs. In the story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Stevenson demonstrates the theory of human nature’s duality by the internal conflict of Dr. Jekyll who has suffered in his consciousness and inner needs, or virtue and vice. The point is we all are struggling in the duality of human nature with our good side and bad side everyday. Accordingly, the best solution to deal with this conflict is to let both of our good side and bad side out but do so with lots of control and measure.
Mr. Hyde and Dorian Gray are characters that nearly match each other in their symbolism and manner. However, it is the key differences that make them remarkably interesting as a pair. They symbolize the battles between good and evil, though they have differing interpretations of morality.
The article that I have chosen to analyze is entitled “Challenging the Biological: The Fantasy of Male Birth as a Nineteenth Century Narrative of Ethical Failure”. The author of this article is Galia Benziman. Benziman states her main thesis as “I will discuss four nineteenth century works that examine such possibilities, emerging in an era that offers a particularly rich treatment of the theme. With the rise of the belief in, and anxiety about, the supremacy of science, we witness in nineteenth-century fictional works a recurrent staging of the male subject’s attempt to harness technology for the purpose of overcoming the biological limitation of his sex and procreating a new being.” This is a rather extensive thesis but really works well