Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, takes place in 1870’s England and centers on a man by the name of Dr. Henry Jekyll, who is a respectable doctor among his own community. In the beginning of the story, Mr. Utterson (who is the lawyer responsible for drafting Dr. Jekyll’s final will and testament) is walking with his friend, Mr. Enfield. As they are walking past this street, Enfield reminisces about a nighttime stroll that he took past this street, where he saw a small and disproportionate man attacking a young girl in the street. When caught, this mystery man by the name of Edward Hyde decided to make amends by giving the victim’s family a check worth one hundred pounds. The odd thing is that this check had Dr. Jekyll’s signature on it and was a genuine copy (Stevenson 4). This is the first glimpse that the reader has of the relationship between the respectable Dr. Jekyll and mysteriously grotesque Mr. Hyde (although people who are disgusted by him can never really figure out why).
As the reader realizes later in the text, Mr. Hyde is nothing more than a transformation of Dr. Jekyll through the use of a formula that the doctor had created himself in order to try and separate his good nature from his evil tendencies. This transformation allows Jekyll to carry out these evil urges in the form of this other part of him that is Edward Hyde. This is done to remove any blame that Jekyll could put on himself through the actions of Mr. Hyde (reasons which I later discuss). The obvious monster is the alter ego of the English doctor, Mr. Hyde, but it isn’t limited to only him.
As the text goes on, can a reader really look and say that Jekyll isn’t as much of an abomination as Hyde? Other than J...
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...quality that can’t be defined, but is still feared. On top of that, Stevenson’s book is not only about the monstrosity of Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, one could argue that these characters are ultimately his thoughts on the animal that is the Industrial Revolution.
Works Cited
Daniels, Barbara. “Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era.” March 2003.
Freud, Sigmund. The “Uncanny.” Boston: MIT Press, 1919.
Singh, Shubh M., and Subho Chakrabarti. "A Study in Dualism: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde." Indian Journal of Psychiatry. (2008): n. page. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.
Smith, Nicole. "Analysis and Themes of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by
Robert Louis Stevenson." Article Myriad. (2011): n. page. Web. 11 Dec. 2012
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Scribner,
1886. Web.
Stevenson focuses on two different characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but in reality these are not separate men, they are two different aspects of one man’s reality. In the story, Dr. Je...
Stevenson's Use of Literary Techniques in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
As Jekyll reached adult hood, he found himself living a dual life. He had become more curious in discovering his other side. Jekyll insists, “Man is not truly one, but truly two” (125). This eventually led Jekyll into the scientific interests of separating his good and evil side, and he finds a chemical concoction that transforms him into a more wicked man, Edward Hyde. At first, Hyde was of pure impulse, but in the end, he became dominate and took control over Jekyll. Jekyll had never intended to hurt anyone, but he was aware that something could potentially go wrong. Jekyll presumes, “I knew well that I risked death, for any drug that so potently shook the very fortress of identity… utterly blot that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change” (127-129). One could say this makes Jekyll equally as menacing as Hyde. Jekyll couldn’t control the imbalance between the two natures. Jekyll foolishly allowed his evil side to flourish and become stronger. This is shown when Jekyll has awoken to find that he has turned into Hyde without taking the solution. Jekyll says, “But the hand in which I now saw, clearly enough in the yellow light of a mid- London morning…It was the hand of Edward Hyde” (139).
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. First Vintage Classics Edition. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
In this essay on the story of Jekyll and Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson I will try to unravel the true meaning of the book and get inside the characters in the story created by Stevenson. A story of a man battling with his double personality.
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...
“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” is a novella written in the Victorian era, more specifically in 1886 by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. When the novella was first published it had caused a lot of public outrage as it clashed with many of the views regarding the duality of the soul and science itself. The audience can relate many of the themes of the story with Stevenson’s personal life. Due to the fact that Stevenson started out as a sick child, moving from hospital to hospital, and continued on that track as an adult, a lot of the medical influence of the story and the fact that Jekyll’s situation was described as an “fateful illness” is most likely due to Stevenson’s unfortunate and diseased-riddled life. Furthermore the author had been known to dabble in various drugs, this again can be linked to Jekyll’s desperate need and desire to give in to his darker side by changing into Mr Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.
Page, Norman. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson." Encyclopedia of the Novel. Eds. Paul Schellinger, Christopher Hudson, and Marijke Rijsberman. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.
To summarize, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a metaphorical looking glass into the duality of human nature. In the words of Romeo and Juliet’s Friar Lawrence, “Two such opposèd kings encamp them still/ In man as well as herbs—grace and rude will” (II iii 28-29). In everyone, there is good and evil, a Jekyll and Hyde. The decision is who will be allowed to take control. Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel helps the reader to better understand the duality of human nature through Jekyll’s fascinating tale, and the true meaning behind the story that makes the reader sit back and reflect makes the story a timeless piece of literature.
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
To conclude the way that Stevenson has described Hyde and what Jekyll has done in most parts he has related it to the devil which in Victorian times was considered very dangerous, even though today he’s not considered that powerful it would still make a big impact. Stevenson has been successful in using many elements of a shocker/thriller to write a novella with a much deeper moral significance because every aspect of the story relates back to the Victorian morals of 1837 till 1901 and for a 21st century reader some parts of the novella will make them think what is really happening around them now and whether it is right or not!
In “ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” begins with a mysterious third person narration with Mr. Utterson a quiet “scanty and unsmiling” lawyer yet lovable, walking through the streets of London with a companion Mr. Enfield. The novels, suspense is conveyed through Enfield 's
Robert, Stevenson L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publications, 2013. Print.
Stevenson, Robert L. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The Norton Anthology of