A Comparison of Vistor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll Essay

Evil or Evolution: A Study of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This quote characterizes Dr. Jekyll, because it tells the reader that Jekyll is a happy

Both Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tell cautionary tales of scientists abusing their creative powers to exist in another sphere where they cannot be directly blamed for their actions. Though Frankenstein's creation is a "Creature" distinct from his creator while Dr. Jekyll metamorphoses into Mr. Hyde, the "double" of each protagonist progressively grows more violent throughout his story. By doing so he symbolizes his creator's repressed desires in a stifling society.

But in private, Jekyll confesses that when he “looked upon that ugly idol in the glass, [he] was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome. This too, was [himself]. It seemed natural and human” (Stevenson 78). Instead of feeling disgust at the appearance of Hyde, like every other character in the story, Jekyll feels comforted. The fact that Jekyll is able to view pure evil without revulsion is symbolic of his innate corruption and foreshadows Hyde inevitably overwhelming Jekyll. Throughout the story, Jekyll is utterly incapable of resisting the temptations of Hyde. Even after vowing to never transform into Hyde again, Jekyll drinks the potion after two months: “I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught” (Stevenson 86). By allowing himself to fall prey to temptation and feel comfortable with Hyde, Jekyll refuses to acknowledge the immorality of Hyde. This is illustrated by the fact that “While the other characters find ways to accept and cope with their shadow sides, Dr. Jekyll cannot, and his failure to integrate the seemingly opposite aspects of himself… [results] in his

74 when it states, “this, then, is the last time, short of a miracle, that Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts or see his own face.” Dr. Jekyll has run out of his drug and now fears that soon he will no longer be able to stay himself and will be forced to stay as his evil double for life. His mind has become so obsessed with the power that comes from not having to follow the rules and obey society’s social codes that it has changed the balance between Jekyll’s good and evil side. Which is similar to how prisoners tend to become addicted to different illegal activities that make them feel invincible or in charge. In both scenarios, the power and invincibility lead to an unhappy ending, with long-lasting damage to the prisoner and the people associated with them. Dr. Jekyll tried to cheat his inner nature by allowing both sides of himself, good and evil, to coexist into two different identities in hopes that this separation would enable him to essentially enjoy both sides of himself at different

Critic Northrop Frye once commented that "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscapes" (Frye 1). Few characters illustrate this characteristic of a tragic hero better than that of Victors Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His story is one of a brilliant man whose revolutionary ideas brought suffering to himself, his family and friends, and his creation. Victor is an instrument as well as a victim to this suffering throughout his story.

As it was some where in the 19th century it would have been the Victorian period, the Victorians were particularly interested in psychology and science. Jekyll's discoveries were closely linked to the Victorian's fascination with science, "even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle". As the Victorians took their lives very seriously, Jekyll had to do so to, "in the course of my life, which had after all, nine-tenths a life of effort, virtue and control". This meant that Jekyll had to repress his darker more fun loving side to remain in the standing that he did.

To begin with, Dr. Jekyll is a well-rounded, well-respected man descending from a highly intellectual and respected Christian family of doctors and lawyers. He is nothing short of the ideal Victorian gentleman: tall, polite, honorable and refined, physically portrayed as being “a large well-made man of fifty,” and as having a “large, handsome face” (Stevenson, 19). Opposed to this seemingly impeccable man is none other than Mr. Edward Hyde, a short, hairy, ‘troglodyte’ man with a horrific

He is tall, handsome, and of age fifty. In society, he is a respectable doctor and a well-known London scientist with a large estate. In addition to his wealth and fame, he is a man of morals, seemingly pure good and courteous. While devoting himself to charitable acts, he also enjoys dinner parties with his bachelor friends (Stevenson). Although he has an excellent outward appearance and demeanor, he is constantly embroiled in a fight between human nature within himself. Being a scientist, he furthers his understanding of the duality of man, the good and evil, as he tells himself if they “could be housed in separate identities” (Stevenson 43). This leads to an experiment that houses his evilness in the soul of another man. On the surface, Dr. Jekyll is the embodiment of pure good, but his experimentation with human nature allows him to deviate from the

We’ve seen it through many events in history, and through stories. When one is over ambitious– just like Dr. Jekyll could be perceived to be – problems are bound to occur. This is the point when evil actions begin. Dr. Jekyll says, "Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, but at that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion.” This quote underlines the idea that Jekyll was driven by his ambition; there was two different kinds of ambition he experienced, however.

Dr. Jekyll was known to be tall and handsome. He had a pleasantness about him as Utterson describes as

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde share a lot in common. They both go through a series of events and contain a scientist that experience in working against nature’s law and creating a human (play God). In Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein uses fragments of various body parts to create man (a monster) in which Victor thought was the greatest creation yet. In Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde the story is of a scientist Henry Jekyll who is actually a doctor that created a potion to bring out the evil side of him to make up a person of just his evil. However, Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll don’t necessarily have a connection in the creation, process nor purpose both scientist test

The timid and cordial scientist named Dr Jekyll only appears during the daytime, leaving a clue that he represents the positive side of human nature. During the afternoon,

This time period influenced the actions of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll is writing his confession to Utterson and reflects back to his younger life. As Jekyll is growing up he realizes “[Most] men would have even blazoned such irregularities… [I] hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame” (Stevenson 121). Worrying that his reputation could be ruined, he keeps everything in secret. For Jekyll doesn’t want to be judged.

Being a respected doctor, Jekyll is tied of chains by his social status in the society, for instance if a child is restricted to do something, by his parents. He will eventually find a secretive way to fulfill his needs. In the same manner Jekyll finds Hyde as a solution to satisfy his simple need like drinking. “His every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another” ().As the quote demonstrates Hyde enjoys drinking, which he cannot do as Dr. Jekyll, living in an oppressed Victorian society. The small and harmful temptation like drinking leads to more serious offences. As this boosts, Jekyll’s confidence, he ends up indulging into violent acts, “With ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down a storm of blows” (). The simile in this quote delineates Jekyll’s unexpressed desire that erupts through Hyde. His small desires manifests into bigger crimes. Stevenson uses this theory to showcase temptation the evil cause of problems in mankind.