Selfish desire, and an obsession with its fulfillment can consume one’s mindset creating an absence of reality. The intention to use selfish desire as a pivotal purpose in life can alter the course of events encountered along the way. Consumption with fulfilling one’s selfish demands and satisfying immediate desires masks the recognition of the effect of those actions beyond the present. This blindness to the implications of one’s actions creates a downward spiral towards an undesirable fate. The only way to influence the reversal of this fate is by being forced to confront it. In Everyman, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the authors demonstrate The inability …show more content…
Through the comparison of the characters of Everyman, Dr. Jekyll, and Dorian Gray the authors reveal that, a lifestyle according to the fulfillment of selfish demands hinders the flourishing of the human person and by diminishing one’s moral character prevents the confrontation of one’s fate. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson demonstrates how one’s selfish intentions to achieve a desired state shape the journey in reaching that goal by causing one’s blindness to reality. Dr. Jekyll sought a scientific solution to the dissatisfaction he felt in his life through his discovery of the potion, which enabled him to transform into Hyde. This extent to which he was willing to go to fulfill his intentions was caused by his blindness to reality. In Dr. Jekyll’s closing statement, he describes how his transformation into Hyde made him feel initially. He says, “ There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new, and from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current disordered sensual images running like a mill race in my fancy” (Stevenson 44). Jekyll’s purpose for transforming into Hyde stems from his desire to attain
Eventually due to the inaccuracy of his ‘unscientific balderdash’ (as spoken by Lanyon) something goes wrong and his changes from Jekyll to Hyde become more irrepressible, ‘My blood was changed into something exquisitely thin and icy. Yes I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde.’ He lacks the power or strength to stop these changes. Hyde seems to perform the metamorphosis without warning or consent. I believe this to be significant to the fact that Hyde is becoming stronger and less willing to do as dictated, and because he, the inner demon, has been exercised at such a severe extent he had become a bigger part of Jekyll and so containing the inner beast becomes harder. Stevenson writes ‘the powers of Hyde seemed to grow with the sickliness of Jekyll.’ I do not think he wrote this meaning a literal sickness but was instead talking about the mental deterioration of Jekyll. The distinction of the unplanned and unwelcome changes between Jekyll and Hyde is symbolic to the fact that as the lines forming the distinction of the personality of Hyde and Jekyll began to merge thus so did the transition.
In the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson provides insight into the inner workings of the duality that exists within humans. Dr. Jekyll is a well-respected doctor in his community while his differing personality Mr. Hyde is hideous and considered by the public as evil based on appearance. As the novel progresses Dr. Lanyon begins to investigate Mr. Hyde, he begins to realize similarities between both Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll such as their handwriting which results in the discovery that they are the same person. Dr. Jekyll is able to transform himself into Mr. Hyde by drinking a serum he has created which was intended to purify his good. Stevenson stresses the duality of good and evil that exists
The novel “The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is influenced by some various factors. One of the factors that portray Robert Louis Stevenson’s idea about the duality of man’s nature is Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. Freud’s tells human behavior is the consequence of one’s id, ego and superego. He says id part is an important part of our personality. For example, the pleasure of doing whatever we want to like eating or even killing with no consideration of the situation is our id part of personality.
“There were passions in him that would find their terrible outlet, dreams that would make the shadow of the real evil” (Wilde,115). The author reveals pleasure as the driving force of many characters within Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, but this search for pleasure becomes fatal once taken into the hands of Dorian Gray. Throughout the novel Dorian Gray changes his opinion on pleasure based on what he requires in order to escape reality. With each death and misdeed he is responsible for; Dorian must search harder for a more drastic form of release. His path declines from his innocent beginnings with Sybil Vane, to the pleasure he finds in corrupt relations, and finally his need to escape the reality of killing a former
In analyzing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, concepts such as influence and the origin of evil in Dorian Gray play an exceptionally valuable role in understanding the motives of the characters. Although some critics argue characters such as Lord Kelso significantly influence Dorian’s corruption, Lord Henry Wotton’s toxic personality undeniably impacts Dorian the most. Throughout the course of the novel, Lord Henry remains the ultimate source of evil and uses deception and persuasion to poison Dorian from a naïve boy to a destructive monster.
Everyone has to deal with some sort of temptations in their lives. Usually temptations are negative, but they may differ depending on the person. Some people may not like to admit this but everyone has a dark side and sometimes it shows. A person needs to let out some darkness at some points in their lives because nobody should bottle their emotions up. One man’s dark temptations are looked at in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. In this novel, it starts out introducing Mr.Utterson who is a lawyer. He is walking with his cousin Mr. Enfield and they find a door which leads them to a house. Mr. Enfield starts telling a story and that is how Mr.Hyde and Dr.Jekyll are introduced. “ All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at a corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (Stevenson 9). Mr. Utterson becomes curious as to who the person was and after doing some investigating he discovers that Dr.Jekyll is Mr.Hyde. Dr.Jekyll wanted a way to let out the bad that he had inside of him, but he didn 't want anyone to see him differently. He decided to make a potion, and when he drank the potion he would turn into Mr.Hyde.
Frequently overlooked in favor of discourse on the duality of man or the dubiousness surrounding the characters’ interactions with Hyde, Jekyll’s portrayal of his transformations into Hyde in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde has an indubitable parallel to symptoms of drug addiction. This allegory fits seamlessly into the narrative once the reader becomes aware of its presence. Not only does Henry Jekyll present symptoms paralleling drug addiction, his transformations into Hyde and how the other characters in the novel react to them are also typical of situation involving an addicted person. Finally, the ease with which a respectable member of the bourgeoisie lapses into such a degenerative state serves the
The world as we know it is constantly moving and changing; events occur that can affect people’s lives even if they are thousands of miles away. Whether or not these happenings are good or evil can shape one’s mindset and outlook on the actions they take themselves. Both have distinct strengths and weaknesses; however, the real question one must ask is which side of the spectrum is more capable of influencing humanity. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a wealthy and well-respected doctor by the name of Henry Jekyll, who believes that man is not one but two separate people, constructs a potion which unearths his inner evil (Mr. Edward Hyde), and in the end is engulfed by the strength of his malevolent persona.
The reason The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is vital to the rehabilitation of prisoners is because it teaches a powerful lesson on actions and there consequences. By Dr. Jekyll continually choosing to change into Mr. Hyde and feeding his evil side, he enabled Mr. Hyde to overpower him and become the more dominant personality. Which is shown on p. 72 when it states, “…it seemed only by a great effort as of gymnastics, and only under the stimulation of the drug, that I was able to wear the countenance of Jekyll.” Dr. Jekyll has now been confined to his home because at any moment he could change to his other self and would be without explanation to his friends and family. Now instead of using the drug to change into Mr. Hyde, he has to use it to stay in the form of Dr. Jekyll, his original self.
In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is regarded that these identities are two different persons but this is not the case, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one in the same. There is much confusion when reading this literary work by Robert Louis Stevenson; this piece is regarded as horrific and disturbing in many ways. But the biggest twist is when it is reveled to the reader that these two people are the same and that below the surface of Dr.Jekyll is an evil man who enjoys committing evil acts. Mainly that Dr. Jekyll believes he has no choice but to commit these horrid acts because he has no control over is evil side. I don’t believe this is the case, Hyde isn’t a real person and doesn’t exist, nor is he someone who commits
Jekyll soon began to suffer its enormous persuasive power. When this evil had a strong enough grip on Dr. Jekyll, it began to control him. This is why he began to be more of Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll. After the first morning Dr. Jekyll woke up as Mr. Hyde, he always noticed that there was the feeling that Mr. Hyde wanted to come out more and more. Following the doctor’s ideas, it would make sense that once one of the dormant sides of a person begins to feel freedom, then they will fight for more of this freedom.
The discovery in mention is uncovering Hydes’ mystery, his ‘deformity,’ though ‘without any nameable malformation’. Our tendency towards destruction and complete self-interest is represented within Hyde, the duality of Jekyll, juxtaposing his nature, is stripped of regularity, where he is used to uncover our basic passions and needs. Thus his own process of self-discovery, becomes a metaphorical uncovering for the societal prejudices and blindness that hinders social and individual progress. Stevenson, suggesting through Utterson that the challenge of our social paradigms is in equivalence to moral progress. Proposing that Jekyll, falling into ‘unworthy and unhappy’ state, marked by the dark tone, was upon the process of uncovering how his dualistic nature manifests into Hyde, his voice ‘seeming much changed’ regarded to his deprived perception of the world upon his, and the truth of its’ transformation. Unlike Bryson, Jekyll and Hyde focus more so on personal discoveries, either catalysed by the progressive and revolutionary forms of modern science or in a spiritualistic manner. The spectrum of discovery varies across scientific to personal, which challenge and affirm the perceptions of our social
Why individuals partake in certain acts has been questioned since humans were able to think for themselves. This very question is at the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, wherein Jekyll, through chemical transformations, creates another version of himself named Hyde so that he could partake in certain acts that he felt were not possible as things stood. Jekyll’s creation of Hyde appears to be preposterous, but as Hyde, Jekyll is able to keep his reputation unharmed, indulge all his desires, and further study the human mind.
What good does it do a man to gain the whole world yet forfiet his soul? None, perfection, the goal we all reach for, yet is it really attainable to become perfect without giving something in return, possibly your soul. This is a theme challenged in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. We see the tragedy of a young beautiful Englishman, Dorian Gray, who becomes a vain sinner dedicated to pleasure. Dorian's inner secrets and weakness of mind becomes his downfall. In this novel Dorian Gray's apparent perfection is destroyed by his weakness of mind and naiiveness, which becomes the downfall of his soul as his mind is opened to sin and Hedonism by Lord Henry Wotton.
In chapter 20 of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian reflects on his past crimes and wonders whether he will ever change and retrieve his innocence again. Throughout the final chapter of the novel, the elements of Gothic novel that Wilde explores conveys the idea of the pursuit of individualism. Dorian’s wild, racing emotions clearly show how much he is driven by his readiness to fulfill his desires under any circumstance. Through this, the use of specific words and punctuation markings highlight Dorian’s personal yearning of removing himself from his past.