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Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Character Analysis

Decent Essays

Who’s who? The archetypal roles of Jekyll and Hyde. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson did not write with the archetypal hero's journey in mind, but this does not mean that there are no such characters still present in the text. The hero in this text is Utterson as he is the main character throughout it all, but his mentor is not exactly clear. There are many key properties of a mentor in literature and Mr. Poole possesses all of those properties in the text making him the mentor to Utterson. Firstly, Poole tells Utterson of a large problem that he will need to tackle if he wants to live in peace. He tells Utterson of how Jekyll has once again locked himself in a room and will take no visitors “... well, …show more content…

This shows how Utterson is now aware of a problem he will have to fix and must have a plan of action to undertake the challenge and potentially absolve the world of Mr. Hyde who is thought to be very connected to Dr. Jekyll. Poole has now piqued Utterson’s interest in solving this case and possibly ridding the world of Mr. Hyde’s horrors while also saving Dr. Jekyll who is an old friend of his showing qualities of a possible mentor. Next, the mentor’s primary quality is shown that is that they assist the hero in crossing the threshold and getting them ready for the challenge. This is evidenced as Poole begins explaining how Jekyll has once again locked himself away and he is concerned for him adding a ton of evidence to his concerns as he then asks Utterson if he will investigate with him “but will you come along with me and see for yourself?” (Stevenson 22). This occurs after he built up Utterson’s curiosity and gave him the courage to cross the threshold into the unknown to finally get to the bottom of the mystery he had been trying to crack. In this instance, however, Utterson crosses two thresholds in a way: the threshold into the unknown world of Jekyll’s house and also the threshold of society that defined what a gentleman could and could not do as he finally

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