preview

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Conflict Essay

Decent Essays

Dr. Henry Jekyll is an older gentleman of high moral and intellectual value. He also acts as the protagonist in the book by facing the hardest conflict, himself. Along with the man versus self conflict, he also faces a man versus man conflict of the same nature due to the circumstances involving Mr. Hyde. Although the reader does not know of the problems Jekyll is facing throughout the book, in the end when he is permanently turned to Hyde, the reader realizes his importance. At the climax, Dr. Jekyll kills himself as the only way to stop Hyde, and in so doing, resolves the conflict with himself and with others by writing the letter explaining everything to Utterson. As an unfortunate and inevitable alternative, Jekyll knew what he had to do in order to rid himself of Hyde and his diabolical ways. This obviously changes him by dying but also right before committing suicide, he understands that what he did by splitting into a good and an evil side was wrong. He also accepts that his efforts to again be normal were just an illusion. These …show more content…

Edward Hyde, a man morbid to look at and impossible to define, is the main antagonist throughout the novel. Described with such words as “hardly human” and “troglodytic”, Hyde commits felonies and sparks curiosity in the public. The conflicts that he starts grow popularity in the town as people now know him as an infamous character. The hardest conflict he creates is with Dr. Jekyll, acting against his good personality with that of his own evil. Since Hyde is only a personification of Jekyll’s worse side, Hyde’s ability to have a conscience is clouded and the only conflicts he faces are external. His appearance and posture set a mood of mystery and corruption. These problems cannot be solved through any means but with the reversal potion of Jekyll’s. The conflicts this very complicated character causes are resolve with the suicide of Dr. Jekyll but in a way Hyde has won by giving Jekyll the only choice of

Get Access