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Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Research Paper

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The book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, a book that tackles the interesting concept of duality in personality, poses an interesting question. “Should Dr. Jekyll be held responsible for the crimes of Mr. Hyde?” Dr. Jekyll should most definitely be held responsible for the crimes of Mr. Hyde, but should not necessarily be punished for them. The reasons for this begin with Dr. Jekyll’s lack of direct control of Mr. Hyde’s actions, and cannot be seen as anything more than “guilty by association”. Secondly, Dr. Jekyll has a claim to plead insanity. Some might argue that Mr. Hyde’s existence is Dr. Jekyll’s fault, drawing the conclusion that Hyde’s actions are a direct result of Jekyll’s. While this may be true, Dr. Jekyll had no inclination or reason to believe the situation would fall out of his control, and no way to stop Mr. Hyde - the only way to assess this …show more content…

People who actually suffer from mental disorders that cause them to split personalities are the only real-life comparison there is for the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These people are often taken into custody but instead of given strict prison sentences as a punishment, they are often treated in locked down wards. Certainly, due to Dr. Jekyll’s mental state, his conscious good intentions, and his responsible but not guilty position, he should be treated similarly. Dr. Jekyll should be given the responsibility for the actions of Mr. Hyde, by repairing preventing further damage, and also be prevented from using the draught in the future (unfortunately due to the fact that Dr. Jekyll was beginning to transform without the draught, he might need to be taken into custody temporarily). This is the only reasonable way to solve the problem posed by the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis

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