Jekyll And Hyde Essay

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.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one long social commentary. One of its main themes is breaking down the façade of perfection created by the upper class, and examining what lies underneath. In fact, the whole story is about a man in high society, whose private life is rather an opposite of his public one. In Dr. Jekyll’s letter, Stevenson writes, “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold slave to my original evil… I was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature,” (Stevenson page 2273). The idea of a “loss in stature” holds a double meaning. Stature, meaning size, can allude to Hyde’s height which is understood to be much less than Jekyll’s own. Yet, stature, meaning stance in society, can also imply that Jekyll, when transformed, no longer hold’s his prominence in his culture. This speaks to the Victorian society’s habit of only portraying the high society as impeccable which Stevenson battles throughout this mysterious case. Another parallel of appearance is described by Nabokov as he states, “The relations of the two are typified by Jekyll’s house, which is half Jeykyll and half Hyde,” (Nabokov 186). The side facing the street filled with others in the upper class is neat, tidy, and welcoming; this is Jekyll’s half. The side facing a dimmer and more dangerous street is dark, looming, and mysterious; similar to Hyde’s

Jekyll talks about the years before the creation of the potion that transforms him into Hyde. He summarises his finding of the dual nature, human beings are half good and half evil. Jekyll’s goal in his experiments is to separate two opposite elements, creating a person with only good characteristics and a being of only evil. He does this because he wants to free his good side from dark urges. He fails this experiment, in fact he only manages to create a whole evil person ‘Mr Hyde’. In the letter, Jekyll says ‘I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man . . . if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.’ The events of the novel inform the reader that the dark side (Hyde) is much stronger than the rest of Jekyll, this is why Hyde is able to take over Jekyll. This letter is really important for the reader so that the whole novel is understood. A lot of horror is created and it is all quiet in the reader's mind. The reader feels horrified by the way in which Jekyll seems to love and care for Hyde. Jekyll’s words make the reader angry that a man who was so good could enjoy becoming so

When the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert L. Stevenson and the play, Trifles by Susan Glaspell were written both literary pieces dealt in depravity. The two main genres engage in violent acts with no remorse. Both genres reveal emotional turmoil, that’s the battle within their mind and soul, taken pleasure in immoral behaviors. Although The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Trifles are genres depicting male and female depravity, they are alike and different in social issues, such as violence, murder and justice for all.

     Jekyll is tempted to do bad things and he uses Hyde to overcome his temptations. Jekyll gets his satisfaction of doing bad deeds by becoming Hyde. Jekyll says “If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way” (Page 105). He states that he wants to do bad things but knowing he cant and still live the life he has, he uses Hyde as an escape from his temptations. Once Jekyll is able to control his temptations but still do bad as Mr. Hyde he says “I felt younger, lighter, happier in the body” (Page 106) Mr. Hyde is Jekyll’s way of escaping his sophisticated lifestyle and entering a totally separate way of life. Jekyll then didn’t feel any guilt for Hyde’s actions.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll’s id is Mr. Hyde. As stated in an outside source, “A study in dualism: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Mr. Hyde would seem easily recognizable as the id, seeking instant gratification, having an aggressive instinct, and having no moral or social mores that need be followed,” (Singh and Chakrabarti 13). Mr. Hyde as seen multiple times throughout the novel, expresses one of the components of the id mentioned in the quotation. One example showing how he lives by no morals or values is when he kill Sir Danvers Carew. Hyde beat him to death out of impulse when he passed him late at night on the street. This murder also represents how Mr. Hyde shows aggression. Instant gratification is seen towards the end of the novel. In chapter 10 Jekyll says “My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring,” (Stevenson 92). Hyde could not withhold being repressed anymore and breaks out without Dr. Jekyll’s potion. He does this because he is looking for pleasure. This relates to Freud’s pleasure principle where it is Hyde’s instinct to transform to be

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

In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two." So, in Jekyll's view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Jekyll's case, his good side is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him, but at the end of the book his evil side becomes stronger and unstoppable. However, as a respectable member of society and an honorable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and free his evil characteristics. Unfortunately, rather than separating these forces of good and evil, Jekyll's potion only allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil, so there is never a way to strengthen or separate Jekyll's pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever had.

Because of his repressive personality, which also has no sexual response to women. Dr. Jekyll creates a drug-induced other half. In effect, he separates mind from body. Hyde, the physical personification of everything sensual, is often described encircled in darkness. This leaves his actions open to be imagined by the reader. This second personality, Mr. Hyde, is the "immoral son" (Stevenson,115) of Jekyll, the amalgamation of every fantasy that society is afraid to own up to.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, highlights the actions of a monster name Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is a reflection of the evil side of every man that indulges in his darkest desires. Stevenson writes, “He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth.

This novel can be interpreted in many different ways; from the duality of human nature to the loss of control of many things, such as loss of judgment and moral control which plays a huge role in this novel. Dr. Jekyll has the power to have two personalities because of this concoction, and he is fully capable of control his evil side but I don’t believe he wants to completely at first. Yes there is a clear difference between the two characters Dr. Jekyll obviously has a better demeanor and doesn’t commit horrid acts when he is playing this person; however, they are one person. (NCBI) This novel is interesting in the fact the main character transformation is clearly depicted Dr. Jekyll is described as this tall handsome, middle-aged, successful man while Mr. Hyde is described as short, fat, angry man who no one liked. Jekyll and Hyde communicate by writing letters or notes to one another which helps predict what is going to happen next when the next

Being yourself and living your life to the fullest always results in happiness. In the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson is about a psychopath. Dr. Jekyll drink a potion to become someone else, which bring problems throughout the story. Furthermore, Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde never feel guilty of anything. The role of mind is something that Freud repeatedly talked about because he believed that the mind is responsible for both conscious and unconscious decisions based on drives and forces.

Doubleness in gothic literature often explores the duality of humanity. It asks whether there was inherent goodness and evil within a person. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson engages with the idea of an individual being comprised of two separate entities—a double in one body—the evil Mr. Hyde and the good Dr. Jekyll. This split person of Jekyll and Hyde talks back to the optimistic ideas about humanity, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. He writes in his address “The American Scholar” that “They did not yet see... that, if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him”. However, in Stevenson’s novel, the world does not “come round to him” in Jekyll’s pursuit to a better self by indulging in his worse self, instead he was consumed by his own evil and harms others in the world. In Stevenson’s language, he continually emphasizes the advancement of self by using terms like “prison-house of [Jekyll’s] disposition” that encapsulates the inner turmoil Dr. Jekyll faces because of Mr. Hyde’s horrifying actions (1678). In this paper, I will argue that Jekyll’s inability to indulge into his darker desires without any stain on his consciousness is merely an illusion. Dr. Jekyll believes his “instincts” will stay grounded within himself when in reality, he is unable to maintain his status in upper society and thus he succumbs to Mr. Hyde’s reckless freedom. Not only does this reflect the

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This novel is more than just a traditional horror story as it has many hidden and complex meanings and explanations, of what seem and would have normally before this book, been simple events. Stevenson has very strong opinions and some are expressed in the book. A traditional horror story would either be a super natural

The book of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was written nearly over a century ago. The fictional novella was written the year of 1885 in England, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The author wrote a gothic mystery story, told by a narrator that follows Mr. Utterson’s point of view. Mr. Utterson is the attorney of Dr. Jekyll, and his point of view comes from the outside of the home. Stevenson accomplished tremendous success, ensuring his fame as a writer for his previous works and, for “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Moreover, decades later, a successful writer known as Valerie Martin wrote the novel “Mary Reilly”. Author Valerie Martin’s ‘Mary Reilly’ is retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ from the trusted housemaid, living in the home. The books have different insights, but also similarities. These stories portray a good and evil character, who lives a double life. Stevenson and Martin distinguish distinctive perspectives in each book; in addition, the loyalty the narrators acquire to Dr. Jekyll is described through their characterization.