At the end of The Strange Cases of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, it is revealed that Mr. Hyde is actually the evil side of Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Hyde is a separate entity from Dr. Jekyll, though he is innately part of him. In Chapter 10, in Jekyll’s full statement, he states, “The separation of these elements… could be housed in separate identities… and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil…” (Stevenson, p. 60). In the story Dr. Jekyll felt like he was living two lives, so he creates a chemical so that he can live as his evil side separately. Even though he knew that Mr. Hyde would be evil, he created him any way with no fear of the side of him that was pure evil. Being Mr. Hyde made …show more content…
Jekyll has some evil intentions. He believes that he is wise, and does not consider the consequences or repercussions of the action of creating Mr. Hyde. Even once Mr. Hyde begins doing terrible things, Jekyll tolerates it. When Mr. Hyde murderers Sir Danvers Carew, Jekyll feel immediate regret. This should have led him to hand in Mr.Hyde to the police but he does not. This makes him just as guilty as Mr.Hyde for the murder as he allow Mr.Hyde to do it. In Chapter 10, he confesses to the murder and saying that he knew Hyde did it not helping his innocence. Not only should he have handed in Mr. Hyde, he should also be guilty for the crimes that Mr. Hyde has committed. However, Jekyll is able to justify Hyde’s creation in his mind. “Men have before hired bravoes to transact their crimes, while their own person and reputation sat under shelter. I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into the sea of liberty” (Stevenson, p. 63). Dr. Jekyll considered himself a genius for having the ability to separate the two entities of his good and evil
Evil is because there is a constant battle between the two sides. On one side of the debate, some people think that the main theme is not Good vs. Evil because the novel mainly focuses on the evil side of Dr. Jekyll. One cannot deny that Mr. Jekyll's good side is not shown often. Nevertheless, even though the book has a lot to do with Mr. Hyde’s wrong doings, his good side still has to fight for control. For instance, the novel suggests, “I will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.”
Hyde’s appearance suggests, his behavior is also vicious. One night he tramples over a child’s body leaving her screaming and a sight “hellish to see” (Stevenson 3). Another night he breaks out in rage and beats a man to death with his cane for no apparent reason. As opposed to Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde has no conscience; he feels no remorse in his actions. Mr. Hyde is the embodiment of pure evil, which is why no one could recognize that this man is actually the other half of Dr. Jekyll.
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
Questioned for years has been the idea that man is born evil.. It has also been brought up in discussions about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Was Hyde evil because of the potion or was his other persona, Jekyll, evil from birth and that came out through Hyde? This argument will never go away, but the answer is out there. Evil strengthens over time but it is within everyone as soon as they take their first breath of life.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde felt they could choose, between the two, of how they felt, and how they were displayed. Jekyll’s potion resulted in pure evil, rather than good, because he was trying so hard to separate the two, he became more evil, “Enough then, that I not only recognized my natural body from the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug by which these powers should be dethroned from their supremacy, and a second form and countenance substituted, none the less natural to me because they were the expression, and bore the stamp of lower elements in my soul” (43). This quote is a representation of the how Dr. Jekyll took the potion to get out, of Mr. Hyde, but instead it killed him, leaving Mr. Hyde to live. Dr. Jekyll believed that he could choose which one that he could be, even though either way it was not going to turn out how he wanted, “Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them” (48). Dr. Jekyll is explaining that by choosing between the two personalities of him, either way he was not going to what he wanted to be, because it came with consequences to be either person. Also when Dr. Jekyll produced the evil version of himself, he was trying to separate the evil factors, resulting in both success and failure in many ways, “That night I had come to the fatal cross-roads. Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend”(45). These quotes all show the same subjects present, with that being that one cannot separate the differences between good and evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had two different personalities, one, which is being evil, and a killer, the other being, good, and a nice
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.
Dr.Jekyll was a man many people looked up took for his accomplishments and his character. He was tired of having to act a certain way, so he created a potion to develop an evil side of himself. The evil side of Dr.Jekyll was called Mr.Hyde. While Dr.Jekyll was Mr.Hyde, he unleashed all of his anger on the elderly and minors. Mr.Hyde has to take a potion to turn back into Dr.Jekyll every day. It started to become out of control when he woke up as Mr.Hyde. He could not control what he did to himself. Dr.Jekyll’s decision of creating an evil side made him eviler.
In order to make his point more believable, it is important that Jekyll includes a back story explaining exactly why he created Hyde to begin with. Jekyll is an intelligent, well-respected man in his community with large sums of money, yet he turns himself into Hyde, who is hated by nearly everyone upon first-glance. While this is a confusing state of events, Jekyll gives a historical precedent to facilitate his explanation. In the opening of his letter, Jekyll gives an in-depth description of the pressures he faced being born “to a large fortune, endowed besides with excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellow men, and thus, as might have been supposed.” (47). Being born into wealth and respect gave Jekyll no chance to escape societal pressures, which were exceptionally high during the Victorian Era. Jekyll continues by asserting that he “found it hard to reconcile with [his] imperious desire to carry [his] head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. Hence it came about that [he] concealed [his] pleasures.” (48). Jekyll’s conflict between societies expectations and what he really wants to do leads him to find a solution: Hyde. When Jekyll first turns into Hyde, he is in awe because he
Now this story does not follow Dr. Jekyll through his journey of creating his evil alter ego. Moreover he is not even the first initial character that we are introduced to in the novella; we are first introduced to a man named Mr. Utterson. He is actually the lawyer of Dr. Jekyll and he takes an interest in his newfound protégé who is referred to as Mr. Hyde. His negative feelings towards Mr. Hyde, beget a personal investigation into his life and his connection to Dr. Jekyll. Sadly he does not realize the truth behind the mystery of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde till the end of the novella, where he finally discovers the secret from reading Dr. Jekyll’s last words written in a letter addressed to him after Dr. Jekyll’s untimely death.
Throughout the novella there is a constant power struggle between Jekyll and Hyde, which Hyde eventually wins but Jekyll finishes by taking his and his counterpart's life. In the beginning Jekyll is in full control, all he has to do is drink the potion and "Edward Hyde would pass away like a stain of breath upon a mirror". Also another important discovery to know was that in the beginning there was only pain turning into Hyde but as committed more atrocities, Jekyll became more consumed by evil, finding it hard to become himself again. Jekyll soon comes upon the theory that Hyde is smaller in person because Jekyll's evil side has been "less exercised", but as Hyde commits more wrongs his stature becomes stronger. Two weeks before the murder of Sir Danvers, Jekyll is in bed in Sohowhen he falls back to
Despite saying this Jekyll still succumbs to his Id and Hyde is drawn out again. Jekyll knows of the evil that comes out when he transforms into Hyde. Jekyll says “This, as I take it, was because all human beings, as we meet them are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil”(Stevenson 108). Here Jekyll clearly states that he knows Hyde is evil yet he still cannot overpower his Id and then his Superego is overcome. By turning into Hyde, Jekyll feels free and can do whatever he wants without the slightest hesitation. Following his innate desires Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew and tramples a young girl. These actions are done through the Id and even though Jekyll is civilized law abiding man once the Id has taken over and he transforms into Hyde, his dark side is unleashed. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are but one; one body but two conflicting characters, the good and evil.
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 and Mr. Hyde not only conflicting forces but also affected by each other and dual natures. The book is written in only Dr. Jekyll’s perspective, so this paragraph will going to explain about Dr. Jekyll. Existence of Hyde provokes to know him more or to have a hard time (Suffered, wanted to destroy Mr. Hyde). In the story, Mr. Hyde couldn’t control himself and committed a crime. “Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of things; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body.” (Stevenson 3). Through this, Dr. Jekyll was suspected to blackmailed by Mr. Hyde, which decreases his social status and it could bring him big influence during Victorian era. Not only negative effect, but also positive effect exists. For instance, in beginning of the story, Dr. Jekyll has a lot of inner conflict, and due to that conflict, he seems always unorganized. “The thoughts of his mind, besides, were of the gloomiest dye; and when he glanced at the companion of his drive he was conscious of some touch of that terror of the law and the law’s officers which may at times assail the most honest.” (Stevenson 22). The narrator reveals this in chapter ‘The Carew murder
Though Jekyll is fully responsible for his behavior and actions, Hyde is not. While Jekyll has the option to do good or evil, Hyde is completely focused on evil as this was the intent of the transformation. The fact that Jekyll chose to create a potion to bring forth Hyde rather than bringing forth someone who was concentrated on pure good shows that Even a respectable man such as Jekyll had unconscious urges to do bad. “If he had “approached [his] discovery in a more noble spirit,” willing the good to overpower the evil, he would have “come forth an angel instead of a fiend”. Hyde on the other hand has no choice other than to do evil, and therefore it is arguable whether he should really be blamed for his actions.
Hyde. In this way, Jekyll becomes monstrous himself as he wishes to pass on his evil parts into another person. Jekyll’s concoction is a threat to cultural morals and values as it enables someone to set evil free. Consequently, there is no obligation and interest in adhering to any moral standards. In the end, he is a split person, one-half is represented by Jekyll and the other one by Hyde. Stevenson used the different standpoints in the story to create the feeling that Jekyll and Hyde are two different individuals: “‘The Master Hyde, if he were studied,’ thought he [Utterson],’must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekyll’s worst would be like sunshine.” (Stevenson 22). Thus, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story where the line blurs. As Hyde and Jekyll are one and the same person, the reader realises that they together are both moral and immoral and both good and