Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two personalities within one person. The two personalities are physically, mentally, and morally different from each other. They also share some similarities because they are one man. The two share a common body that each personality and shape comes from, and they share a common memory. Dr. Jekyll is a “tall, fine build of a man” (Stevenson p 45), and he is about 50 years old. When Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion, he transforms into Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is younger than Jekyll, has a dwarfish appearance, and an unpleasant grin (Stevenson p 18). People who try to describe Mr. Hyde say he has a “haunting sense of unexpressed deformity” (Stevenson p 28). Mr. Hyde’s short body type and unpleasant looks represent the part of Dr. Jekyll that is pleasure-seeking and reckless. It is a smaller part of himself that is in conflict with the moral, honorable side of himself. …show more content…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both intelligent and clever. They are really sharing one brain and one memory (Stevenson p 70). Dr. Jekyll is clever. He tells lies and writes notes when needed in order to “hide” Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is equally clever. He is able to react to issue that arise, such as needing to write to Lanyon in Dr. Jekyll’s handwriting to get help (Stevenson p 74). They have differences, however, in how they process the world. Dr. Jekyll, in conversation, is polite, friendly, and enjoys being social. He is educated and well-respected (Stevenson p 70). He is unhappy, however, because he feels torn between being honorable and his desire to seek pleasures and be reckless. He doesn’t like to feel guilt and shame (Stevenson p 62). His brain struggles with this, and it is why he creates a potion that can separate out the two parts of his being. Mr. Hyde, in conversation, is self-centered, impatient, and rude (Stevenson p 23). He is annoyed easily, and he lashes out at anyone in his
Imagine having two people living in one body. One might be more powerful than the other. For Dr. Jekyll, he is a well-respected man around town, but wants a change in his life. Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s other half that does many crimes throughout the story. There is a mystery the entire time until the end. In the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson; Dr. Jekyll changes into Mr. Hyde by drinking a potion that he has made himself. Mr. Hyde has many traits that differ from Dr. Jekyll, including being ugly, wicked, and ape-like.
In the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the two main characters could not be any different. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a well respected doctor, and is well established in the community. He lives in a beautiful mansion, is nicely dressed. He is known for his decency and charitable works. Jekyll did admit to having a dark side, which he was not proud of. He began to experiment with ways to release his dark side from himself. This experimentation would eventually lead to his friends and colleagues disassociating themselves from him. When a longtime friend and medical colleague, Dr. Lanyon was asked about his current relationship with Dr. Jekyll, he stated, "But it is more than ten years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man. Such unscientific balderdash," added the doctor, flushing suddenly
Dr. Jekyll wants to live two lives, so he creates a potion to create Hyde, a purely evil, dwarfish, ugly, devilish form of himself that allows him to run around and create chaos without getting caught and ruining his real reputation. Dr. Jekyll has been using Hyde to do things he never could in his own skin, but when Jekyll starts taking advantage of his his new self, Hyde starts to take over. “this incoherency of [Jekyll's] life was daily growing more unwelcome. It was on this side that [his] new power tempted [him] until [he]
If Hyde has been described as Hyde "savage, uncivilized, and given to passion…poorly evolved" (Shubh), then perhaps he represents the true, original nature of man, repressed by society, norms, and conscience. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde suggests that this restrained, amoral side of human nature, once given a chance to escape, cannot be controlled. Even in this 'height of western civilization', Victorian England, this tempting evil can overcome even the most virtuous of men. Jekyll is neither good nor bad, but a man whose deeply repressed urges motivated him to separate, but not remove, the evil parts of his nature. There is a misinterpretation that Hyde is an unwanted byproduct of trying to create pure good, that Jekyll is not in control as Hyde, and that Jekyll doesn't enjoy being Hyde. In fact, Jekyll loves being Hyde, he revels in the freedom that he brings him (Stevenson 54), but the problems with his dual personality starts when he has to face the consequences of his actions. Jekyll has a difficult time balancing Hyde's debaucheries and Jekyll's rational, refined side. However, Jekyll realizes too late that he has indulged in Hyde too much and has let him grow out of control. At the beginning of the novel, Hyde was the “smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll” (Stevenson 57). His more youthful appearance represents how young and free Jekyll feels as Hyde, but also symbolizes how little his personality was seen before Jekyll drank his potion. Early in the novel, Hyde is easily controlled, Jekyll can use his potion to limit how often he transforms into Hyde (Stevenson 56). However, as he starts to morph back and forth, it starts to take more and more potion to control the switches until
In the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, are mentally very different. Dr. Jekyll is a man who is well liked in his community, and is regarded as a good doctor. He helps with charities, and has many friends. Jekyll is intelligent, and well spoken. Mr. Hyde is just the opposite. He is mentally unstable, has a violent streak, and is not friendly or sociable. Most people that know Dr. Jekyll are quite confused by the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde. They are so extremely different mentally that it does not seem likely that the two would be friends.
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
The dual character combination of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the most well-known in literature and is arguably the most blatant example of duality Stevenson uses to try and get the theme of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde across. The dual personalities Dr. Jekyll possesses are stark examples of the animalistic and civilized sides of man that inherently resides in all men. The virtuous Dr. Jekyll serves as a portrayal of the more rational, human side of man. When Mr. Utterson attends Dr. Jekyll’s dinner party he paints a picture of a quintessential Victorian man when describing Jekyll’s appearance, “well
In the beginning u could be live that these two are two different people with two different personalities. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are very different but there is one thing that makes them alike in a way. Mr. Hyde is just always a jerk all the time, but Dr. Jekyll has a dark side to him it its very had to get to but it will come out if he pushed to his limits.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the two main characters, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde are depicted as contrasting and opposing in personality. In the opening chapters of the novella, Mr. Hyde is portrayed as the epitome of evil, while Henry Jekyll is seen to be genial and kind. Throughout the novella, each character develops and changes; Hyde is perceived to become more evil, while Jekyll to become weaker, distancing himself from his once close friends. In the final chapter of the novella, Jekyll’s personal testimony, when Dr. Jekyll is on his deathbed, he reveals his connection to Mr. Hyde. As the characters change throughout the novella, Stevenson slowly reveals their personalities to the unsuspecting Victorian reader.
Mr. Hyde expresses the fact that he has all of the evil impulses. Jekyll always had and regretted, but the difference is Hyde acted on them where Jekyll did not. Like when Hyde tramples on the little girl on purpose. Jekyll tries be good and refrains from his evil impulses. This is expressed in the quote “I let my brother go to the devil in his own way” said by Dr. Jekyll.
Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Robert Hyde are two very different personalities that are meshed into one, forever changing body. Dr. Jekyll has the personality of a gentle, caring soul; while Mr. Hyde is a mean, evil and cruel troll. As the story progresses on, Dr. Jekyll begins to lose what he was once able to control—Mr. Hyde. The personality and appearance of Mr. Hyde becomes too powerful for Dr. Jekyll to control and eventually, Dr. Jekyll loses himself altogether leaving only Mr. Hyde to be found.
Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde share many similarities and many differences. For example they share similarities and differences in mental, physical, and especially moral. These two men are not two separate people they are the same person.
The shared theme of doppelgangers and split personality is prominent in both stories. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde features a man named Henry Jekyll who has created a way to separate
Physically they both are very different. Dr. Jekyll is about fifty years old, he is large, tall, and has no facial hair ("smooth-faced"). Mr. Hyde has gnarled hands and is very short. He acts very vigorously. Even his face looks completely different from Dr. Jekyll.
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