Summary Of The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Utterson

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.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. It concerns a lawyer, Gabriel Utterson, who investigates the strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the reclusive Mr. Edward Hyde. This novel represents an ideology in Western culture; the perpetual conflict between humanity’s virtuosity and immorality. It is interpreted as an accurate guidebook to the Victorian era’s belief of the duality of human nature. This essay will explore Mr. Edward Hyde and whether Stevenson intended for him to be a mere character in the novel or something of wider significance.

Everyone has to deal with some sort of temptations in their lives. Usually temptations are negative, but they may differ depending on the person. Some people may not like to admit this but everyone has a dark side and sometimes it shows. A person needs to let out some darkness at some points in their lives because nobody should bottle their emotions up. One man’s dark temptations are looked at in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. In this novel, it starts out introducing Mr.Utterson who is a lawyer. He is walking with his cousin Mr. Enfield and they find a door which leads them to a house. Mr. Enfield starts telling a story and that is how Mr.Hyde and Dr.Jekyll are introduced. “ All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at a corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (Stevenson 9). Mr. Utterson becomes curious as to who the person was and after doing some investigating he discovers that Dr.Jekyll is Mr.Hyde. Dr.Jekyll wanted a way to let out the bad that he had inside of him, but he didn 't want anyone to see him differently. He decided to make a potion, and when he drank the potion he would turn into Mr.Hyde.

In the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes how secrecy is used to protect one’s self-image and ensure no destructive secrets of one’s past become public knowledge. In the book, the plot is constantly driven forward by deceit; Mr. Utterson does not know the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and he wants to find out. Secrecy is one of the main themes in the book as it constantly surrounds the character of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll's personality is serious and never unusual or abnormal, however his true repressed personality is revealed in the form of Mr. Hyde. This suggests that Stevenson is trying to show man’s repressed, inner nature, and how all men have aspects of their being of which they are ashamed and

In the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, readers are shown the contrast between one’s personal desires and public desires or one’s good side and evil side. These are the things that help stimulate the psychological development of a person and are what keeps us humans balanced, personality wise. However, when one denies the significance of this by repressing them, things can definitely go wrong. Readers can apply this knowledge into one of the major characters, Dr. Henry Jekyll, who finds the need to repress his darker side due to fear of crossing social expectations. Upon doing so, Jekyll slowly becomes selfish, and full of pride. Also, the purpose of the potion he creates to help him transform into his evil doppelganger , Mr. Hyde, ultimately fails when he finds himself having to repress Hyde as well. Lastly, Jekyll’s repression also leads to the unfortunate end of the book, the disappearance both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Therefore, through Dr. Jekyll’s character, Stevenson proves that repressing emotions or desires does not make them fade away; they will eventually come up again stronger than before and can dominate a person completely.

Every story needs a good villain. Villains and heroes are often portrayed in media as being very black and white, but in reality people are much more complex than that. Robert Louis Stevenson does a good job in portraying the complexity of human nature in his books, especially in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. The former is about a lawyer named Mr. Utterson seeking out the truth of Dr. Jekyll’s very strange will. He finds out that Jekyll was transforming himself into Mr. Hyde so that he could have the freedom to do whatever he wanted no matter how evil. By the time Utterson finds all this out and findsJekyll, he is too late and Jekyll has already killed himself. The latter is about David Balfour and his journey to take his rightful inheritance from his villainous uncle Ebenezer. Along the way he meets Alan, who is a highlander obsessed with vengeance. They help each other grow to be better people, and in the end, with the help of Alan, David reclaims what is rightfully his. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped, Stevenson explores the characters´ villainous deeds and the philosophy that humans have two natures.

Utterson, Lanyon, Enfield, Jekyll... one of these does not belong. Clearly, within the context of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry Jekyll struggles to fit himself into the strict Victorian society. In the events leading to his demise, he longs to separate his firm, polished face from his true inner self; from here, Stevenson paints this juxtaposition with the use of several point-of-view techniques. When Utterson, the protagonist, “[stands] a while when Mr. Hyde had left him... putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity” (Stevenson 19), he clearly becomes the literal center of attention for the story’s opinions and perspectives. Rather than giving an omniscient style to the novel, Stevenson provides an external viewpoint in order to engage his audience. The use of point-of-view techniques in Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reinforces the audience’s reaction to the story’s moral dilemma.

Stevenson created the character of Utterson as a neutral base for the whole story; much like the table on which the dinner is served. But in the chapter of The Last Night, the table creates suspense too. Because the story is seen through the eyes of Utterson, the reader feel what he feels, so when he gets scared, the reader feels the same. When he is told not to go into the room that Jekyll is supposedly locked in,

Initially, Utterson comes off as having a dull and shy personality, which is quite contradicting to his career as being a prestigious lawyer. Although, upholding a law degree promised the confidentiality of all of Mr. Utterson’s cases. “For he was undemonstrative at the best and even his friendships seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature” (1780). He believed that it is not a moral thing to talk about others behind their back. In addition, Enfield and Utterson’s conversation in the exposition of the novel illustrated the strict suppression everyone had to constantly obey: “He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years” (1780). Stevenson emphasized that you need to “play by the book”. This is important that the desire to preserve social reputation keeps us from doing these disgraceful things too much. Although, Utterson would love to engage in a casual drink as well as attend a theatre performance, but he cannot because of the respectable reputation he needs to constantly maintain. Ultimately, they are expected to hide and conceal their bad habits from the rest of the society, which shows that human nature has two sides to everyone.

During the latter portion of the nineteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson published his novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The fin de siècle saw the rise of different thoughts and ideas surrounding science and society. These concepts and interpretations sparked the discourse surrounding the theory of degeneration; which was the concern that civilization would fall to a lower state of being. This chapter will be reading multiplex personality as a manifestation of this broader cultural fear. Stevenson’s story played upon the changes society was facing during this time and the interest in scientific explanations for mental illness. He creates the character of Dr Jekyll, a scientist who invents a potion to unlock his inner,

Being a purveyor of the law, he is in the position to oversee many "downgoing men" (Stevenson 1) and functions as an inspirational example of the refinement attributed to the upper class of which he is a member.  However, Mr. Utterson is troubled when Dr. Jekyll, also a member of the upper class, wills his property to a then-unknown Mr. Hyde.  He is "offended ...both as a lawyer and as a lover of the sane and customary sides of life, to whom the fanciful is immodest" (6).  Utterson does not, however, pry into the affair until the inheritor is described as monstrous.  This further demonstrates his sense of social obligation.  Before hearing the story that Mr. Hyde trampled a young girl, Utterson is able to restrain his first impression of Dr. Jekyll's decree; but upon hearing the reputable account, he can no longer ignore his sense of social and moral obligation to make things right.  Utterson suspects that blackmail is the reason for the atypical will, and whether for the purpose of legitimizing the monstrous story or having a primary account of Mr. Hyde, he seeks out this character before confronting his client, Dr. Jekyll.

As Robert Grudin said in _______, “there is an almost tragic duality between outer and inner worlds, between the rush of experience and the immobility of awareness”. Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, brilliantly exemplifies the philosophical phenomenon that is the duality of human nature through the 2 main characters that coexist interdependently together, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. According to Webster’s dictionary, the duplicity of human beings is based on the contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; the quality or state of being twofold. Stevenson’s novel touches upon a variety of factors and concerns, one of which being the duplicity of man. The subject is articulated through the exploration of comparing and contrasting opposites; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s physical attributes, their mentalities/personalities, and finally, the manner by which their environmental surroundings aid in contrasting their characterizations.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. The novel is set in Victorian England and follows a man by the name Dr. Jekyll, a respected doctor. Dr. Jekyll is a revered man in society and has every intention of remaining that way. However, one day he goes too far with one of his experiments and he creates a draught that unleashes a split personality within him. This personality goes by the name of Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll does not seek a cure at first because he enjoys having an outlet for all of his desires that are deemed unacceptable by society. Hyde commits evil deeds, such as murdering an old man and trampling a young girl, which Dr. Jekyll could never normally let himself go through with. Dr. Jekyll believes that he can remain a good, reputable man even when a part of him is doing wrong. However, he soon learns that this is impossible. Soon after, Dr. Jekyll loses control over his ability to transform into Mr. Hyde. At first, he would only change during the night. Then, he started transforming during the day as well. Dr. Jekyll finally admits that the problem is starting to get out of control. However, he cannot create a remedy any longer. Dr. Jekyll is eventually completely overtaken by Mr. Hyde and the reader does not hear from him again. In this novel, Dr. Jekyll illustrates the duality of human nature through his struggle to choose between good versus evil, societal expectations versus unacceptable desires, and

In addition to this, his character is said to be ‘undemonstrative at the best’ which reinforces that Mr Utterson does not tend to express his feelings. However, Stevenson goes on to write that Mr Utterson ‘At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye’ which changes the readers view on him completely, and illustrates a scene of which, ‘a man of a rugged countenance’ is amongst the life of the party. Furthermore, Stevenson continues to shed Mr Utterson’s negative light in the second paragraph; calling him a ‘modest man’ and someone with ‘good-nature’.

Utterson is what would be considered as the perfect European gentleman. A prominent lawyer who was well respected in his community and is now trying to protect his long-term friend, Jekylls’ reputation from the mysterious Mr. Hyde. There are few instances in the novel when Mr. Utterson is taking walks with Mr. Enfield, but they do not gossip, or otherwise speak ill of those closest to either of them, especially Utterson, as if they were of blood relation.[5] Although he investigates what seems to be an unrealistic series of events, he chooses to not believe it and to continue looking for an explanation. And just as Utterson avoids the reality of what he may have discovered, as inconceivable as it may be, so too does European society prefer to deny the existence of an uncivilized acts of inhumanity, no matter how essential these acts may be.[6]