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The Importance Of Knowledge In The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

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Humanity revolves around the basis of one concept: knowledge. The acquisition of knowledge has driven humanity’s progress and will continue to propel man into new heights. There comes a point where the want for knowledge becomes dangerous. The novelette, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, tells the tale of a man meddling in the affairs of another, who dwells in macabre, in order to gain insight. Man lives for knowledge, but sometimes it is that knowledge that quenches man’s ability to live. The saying goes: curiosity killed the cat, but how far does that cat have to go to meet his maker, and was it worth it? The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde explores the human desire for knowledge as Mr. Utterson, the protagonist in the this Victorian tale, scrounges the streets of London for a morsel of information concerning Mr. Hyde, the antagonist. When Mr. Utterson converses with his friend, Enfield, he pesters him with questions: “‘There’s one point I want to ask: I want to ask the name of that man who walked over the child’”(5). Even during the witching hour, Enfield’s narrative haunts Utterson as “the tale went by his mind in a scroll of lighted pictures” (9). Mr. Utterson ‘s inquiries overtake him as he hunts for Hyde. After laborious searching for the infamous Mr. Hyde, Utterson finally finds him, and he ”stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed. ‘Mr. Hyde I think?’”(10) Over the course of two chapters, this Victorian epic trods into the human

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