The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

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.

By creating Mr. Hyde as this physically grotesque creature, it enhances the readers understanding of the power of evil. If Dr. Jekyll was only transformed mentally from good to evil, it would not have the same effect as transforming mentally and physically. The physical appearance of Mr. Hyde gave everyone who saw him an instant feeling of foulness and darkness. Dr. Jekyll wrote about his first encounter with Mr. Hyde in the letter he wrote to Mr. Utterson, “It came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter, and younger, that Henry Jekyll. Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other,” (Stevenson. 71). Dr. Jekyll could take one look at Mr. Hyde and know that he was evil. This idea of evil being something that can be observed from ones appearance is not only found in Stevenson’s novel, but also in literature and media across the world. Another prominent example of evil being depicted as ugly is in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. Rowling writes about a group of ghost like creatures that feed on the souls of wizards called

Jekyll. Characters from Jekyll’s society such as Utterson and Enfield form an incorrect judgement of Jekyll because they judge him, because of the fact he is a doctor. This has dire consequences for their society because of Jekyll’s lying and inability to contain Hyde resulting in the subsequent murder of Sir Danvers Carew “and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth”, Hyde breaking out of the bounds of Jekyll and clubbing Carew to death. Later in the novel, Dr. Jekyll says to Mr Utterson “I have really a very great interest in poor Hyde”, obviously Dr. Jekyll is willingly lying to Utterson, not confessing that he is in fact Hyde, and is not the honest man he is perceived to be, manipulating the people of his society by making them believe he is the ‘honest doctor’ they judge him as by first appearance. This occurs similarly, but in the opposite way, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where Frankenstein’s monster is not accepted by others purely because of his appearance. The monster says “I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one expressive of disgust and affright”, showing that he wants to be accepted, but has already been unfairly judged by his society just by first appearance and not because of his kind soul. This judging by first

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

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.

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.

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.

Everybody has two sides, but which do let control you? The good or evil? This was a

In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde becomes Jekyll's demonic, monstrous alter ego. Certainly Stevenson presents him immediately as this from the outset. Hissing as he speaks, Hyde has "a kind of black sneering coolness . . . like Satan". He also strikes those who witness him as being "pale and dwarfish" and simian like. The Strange Case unfolds with the search by the men to uncover the secret of Hyde. As the narrator, Utterson, says, "If he be

This gives the impression that Hyde is a monster than comes out only when it is dark and nobody can see him. Whatever he is, he cannot be called human. In Victorian England, if a person looked ugly, criminal-like or ‘giving an impression of deformity’ they were considered to be ugly and criminal-like inside to. If you imagine a person reading this story when that was what was thought, the description of Mr Hyde would instantly label him as the bad character.

The well-known novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, describes a monster created by science. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion in attempt to isolate the good and evil sides of human nature. When he drinks the concoction, he is transformed into a human with a beastly nature. He becomes all that we can imagine as evil and physically appears just as misshapen. In the narrative we find the ghastly appearance a symbol for something more.

From its inception, the Gothic novel has prominently featured states of entrapment or imprisonment, but has seen a transition from entrapment as a state inflicted by others to a state constructed by the self within a society. The prisons are no longer Gothic dungeons controlled by powerful figures, but have shifted into a state of mind, and thus, the possibility of liberation from entrapment has become destabilised. Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde deals with several layers of entrapment – the physical, psychological and existential – but, unlike earlier Gothic novels, problematizes the possibility of escape as the entrapment has shifted to an internalized force. Henry Jekyll, is imprisoned by the

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

Gain and loss are intimately connected and in a constant struggle for balance. This pair of themes is intertwined through many works of literature, such as, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, and Robert L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each of these works consists of elements of gain and loss that serve a very crucial purpose to both the characters and the plot. For instance in Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde we find that, oftentimes, in order to gain understanding about life, one loses a lot in life. And in The Taming of the Shrew, readers see that someone’s gain can be another’s loss.

Mr. Hyde has disturbing features to portray how