In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the main character Dr. Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor who experiments to separate his good and evil sides from each other. Dr. Jekyll eventually runs out of the contaminated potion and his evil side takes over. In The Monkey’s Paw the White family takes possession of a monkey’s paw that had a spell put on it granting three men three wishes. After not knowing what to wish for and the urging of his wife and son, Mr. White makes his wishes and realizes there are consequences for his choices. In The Demon Lover the character Mrs. Drover goes back to her old house in London to transfer items to her new home. She finds a mysterious letter and realizes she never knew her former fiancé completely and is terrified for the day she would see his face. While she was on the way back to her current home, she gets abducted by a taxi driver who she recognizes as the soldier she said goodbye to twenty five years ago. In The Possibility of Evil, the main character is an old lady who sends letters to clean her town of evil and eventually gets caught. The novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the short stories The Monkey’s Paw written by W.W. Jacobs, The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen, and The possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson all have characters who experience a downfall because of a tragic flaw.
In the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the well-known and well liked doctor in London does not want to ruin his respected reputation with the satisfying wrongdoings of his other side. Dr. Jekyll wanted his two identities to be separated so that “the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleas...
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...use of her passion of keeping the world free of evil. In the world today there are many cases of people who do not get help when they might have PTSD until they have already hurt others. When any event causes the sufferer to remember the feelings associated with how they felt during the event that caused them to have post traumatic stress disorder, their rage could get hard to control if they do not get the help they need. In these characters and every human in real life, there is good and there is bad. Jekyll did not want to be caught being a criminal, the Whites’ tried to be sensible about their wishes but still took a wish they did not need, Mrs. Drover feared and worried too much, and Miss Strangeworth did not mind her own business. We as humans judge others, worry too much about not so important things, do bad sometimes, but we can also choose to do good.
Texts are a representation of their context and this is evident in Robert Stevenson’s novella: “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, where many values of late nineteenth century Victorian England values were reflected through the themes of the novel using language and structural features. These values included: technological advances, reputation and masculinity and are demonstrated in the text through literary and structure devices as well as the characterisation of the main character.
Despite being published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson remains to be recognized and referred to as one of the initial studies of the duality of human nature and mans struggle between two natural forces – good and evil. The story takes place during the Victorian Era in which society is already somewhat constrained and cruel and explores the human struggle between being civilized and facing the more primitive aspects to our being. According to author Irving S Saposnik, “Henry Jekyll’s experiment to free himself from the burden of duality results in failure because of his moral myopia, because he is a victim of society’s standards even while he would be free of them.” Henry Jekyll, an English doctor faces duality when he comes into battle with his darker side. Creating a personification under the name of Edward Hyde in order to fulfill his desires, Dr. Jekyll feels as if he will be able to control the face that he wants seen to public vs. the one in which he wants to keep more private. “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me, and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (10.1) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about how people are scared to acknowledge personal duality so they keep silent and in this case, create a personification in order to fulfill evil desires without thinking through the consequences of such actions.
As Jekyll reached adult hood, he found himself living a dual life. He had become more curious in discovering his other side. Jekyll insists, “Man is not truly one, but truly two” (125). This eventually led Jekyll into the scientific interests of separating his good and evil side, and he finds a chemical concoction that transforms him into a more wicked man, Edward Hyde. At first, Hyde was of pure impulse, but in the end, he became dominate and took control over Jekyll. Jekyll had never intended to hurt anyone, but he was aware that something could potentially go wrong. Jekyll presumes, “I knew well that I risked death, for any drug that so potently shook the very fortress of identity… utterly blot that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change” (127-129). One could say this makes Jekyll equally as menacing as Hyde. Jekyll couldn’t control the imbalance between the two natures. Jekyll foolishly allowed his evil side to flourish and become stronger. This is shown when Jekyll has awoken to find that he has turned into Hyde without taking the solution. Jekyll says, “But the hand in which I now saw, clearly enough in the yellow light of a mid- London morning…It was the hand of Edward Hyde” (139).
The character, Jekyll/Hyde, from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Lewis Stevenson, and the characters Bartholomew and Thaddeus Sholto from A Study in Scarlet and Sign of Four, written by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, exhibit dual-self characteristics. The Jekyll/Hyde and Sholto twin characters have many strong similarities as well as distinct but related differences. Interestingly, many of the areas of differences are ultimately the most vital aspects of the characters.
In many countries, drugs are becoming more common. In the history of the US, drug abuse and drugs have a long history. Nowadays, people are so much into drugs. Most drugs affect the brain and drug uses are harmful. Every society and every family has been touched by the devastating effects of drug addiction. Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story of a doctor who discovers a drug that can release the evil side of a person. This book is connected to Robert Downey Jr. He was a drug addict. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the current drug addiction of Robert Downey Jr are connected by different personalities, mental illness, and brutality.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author Robert Louis Stevenson uses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to show the human duality. Everyone has a split personality, good and evil. Stevenson presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as two separate characters, instead of just one. Dr. Jekyll symbolizes the human composite of a person while Mr. Hyde symbolizes the absolute evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who are indeed the same person, present good and evil throughout the novel.
In Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll expresses his transition into evil when he states, “My good self and my evil sel were fighting for my mind and body and my evil self was winning” ( 63). In The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Hyde people learn that their life is very valuable. Dr.Jekyll is a respected scientist that enjoys the concept of separating himself into a different person. Dr.Jekyll changes physically, mentally, battles his split personality, and crosses over into and finishes his transition from man to evil.
To summarize, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a metaphorical looking glass into the duality of human nature. In the words of Romeo and Juliet’s Friar Lawrence, “Two such opposèd kings encamp them still/ In man as well as herbs—grace and rude will” (II iii 28-29). In everyone, there is good and evil, a Jekyll and Hyde. The decision is who will be allowed to take control. Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel helps the reader to better understand the duality of human nature through Jekyll’s fascinating tale, and the true meaning behind the story that makes the reader sit back and reflect makes the story a timeless piece of literature.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “It is much easier to suppress a first desire than it is to satisfy those that follow.” This is certainly true in the situation of Dr. Jekyll, as the temptation of becoming Mr. Hyde becomes stronger as he continually surrenders to the wickedness that is constantly misleading him. Mr. Hyde is never contented, even after murdering numerous innocents, but on the contrary, his depravity is further intensified. The significance of the repression of a desire is a prevalent theme throughout the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, as the inability to repress one’s curiosity can lead to a fatal end, whereas the repression of a desire that can no longer contain itself, or the repression of confronting a guilty conscience, will conclude in a tragic ending and in this case specifically,
To start off with, although most of the social codes in the Victorian era that surround Dr. Jekyll are supportive, he had to find a way to hide his malevolent desires. Dr. Jekyll is a chemist who discovered a way to transform himself to a new person who is known as Hyde. He experiences freedom when he transforms into Mr. Hyde and can still maintain his reputation as a good guy while on the other hand indulge into his pleasures as wicked murderer, “I would still
“We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on – that’s who we really are.” In Harry Potter, the theme of light and dark plays a large part in the plot; so does the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Would the main character of the latter book agree with this? It would be half and half.
Within the text of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays a complex power struggle between Dr. Jekyll, a respected individual within Victorian London society, and Mr. Hyde a villainous man tempted with criminal urges, fighting to take total control of their shared body. While Dr. Jekyll is shown to be well-liked by his colleagues, Mr. Hyde is openly disliked by the grand majority of those who encounter him, terrified of his frightful nature and cruel actions. Throughout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson portrays the wealthy side of London, including Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, as respected and well-liked, while showing the impoverish side as either non-existent or cruel.
The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a confusing and perplexing one. R.L. Stevenson uses the devices of foreshadow and irony to subtly cast hints to the reader as to who Mr. Hyde is and where the plot will move. Stevenson foreshadows the events of the book through his delicate hints with objects and words. Irony is demonstrated through the names of characters, the names display to the reader how the character will fit into the novel. These two literary devices engage the readers; they employ a sense of mystery while leading the readers to the answer without them realizing the depth of each indirect detail.
In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A novel about the struggle between impulses and choices. By looking at The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one can see that Robert Louis Stevenson included the theme of good vs. evil because he struggled with his own inner demons.
Jekyll is given as a respected man raised in a wealthy family. During the era, people are meant to be well-mannered and polite without any sign or thinking of violence and crime; however, Dr. Jekyll secretly has a desire to perform evil. Conflicted with the ideal of society, he has repressed his emotion through many years and eventually he decided to conceal his pressure as he said, “And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (48) From this quote, Dr. Jekyll discloses that he’s not desired to be cheerful, as many do, and decides to fake his pressure in front of the public eyes. After many years, he then realizes he was only hiding his true emotion. Eventually, to resolve his situation, he is inspired to create a potion that could transform himself to Mr. Hyde that could free him from the struggle between protecting his reputation and following his emotion and