In horror fiction, you usually see a monster as something big, ugly, maybe even slimy. Another common form of monsters in fiction are vampires, aliens, zombies, ghosts, etc. How the monster is presented changes everything in the story. It changes how the main character will react and deal with the monster, or how he may overcome it. However, when it comes to the monster’s gender, it is a different story. Most of the works that we have read in this section contain monsters that are male. The female characters though are made out to be a bit more complex. The first female monster seen in this section is in the book, The Woman in Black. The monster in this story is Jennet Humfrye, also known as the woman in black. Jennet’s appearance is horrifying. …show more content…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This book is strongly dominated by male characters. The main character in this book emerges to be the monster. Again, in the very beginning of the book Mr. Hyde is being discussed in a negative manner which automatically makes the reader, and even Mr. Utterson suspicious of this Mr. Hyde. Much like Jennet Humfrye (the woman in black), Mr. Hyde’s looks are not the most attractive: “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish; he gave an impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile” (Stevenson 10). However, his counterpart Dr. Jekyll is an intelligent, rich, “large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (12). I would consider both personalities to be one of a monster. With that being said, Dr. Jekyll is the monster. Dr. Jekyll’s motivation for this experiment in the first place was to prove his hypothesis, “that man is not truly one, but truly two”, Dr. Jekyll planned on separating his good and evil side (43). The phrase “curiosity killed the cat” relates to this story completely, after all, Dr. Jekyll wrote in his narrative, “the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound, at last overcame my suggestions of alarm” (44). Dr. Jekyll also wanted to be able to do evil actions without being caught or shamed. Dr. Jekyll’s ego and pride is …show more content…
Just how in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the two are the same person, Senora Consuelo Llorento and Aura are the same person. Dr. Jekyll and Senora Llorento also love the other version of themselves that is younger. Senora Llorento seems to be some kind of witch. She doesn’t necessarily come off evil, instead she seems to be odd and obsessed with youth. Readers most likely view her as creepy too. Senora Llorento has long white hair, “[an] eroded face, as brittle and yellowed as the memoirs, as creased with wrinkles as the photographs… [with] fleshless lips, toothless gums… [she has a] limp, spent, tiny, ancient [body]” (Fuentes 145). Senora Llorento and Jennet are both described as deformed and creepy looking women, however their motivations are drastically different. Almost everything that Senora Llorento does is for the sake of her witch/black magic ritual to lure Felipe Montero in and have him eventually turn into her late husband, General Llorento, and for her to stay young, whether it’s burning cats or growing herbs to strengthen her soul. The last we see of Senora Llorento/Aura is when she is laying with Felipe in the end of the
These two female characters in the film help show a different kind of evil, that wasn’t shown in the book. This evil is one who hurts women. As soon as Dr. Jekyll stops himself from being with Ivy, he peruses her as Hyde. Hyde approaches Ivy in an aggressive manner, and is constantly shown hurting her throughout the film. Not only does he hurt her physically but in an emotional and mental way as well. Hyde gets his way with Ivy, and after this uses words to make her feel less than him. Shortly after coming in contact with Ivy, Hyde strikes her leaving marks in her back. He pushes her around and grabs her without her able to leave. The constant harassment from Hyde causes her to mentally break down leaving her traumatized. She is left desperate for help, and even thinks about killing herself. After Ivy goes to Jekyll for help, he realizes that what he was doing was wrong and decides not to ever take the potion again. This is something the Dr. Jekyll from the book wouldn’t do because he thinks Hyde and Jekyll are two different entities. After failing on not transforming, Hyde goes back to Ivy even more aggressively than before. By this time Hyde not only hurts Ivy, but Beatrix as
The previous chapter before the two confessions is reasonably remarkable. Poole, Dr. Jekyll’s butler, provides another portrayal. He offers many comparisons between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (“My master (…) is a tall, fine build of a man, and this was more of a dwarf.” (p.38)). The affirmations of the poor butler are all correct except perhaps the most important: This “thing” that is in the cabinet is in fact Dr. Jekyll.
For ages, we have wondered what is the difference between monsters and men that make them who they are. What are the characteristics that define a monster? Typically it’s the bad guy, the person or thing that comes into the story just to cause massacre or stand in the protagonist’s way. On the other Men are just defined as people who are the opposite of evil. There can be multiple people in a story who can be characterized as men. They don’t all necessarily have to be heroic to be considered as men. In the literature pieces of Macbeth, Beowulf and Frankenstein; there are countless instances where one might be able to distinguish between Monsters and Men. But they all fall in different genres. Macbeth is a story about a tragic hero; the fallen one or the man who brought misery upon himself. The monster can be identified as guilt. This guilt built stronger and stronger and led him to be his worst enemy. Beowulf is an epic about a hero (men) who takes on great challenges and adventures. His worst enemies are all the monsters that took place over the course of the story. Like: Grendel and his mother. This epic poem was made around the Anglo Saxon period. And lastly, Frankenstein is about a crazy doctor who created a monster. The monster name wasn’t Frankenstein, the doctor’s name was. That’s why the story is called “Frankenstein’s monster.” All these literary pieces are plotted so intelligently that it takes a moment before one can distinguish the monsters and the men.
When Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll are first together in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson describes Dr. Jekyll as, "-a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast, perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness-- (12)." We are also told that Dr. Jekyll has a handsome face (13). Through the text, we learn that Dr. Jekyll was a hardworking, likable gentleman with a deep interest in science.
Sinister predators within gothic novels are often similar to the “femme fatale”, a mysterious and seductive female character whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. However, this is contrasted within ‘Frankenstein’ by the female creature. Many of the sinister predators found within ‘Frankenstein’ are male, however Mary Shelley’s female creature is presented through the eyes of Victor Frankenstein as “malignant” and a “daemon”, suggesting that it is sinister. Despite the fact that the monster’s companion never has a chance to live as she is cruelly
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll, in grave danger, writes a letter to his good friend Lanyon. With Jekyll’s fate in Lanyon’s hands, he requests the completion of a task, laying out specific directions for Lanyon to address the urgency of the matter. In desperation, Jekyll reveals the possible consequences of not completing this task through the use of emotional appeals, drawing from his longtime friendship with Lanyon, to the fear and guilt he might feel if he fails at succeeding at this task. Through Jekyll’s serious and urgent tone, it is revealed that his situation is a matter of life and death in which only Lanyon can determine the outcome.
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 Mr. Hyde . . . I shall be Mr. Seek". Utterson begins his quest with a cursory search for his own demons. Fearing for Jekyll because the good doctor has so strangely altered his will in favor of Hyde, Utterson examines his own conscience, "and the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded a while in his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there" (SC, 42). Like so many eminent Victorians, Utterson lives a mildly double life and feels mildly apprehensive about it. An ugly dwarf like Hyde may jump out from his own boxed self, but for him such art unlikely creature is still envisioned as a toy. Although, from the beginning Hyde fills him with a distaste for life (SC, 40, not until the final, fatal night, after he storms the cabinet, can Utterson conceive of the enormity of Jekyll's second self. Only then does he realize that "he was looking on the body of a self-dcstroyer" (SC, 70); Jekyll and Hyde are one in death as they must have been in life.
Jekyll is respectable man with a very good career. He is a doctor that is highly regarded in his community for what he does as far as charity and his manners. As young man growing up, he was secretly involved in weird behaviors that made him a bit questionable. Dr. Jekyll finds his other side to be quite bothersome and he decides to experiment so he could try a separate the good from the evil. He creates potions and other things that really do not help. After so many attempts of trying to restrain his evil side, he brings forth Hyde through his failed experimentation. Therefore, he only accentuates his evil self to come forth. Hyde is an extremely ugly creature that no one could stand the sight of. He is deformed, violent, and very evil. Throughout the story, he fights against Jekyll to take over his life eventually causing Jekyll to murder one of his good friends, Mr.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same person all within the body of Dr Jekyll. He switches between the two willingly for science and his own personal desire. This can be proven in the last chapter of the book where we see
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both suffer; however, one from illness and the other from insanity. Mr. Hyde is a sociopath, and lives in it to the full extent as well as Jekyll being a psychopath. However, Hyde was created the way he was to portray a sinful side of Jekyll, while Jekyll was himself throughout, good and bad, to manipulate and gain in the harm of
The story takes place during the Victorian age, a time when there were only two categories of people: good people and bad people. There was no way that one man could be considered acceptable without suppressing his evil side almost entirely. The reason that Jekyll restrained his evil side for so long was because of this dichotomous Victorian society. Most people, including Jekyll’s friends, Lanyon and Utterson, are content to stay molded in this ideal. However, Dr. Jekyll soon became tired of this hypocritical mindset and stated that he “it was rather the exacting nature of my aspirations.
The theme of masculinity is strong throughout the novel, and I will finish with what may be the strongest example of masculinity of all, although it is not a favourable one. Perhaps the character of the monster represents the flaw in masculinity in the society of that day, created without the use of a woman, and is an example of the dangers of a society without woman. And I feel that Shelley was perhaps manipulating the masculine identities in the novel to show the flaws that such attitudes towards women can create, and persuade her audience that a society without women would be disastrous.
Jekyll himself. Dr. Jekyll is a symbol of both the good and the bad in mankind, while Mr. Hyde represents pure evil. For instance, when Dr. Jekyll is himself, he is seen as a respectable man who is adored by his colleagues: “he became once more their familiar quest and entertainer; and whilst he had always been known for his charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion” (Stevenson 29). However, when Dr. Jekyll transforms to Mr. Hyde his morals are quickly disregarded. An example of this occurs when Mr. Hyde murders Sir Danvers, shortly after Dr. Jekyll submits to the temptation of changing to Mr. Hyde: “instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me…with a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow” (Stevenson 56). Even though the carnal side of Dr. Jekyll enjoys the incident, this event also illustrates the conscience side of Dr. Jekyll because in the mist of this brutal murder, he begins to feel guilty for committing the crime. This guilt drives him to have “clasped hands to God…tears and prayers to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds that his memory swarmed against him” (Stevenson 57). As a whole, the text demonstrates that Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego, Mr. Hyde, is the mastermind of pure malevolence who participates in activities that Dr. Jekyll cannot
his double, Mr Hyde. Dr Jekyll is a caring person. Mr Hyde is evil. It
These connections will allow me to interpret how the creation of Hyde is a factor which plays towards the eventual death of Jekyll. Finally, I will apply Freud’s theory derived from Oedipus Rex to the character of Hyde, as both characters display strong emotions towards their parental figures. This analysis will be used to further deepen my argument that the fate of Jekyll is ultimately derived from Hyde. I can use my findings, along with Freud’s deductions, to uncover the impact Hyde had on Jekyll’s fate. By applying Freudian logic to the case of Jekyll and Hyde, I hope to further examine the effects that repressed desires may have on one’s