Warning: Don’t Encourage Evilness Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886. The novella is about an excellent scientist who tries to defeat his evil side with a potion he created. Instead of destroying his evil side, it emerges as another person transformed from Dr. Jekyll; Edward Hyde. Instead of destroying his evil side, he gives his evil side a name and a face. With his potion he can turn into his evil character without worrying about consequences. Mr. Hyde slowly gets stronger over time and Dr. Jekyll tries to fight Hyde within himself. But isn’t that what we all do? There is always a constant struggle between good and evil, light and dark, with the choices we make. Dr. Jekyll is still Mr. Hyde and …show more content…
Hyde is not really his own person, but rather a persona Dr. Jekyll hides behind. Dr. Jekyll transforms himself into Hyde so he can act out upon his evilest urges. No one can tell Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. His actions are wrong over all, he wants to lash out and do wrong, but he needs an outlet to do so. By giving a face to his urges, he can act out without the responsibility. Mr. Hyde is seen when he tramples “calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (Stevenson 12). Another case of Mr. Hyde lashing out was so stunning it left London “startled by the crime of singular ferocity” (Stevenson 29). Mr. Hyde beat a man severely to the ground where he “broke out of all bounds, and clubbed him to the earth” (Stevenson 29). Mr. Hyde is more and more viscous as the story continues. He shows no mercy on anyone one and lives in his anger. He drinks up the fury and hatred festering within him like a fine wine. He has no desire to hide his evilness as Mr. Hyde, and it is just growing stronger. “Dr. Jekyll is increasingly unable to control his alter ego; his identity becomes fragmented into Jekyll and Hyde, and then the Hyde persona begins to manifest itself” (Ruwe) Instead of creating a potion to get rid of evil, he made a potion that allowed him express his urges without feeling guilty and without any consequences tainting his good name. Dr. Jekyll is able to turn into Hyde without anyone noticing, and he can do so whenever he pleases. He …show more content…
He loves being Hyde. He revels in the freedom of being Hyde and it’s only when the consequences catch up to him anyway that his duel personality becomes a problem for him. As stated in an article titled Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “The central feature of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is its theme of duality. Two personalities — opposite and antagonistic — mesh within one body…” It is not two separate human beings, but one. Jekyll is not good. He’s not bad, either, so much as Jekyll is a troubled person. “From an early age, Jekyll had desires that were not socially acceptable. He was driven to create a secret identity so as to be able to act upon these irresistible urges.” (Ruwe) His biggest problem is that he wants to do whatever he wants without the consequences. Jekyll is not unaware or out of control when he’s Hyde. He does not wake up without memory of what happened the night before. He remembers perfectly everything he does as Hyde, because he was in control the whole time. But slowly towards the end, he loses control and accepts his fate as Hyde, he chooses to be
Good and evil exist in everyone and any attempts to repress your darker nature can cause it to erupt. Dr. Jekyll was more evil than he wanted to admit to himself or any one before he even separated his soul. Born into a world of privilege and wanting to keep the impression of goodness and morality, Dr. Jekyll really just wanted to indulge in his darkest desires, choosing to hide behind his serum like a coward. However this became his fatal flaw and at the end of the day he could longer hide his true self.
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.
“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” is a novella written in the Victorian era, more specifically in 1886 by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. When the novella was first published it had caused a lot of public outrage as it clashed with many of the views regarding the duality of the soul and science itself. The audience can relate many of the themes of the story with Stevenson’s personal life. Due to the fact that Stevenson started out as a sick child, moving from hospital to hospital, and continued on that track as an adult, a lot of the medical influence of the story and the fact that Jekyll’s situation was described as an “fateful illness” is most likely due to Stevenson’s unfortunate and diseased-riddled life. Furthermore the author had been known to dabble in various drugs, this again can be linked to Jekyll’s desperate need and desire to give in to his darker side by changing into Mr Hyde.
Mr. Hyde was pale ad dwarfish; he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and some what broken voice,—all these were points against him; but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. (10)
For this reason I’ll be explaining Jekyll’s mental health. Jekyll has as what we now call Multiple Personality Disorder; “I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could be rightly said to be either, it was only because I was radically both,” Stevenson 57.) The disease was first discovered by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He would ask patients symptoms that he found common in MPD. Many patients know about their alternate personality but refuse to acknowledge it’s existence. In some cases they may even refer to it as a separate person entirely. In this case Jekyll is very much aware of his alternate personality, going as to so far as to willingly change into him. However despite this he also categorizes Hyde into a separate being. For example when Hyde does something unappealing or distasteful he blames it on a separate person. Consciously though he is aware that he is Hyde and Hyde is him. (MD, Arnold Lieber. "Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder." PsyCom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986. Vertical Health LLC, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016).
Jekyll plays man as a whole, good and bad, he was “wild” and also “smooth-faced” at the same time. Both characters lack vital emotional outputs that make humans socially, even though the psychopath is more cunning than the sociopath. “…lack of conscience, remorse or guilt for hurtful actions to others….There may be an intellectual understanding of appropriate social behavior but no emotional response to the actions of others” (“Psychopath vs. Sociopath” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Psychopath_vs_Sociopath). Both are social defaces, and cannot be helped; however to the naked eye, these two characters are savage. Both victims of anti-social disorder are lacking factors that make humans acceptably sociable, one lacking empathy while the other lacks sensibility. Diffen, a website, tells us, “Psychopaths…lack of empathy; no conscience…sociopaths…high impulsivity” (“Sociopathy versus Psychopathy” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Sociopathy_versus_Psychopathy). Dr. Jekyll shows no empathy by using and manipulating people close to him, and Mr. Hyde, as intended, has no sensibility to act with caution resulting himself in trouble for barbaric actions. This, in turn shows the comparison and contrast of the psychopathic creator and his sociopathic creation which in reality are two halves to a whole.
Jekyll says, “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two” (Stevenson 83). Jekyll believes he will get pleasure from both alters without any backlash; however, Hyde soon becomes more powerful than his ‘good’ alter and ultimately leads Dr. Jekyll to his doom (Singh). Stevenson creates in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to coexistent to make up a “normal” individual (Singh). Seeing things as Jekyll did, “Humans are half-good, half-evil” Stevenson separated the two, making one pure good (Jekyll) and one pure evil, as Jekyll says, “Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil” (Stevenson 88). After all, good and evil are independent objects, people; they possess distinctive psychological characteristics and consistently fight with each
Mr. Hyde is the monstrous side of Dr. Jekyll from their book “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” In their story, Dr. Jekyll is a brilliant scientist who has created a formula that turns him into Mr. Hyde. It is stated that, at some point, Dr. Jekyll became addicted to the potion. Though it is unclear what would cause the addiction, since it would be Hyde who would experience the “high” and not Jekyll himself. Hyde is the contrast to Dr. Jekyll, and is considerably more brutal and immoral. Modern incarnations depict him as becoming incredibly muscular after the transformation, though in the original work it is only implied that Hyde is stronger, retaining his previous physique. It is consistent that Hyde is shown to be ugly, perhaps even deformed.
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme. Jekyll says: "Man is not /truly one, but truly two"(125), meaning all people have both a good and a bad side. Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to fully separate good and evil, but instead it awakens a dormant character, Mr. Hyde. Throughout the novel, Stevenson uses society, control, and symbolism to tell the reader about human nature.
furthermore through Atticus’s determination it is clear that he is not willing to give up on this case even though he knows that the jury will give the verdict of guilty. This is a truly heroic act because it shows that atticus is willing to spend his time and effort on this case even though the overall outcome will be pointless, this shows that atticus is willing to sacrifice his a piece of his own life to help Tom robinson, not only because this is the right thing to do but because he is a hero who understands that another is currently in distress with what is most likely to be a very grim future. “You will never understand a person until you look from their point of view” this quote also shows that Atticus is a very understanding person because he knows that other people have their own stories and
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 Jekyll experiences. For instance, Dr. Jekyll’s physical appearance begins to decline as he stops taking the draught. The text describes Dr. Jekyll’s physical characteristics as “looking deadly sick” when his is usually a “large well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (Stevenson 19-25). Not only does Dr. Jekyll’s health begin to decline, but also his behavior changes as well.
Though Hyde is pure evil, Jekyll is not pure goodness; he is still the same old conflicted mix of both good and evil. To cover his tracks, Jekyll rented a room for Hyde, opened a bank account in his name, and explained to his household servants that Hyde was to be allowed to freely come and go through the house. Hyde was even made Jekyll’s sole heir. At first, Jekyll delights in having his alter ego. Through Hyde, he can live out his fantasies of doing whatever he pleases, with no consequences, seeing as how he has but to drink the potion to make Hyde disappear. No accountability for Hyde’s
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.
First reason how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are different is their physical appearance. Both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have many different physical features. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a tall middle aged man. He is well looking and a man of great status. On the other hand Mr. Hyde is a short younger man, he has a hunched back and is always said to be deformed but people don’t know why he is like that. Dr. Jekyll is a handsome man compared to Mr. Hyde who is ugly and not good looking
Heroes are often well known in the communities that they are from. One being a hero, many people will look up to and want to be like he or she. That is why it is so important to have and abide by a strict moral code as a hero. Atticus Finch is a prime example of this. Atticus knows that he is on the right path as far as doing the right thing because it is right to do it. His altruistic mindset and values are shown all throughout the novel. He is a good example for everyone in the community of Maycomb, especially his children. Jem and Scout know that Atticus is a good man, and they respect and look up to him. Whenever they do something wrong, Atticus never chastises them. He simply explains why they were wrong in doing whatever it was they did. He always answers all of their questions honestly and to the best of his ability. Scout even says that, “There just didn’t seem to be anyone or anything that Atticus couldn’t explain...