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Literary techniques in the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
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Analysis of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
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The stories, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, both include the theme of duality. Duality is the idea of opposites such as the good and evil in someone. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, duality is shown in the human nature of the main character and in the society the characters are in. Romeo and Juliet consists of the duality of good and evil in a person and love and hate between the characters. Throughout both of these stories, duality is thoroughly demonstrated in all things. Dr. Henry Jekyll is the main character in Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This character is a wonderful example of the duality of the human nature in a person. Dr. Jekyll has always been known as a kind-hearted doctor, but he has another side as well. This other side of him is Mr. Edward Hyde, who is a cruel, disturbing and inhumane person. …show more content…
Another well-known character, Mr. Enfield, even states this about Mr. Hyde, “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance-something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why” (15). To be himself, he can’t always just be the nice and respected person Dr. Jekyll is known to be. He must have an evil side too. Dr. Jekyll himself says, “man is not truly one, but two” (47). This quote states the duality of human nature perfectly. Friar Lawrence, a character in Shakespeares’s Romeo and Juliet, states the good and evil in a person abundantly by saying, “In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will” (II.iii.28). Here he is describing the similarity of both humans and plants having a good and bad side to them, which ties into what is written about duality in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Near the end of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we find out both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are actually the same person. One of Dr. Jekyll’s friends, Dr. Lanyon finds this out. The Victorian Society is what Dr. Lanyon has believed in all his life. He believes there is only one side to every person, and when he finds out that’s not true he’s devastated. Dr. Lanyon himself sees Hyde’s transformation, during all of this Hyde is tempting Lanyon, “Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors” (119). All he believed in, turned out to be a lie. Dr. Lanyon wrote in a letter, “My life is shaken to its roots; sleep has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night; and I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I shall die incredulous”
(121). In the very end of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll must get rid of Mr. Hyde, so he no longer does anything bad or cause harm to others. To do this though, he must kill himself. Committing suicide is considered to be a sin, so the good thing to do in the end, ends up also being bad. Duality comes in showing that there is good and bad in even in the decisions that are made. Before dying Dr. Henry Jekyll states, “This is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here, then, as I lay down the pen, and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end” (161). The duality shown throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is the love and hate relationship Romeo and Juliet have. Romeo impeccably describes their relationship saying, “O brawling love, O loving hate” (I.i.175). Romeo and Juliet love each other dearly, but their families hate one another. The idea of their children being in love sickens them, which makes it a love and hate relationship in all. There are way too many examples of duality in both these stories to name, but just knowing the main things going on in the stories can make readers clearly see the theme of duality. Duality is shown in the human nature of people and society they live by in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, duality is used to describe the good and evil in a person and a love and hate relationship. These two stories demonstrate the duality that is inherent in all things, by showing the two sides to everything.
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 Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s struggle between two personalities is the cause of tragedy and violence. Dr. Jekyll takes his friends loyalty and unknowingly abuses it. In this novella, Stevenson shows attributes of loyalty, how friendship contributes to loyalty, and how his own life affected his writing on loyalty.
The story illustrates this in the two characters of Dr Jekyll. and Mr. Hyde. Mr Hyde is on the evil side of Dr Jekyll, but he is restrained from being. wholly evil by Victorian society. Looking closely at Dr Jekyll.
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.
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.
This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong Calvinist beliefs, portrays his thoughts and opinion throughout the story in his characters; good and evil.
...ve duality of man;… if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” Thus, Stevenson creates in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two coexistent, and eternally opposed components that make up a “normal” individual. However, here, good and evil are not related but are two independent entities, individuals even, different in mental and physical attributes and constantly at war with each other. Evil now does not require the existence of good to justify itself but it exists simply as itself, and is depicted as being the more powerful, the more enjoyable of the two, and in the end ultimately it is the one that leads to Dr. Jekyll's downfall and death. Stevenson creates the perfect metaphor for the never-ending battle between good and evil by using Jekyll and Hyde. However, this novella is perhaps one of the few that truly show the power of Evil.
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.
Addiction is a behavior that leads to actions that not only hurt others but is ultimately a path to one’s own self-destruction. From the beginning of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, it is clear that Dr. Jekyll never had complete control over the drug or Mr. Hyde; however, once Hyde commits suicide in order to dodge punishment, we know how awful Jekyll’s addiction to Hyde had been. Jekyll was so far out of control of Hyde that Mr. Hyde had the ability to end both of their lives simply because Hyde did not wish to be punished.
Duality are opposites being evil or good, love or hate, life or death. In the story of Romeo and Juliet one of the Friars makes a connection between man and a plant. The Friar states “In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will” ( Act II Scene III Line 35-6 ) this comparison is conveying how closely human's nature is related to those of plants. Both have power to be used as medicine but have enough potential to be used as something harmful. The story of Romeo and Juliet is full of opposites, including the two main families: the Montagues and the Capulets they have been sworn to hate each other. The two main characters that fall in love with each other are from different families. Romeo and Juliet are suppose to feel loathe against each other, but on the contrary they fall in love. When Juliet finds out of the devastating news that Romeo is a Montague, she states “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that i must love a loathed enemy”(Act I Scene V Line 53-4). The hatred between the families caused the deaths of Juliet and Romeo. The deaths are a used as pathway for both families to live in peace. Prince Escalus sums it up by saying “a glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun for shadow will not show his head (Act V Scene III Line 309-310 )”. By saying this he is trying to tell us that out of misery and woe
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.
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.
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
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.
Victorian morals are significant in the establishment of duality due to the moral conflict it initiates. Stevenson introduced the theme of duality not merely because of contrasting characters and an appealing storyline. Present evidence indicates that Victorian society was constantly disturbed by an inescapable sense of division (Saposnik 88). The presence of two opposing personalities conflicted with the Victorian conscience. Likewise, Victorian society feared the type of behaviors and person represented by Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde is considered the "brutal embodiment of the moral, social, political, and economic threats which shook the uncertain Victorian world" (Saposnik 100). Everything about Jekyll was eerie and defied the Victorian ethics from his physical appearance to his inconsiderate actions. The setting also played an important role with Victorian morals. London was a location where virtue and vice was most clearly present. This is where evil battled the good of Christianity. London was the center of the Victorian world and was the great arena of moral conflict as well....