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Essay jekyll and hyde
Essay jekyll and hyde
Critical essay jekyll and hyde character
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Thus far, there is a strange relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that Mr. Utterson is trying to uncover. Are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kin in some sense or could they be the same person? If it is true they are related in some sense, then that would explain Dr. Jekyll’s attachment to Mr. Hyde despite him killing a man and walking over a child on the street. It would also explain why Dr. Jekyll would allegedly forge a letter stating Mr. Hyde is in a “safe” place and shall not be found after his murder of Carew. However, if it turns out that there is no relationship (further than acquaintanceship or friendship) between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, then a second question may be posed as to why Dr. Jekyll feels inclined to involve himself with …show more content…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, what does Dr. Lanyon know about Dr. Jekyll and what is in the letter he wrote to Mr. Utterson? It is obvious Dr. Lanyon knows dark secrets about Dr. Jekyll given he detests him [Dr. Jekyll] while on his death bed. Also, Mr. Utterson claims “…but in view of Lanyon’s manner and words, there must lie for it some deeper ground.” (Stevenson 24). Therefore, if the knowledge Dr. Lanyon has on Dr. Jekyll is revealed, then it may uncover the bad and nightmarish situation Dr. Jekyll continually insists he is in—a situation that he does not even trust in the hands of Mr. Utterson. There could be an infinite number of reasons as to why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are close, but it remains as to why Dr. Jekyll is fixated on Mr. Hyde and how this reason came about? Conclusively, this question cannot be answered unless one guesses as to where the answer can be found such as is it in Dr. Lanyon’s note to Mr. Utterson, is there a familial connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or does Dr. Jekyll suffer from dissociative identity disorder where Mr. Hyde is his alternate persona? Once these question are answered, it should (not certainly) explain Dr. Jekyll’s strange behavior and Mr. Hyde’s “important” role in Dr. Jekyll’s life to the point Dr. Jekyll has resorted to isolation, forgery, and dependence upon
Jekyll came to the realization that he could use Mr. Hyde to fulfill his desire to continue his experiments on the boundaries of human compassion without sullying his hard-attained reputation. Dr. Jekyll, being the society man that he was, was unable to release his true passion when it comes to his anger. Mr. Hyde’s lose grip on reality made it easy for him to erupt in long repressed anger; as is described in the book: “all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping his foot, brandishing his cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman” (14). Dr. Jekyll would never let his anger get that far away from him, his close kept grip on his emotions made it even more enjoyable to be Mr. Hyde because he could let go of all the pent up rage he’d held inside for so long. However, his previous experience as Dr. Jekyll made it significantly easier for him to function in society and pass off as a respectable man, even if Mr. Hyde could make a person run at first glance. This respectability was not overlooked when an elderly man came into contact with Mr. Hyde in the dead of night: “When they had come within speech (which was just under the maid’s eyes) the older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness” (14). Dr. Jekyll’s past experiences of societal politeness and Mr. Hyde’s ability to let go of his emotions and let his human instincts take over, makes it very easy for Mr. Hyde to get away with things that Jekyll
The penultimate description is presented by Dr. Lanyon. Lanyon focuses in the way he feels towards Mr. Hyde and the possible reason of that (p.48).
Stevenson expresses loyalty in many ways. For example, he establishes the friendship between Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll, and Dr. Lanyon. In a good friendship, there is always loyalty, or at least should be. Dr. Jekyll depends on the loyalty of his friends. He has Dr. Lanyon bring him ingredients from his lab so he can change back into himself as Dr. Jekyll. “Poole, my butler, has his orders; you will find him waiting your arrival with a locksmith. The door of my cabinet is then to be forced: and you are to go in alone; to open the glazed press (letter E) on the left hand, breaking the lock if it be shut; and to draw out, with all its contents as they stand, the fourth drawer from the top or (which is the same thing) the third from the bottom” (Stevenson 60,61). In this case, Dr. Lanyon has compete loyalty towards Dr. Jekyll because Dr. Jekyll trusts him enough to expose his deepest darkest secret to him and allows him to go in his lab where typically no one is allowed. In Mr. Utterson’s case, since he is a lawyer, Dr. Jekyll had instilled in him trust and gave him all of his important documents and his will. Mr. Utterson was very loyal because he did what he was asked of even when he was confused and unsure. Mr. Utterson showed loyalty towards not only Dr. Jekyll, but also Dr. Lanyon. Dr. Lanyon had written him a letter right before he died, address...
Essentially, the two men are complete opposites. Reputable and successful, Dr Jekyll was outlined “… [possessed] every mark of capacity and kindness” (Stevenson, 1978 pg. 14) . Paradoxically, Stevenson gave a man that hides from people the name Mr. Hyde. A couple examples of crimes which reflect his evil disposition include an incidence where he “trampled calmly over [a] child’s body and left her screaming on the ground,” (Stevenson, 1978 pg. 5) and his attack on Sir Danvers where “…with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.” I did not, however, outline the severity of criminal events in which Mr Hyde (or in case Dr Jekyll) had triggered, as it would be too unbefitting to include in the
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are truly becoming one, isolation starts to become more of a hinderance. For the most part, this isolation he was creating helped him but it was soon to start doing the opposite. People started to see him less and less and started taking notice; “Even the master of the servant-maid had only seen him twice” (23). Since he was so secretive and hidden from everyone else no one knew of his struggles and how to help him. In another portion of the book Poole talks to Utterson saying: “You know the doctor’s ways, sir,’ replied Poole, ‘and how he shuts himself up. Well, he’s shut up again in the cabinet” (34). Dr. Jekyll was slowly getting worse in his transformations with Hyde. In every passing minute and day Hyde was slowly more and more overtaking, but he did not choose to ask for help. Instead he was slowly starting to shut himself off from the world and put himself in
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.
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. Jekyll begins his letter by mentioning his and Lanyon’s long-lasting friendship saying, “[Lanyon is] one of my oldest friends.”
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. Hyde commits acts of murder and assault yet can be seen as Dr. Jekyll’s id or deep desires. By trying to separate good and bad . Dr. Jekyll passed scientific and social borders to isolate his personality. In doing so, he lost control of who he wanted to be. As a last resort he created a poisonous potion that Hyde drank and died through act of suicide. Dr. Jekyll although not working with anyone took matters in his own hands which makes him seem like an outlaw hero. He did not turn himself into the police when he had control. However, Dr. Jekyll seems to have qualities of a official hero in his maturity in handling the situation. He knows how evil his alter ego is, so he isolates himself from others as a safety precaution. Jekyll tries to live a normal life, but is unable to. His status as a well distinguished doctor and sociability skills with his
Many mysterious events occur throughout this novel. Stevenson foreshadows the imminent end of Dr. Jekyll in the very beginning. As Utterson reads the will of Dr. Jekyll, he is perplexed by the statement that “in the case of Dr. Jekyll’s disappearance” (6), all of his money will go to Mr. Hyde. This questionable intent of Dr. Jekyll leads the reader to assume that there is something for complex connecting Mr. Hyde with Dr. Jekyll. Utterson not only tries to protect Dr. Jekyll from Mr. Hyde, but Utterson wishes to solve Jekyll’s entire problem. In the first description of Mr. Utterson, the reader learns that he is “inclined to help rather than to reprove” (1). This simple description implies that Utterson will be helping to solve a problem in this novel, though it is not identified whose problem he will try to solve. This also foreshadows a problem in the book; Utterson leads the reader to believe that a horrid situation will arise between Jekyll and Hyde. Mr. Hyde is driven purely by the temptations of evil; the urges that Dr. Jekyll is unable to act on. This temptation causes Mr. Hyde to murder Sir Carew with the wal...
Hyde portrays Hyde as a hated, yet unshakable part of Dr. Jekyll. The doctor is known for being a kind, handsome, well-off man that is both friendly and smart; Hyde is the exact opposite. Hyde was the epitome of repulsive, anybody that looked at him immediately felt distaste and he was hated. Utterson said upon meeting Hyde that,
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
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
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