What is freewill? What goes on in our heads that leads us to the choices that we make every day? In order to find a textbook answer for these questions, we could search through the realms of cognitive science and neurology; however, we do not have such a definitive answer for questions relating to the disruption of freewill. What makes someone do something against his or her own freewill? We assume that everyone has the power to choose his or her own lifestyle, but this power to choose is often questioned in the presence of harmful drugs or substances. In literature spanning across centuries, drugs and alcohol have been the culprit in many tales and tragedies, and in these stories, the bad judgment of inebriated characters lead to these tragic …show more content…
Hyde started showing up more often, many of the characters mention that they didn’t like him and that he had some unnamed deformity. Hyde looked like he was of the lower class, but he was relatively young looking and had very impulsive violent tendencies. Ultimately, these violent tendencies were emphasized when he murdered an innocent man for no apparent reason and by committing suicide in the end. It wasn’t until the confession from Dr. Jekyll that we learn Dr. Jekyll was using a drug to transform into Hyde. There are many themes that arise from this shocking transformation, and as the reader learns Dr. Jekyll’s motives, he starts to see some bigger pictures that arise from the mist of the shaken streets of …show more content…
In the letter of confession for his crimes he wrote, “Finally, in an hour of moral weakness, I again mixed and swallowed the transforming potion. Long caged, the devil in me came out roaring. As soon as I drank the potion, I was aware of a fiercer inclination to evil than ever before,” (Stevenson pg. 134). Saying that the “devil” in him came roaring out is the way that he is rationalizing all of the “evil” thoughts he was having. Since he was transforming into a man void of the need to follow social or moral constraints, he found no need to repress any impulse he had, no matter how horrible it might be. As a consequence, he felt a great sense of glee and happiness as Hyde even when he was beating a man to death, but as soon as he returned to his original form as Dr. Jekyll, he was on the floor weeping in remorse, and praying to God for forgiveness. In transforming back to Jekyll, he is regaining his feeling of social and moral constraints and his ability to repress his bad impulses. In response to this event, he stopped taking the transformation drug, and this is when he found himself unwillingly turning into
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
In the introduction to the Oxford edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Emma Letley describes the desire to escape from the "Calvinistic confines of nineteenth-century bourgeois" society, and relates that Mr. Stevenson himself "would use a benign doubleness to deal with the pressures of high bourgeois existence" and assumed an alias to become one of the "heavy-drinking, convivial, blasphemous iconoclasts. . ." in order to "full-bodiedly enjoy those pleasures denied to [him] and Dr. Jekyll." (Introduction, x). With the knowledge that Stevenson resorted to alcohol in order to escape the pressures and demands that fell upon him due to his social class, it is interesting to examine his novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as a commentary about the evils of addiction to alc...
Within every being exists temptations, whether it be quiescent or dynamic, which fluctuates from one individual to another. Commonly negative, temptations ascend from lesser qualities of man and expose an individual to develop even more reprehensible ambitions. The story of a one man’s dark wishes is explored in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. Properly termed, Stevenson perused the unnerving case of a respectable, proletariat-class doctor, who becomes associated and obsessed with Mr Hyde. It is this presence of the “duality of human nature that is created consistently throughout the Gothic Literature”.
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).
To conclude the way that Stevenson has described Hyde and what Jekyll has done in most parts he has related it to the devil which in Victorian times was considered very dangerous, even though today he’s not considered that powerful it would still make a big impact. Stevenson has been successful in using many elements of a shocker/thriller to write a novella with a much deeper moral significance because every aspect of the story relates back to the Victorian morals of 1837 till 1901 and for a 21st century reader some parts of the novella will make them think what is really happening around them now and whether it is right or not!
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
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
Dr. Jekyll shouldn’t have let his guilt win due to his choice of killing himself. No matter what he did to try and forget that he was also Mr. Hyde he couldn’t, but after all that happened,
Jekyll unveils his story, it becomes evident that Dr. Jekyll’s efforts to keep Mr. Hyde, his immoral outlet, reticent are in vain. Dr. Jekyll succumbs to Mr. Hyde once and eventually the pull of his worse self overpowers Dr. Jekyll completely. His futile attempts to contain Mr. Hyde were more damaging than auspicious, as Mr. Hyde would only gain a stronger grip on Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll writes, “I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught… My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring” (115). Dr. Jekyll’s inevitable passion for debauchery is only further invigorated by his repression of Mr. Hyde. By restraining a desire that is so deeply rooted within Dr. Jekyll, he destroys himself, even after his desires are appeased. Like a drug, when Dr. Jekyll first allowed himself to concede to Mr. Hyde, he is no longer able to abstain, as his initial submission to depravity resulted in the loss of Dr. Jekyll and the reign of Mr.
As the novel progresses, Dr. Jekyll becomes a prisoner to the part of him called Mr. Hyde because Hyde gains strength overtime. The rush Mr. Hyde brings him causes him to want
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).
Secondly, Stevenson uses control to show duality of human nature. When Dr. Lanyon sees Hyde take the potion and transform into Jekyll, he loses his innocence. All his life he was nothing but control, telling himself he didn't have dark passions but when he saw this transformation, he realized he had his own Hyde."...As for the moral turpitude that man/ unveiled to me, even with fears of penitence..."(121). ...
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. Normally, when Dr. Jekyll would have a visitor he would greet his guest with a warm welcome, but as the text illustrates in Chapter 4, Dr. Jekyll did not have the strength to greet Mr. Utterson: “He did not rise to meet his visitor but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome in a changed voice”( Stevenson 25). Another example of Dr. Jekyll’s behavioral change is seen when he physically separates himself from his colleagues for days on end locked in his laboratory resulting in his friends to repeatedly check on him. This act of withdrawal connects to the reality an addict faces during rehabilitation. The said addict has to seclude himself from temptation in order to be successful in the recovery stage. The final behavioral change for Dr. Jekyll is shown through his reiteration of him cutting off all ties to Mr. Hyde and his outburst of violence. During a conversation Dr. Jekyll has with Mr. Utterson shortly after the murder of Sir
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 conclusion, Dr. Jekyll did not create a potion to remove the evil parts of his nature. He made a potion that allowed him to express his needs without feeling guilty and without any consequences of damaging his good name. That’s also why he names his alter ego “Hyde,” because Hyde is a disguise, worn and discarded like a thick cloak.