Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay 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. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...arrying a woman who was cheating on her husband. “She was a 36-year-old American who was married (although separated) and had two children” (biography.com). Her name was Fanny Osbourne, and her and Robert fell in love in France. “Osbourne had traveled to Europe in an attempt to escape her estranged husband’s influence” (gradesaver.com). Stevenson could possibly of gotten his ideas from Fanny’s situation. Her and her first husband once had loyalty, but eventually their relationship turned sour. In conclusion, Stevenson expressed his thoughts on the attributes of loyalty, how friendship contributes to loyalty, and how his own life affected his writing on loyalty extremely well. His writing techniques were very creative, he truly has a skill for setting a deeper meaning. Works Cited Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 1886 NY: Signet, 1994. Print.

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