Human duality is reducible to repression and temptation. In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R. L. Stevenson examines the duality of human nature by revealing basest urges are inherent in all human beings and social norms and expectations restrict their usage. The novella was written in the Victorian times where the impression of being prim and proper was of the utmost importance. There are, therefore, certain characters that exhaustively undertake extreme measures to guarantee the safety of their reputability and to accomplish selfish ends simultaneously. Pursuing impulses and pleasures naturally cause someone to be conscience-stricken, however, transcendental science projects upheld pride and removes guilt from an immoral act. …show more content…
In the novella, Dr Henry Jekyll was celebrated as “the very pink of the proprieties” and “d[id] what they call good” (p.6). Dr Jekyll prided himself on his high position in society that many fellow men recognised. Contextually, it was an indication of refinement and decent human conduct in the Victorian era, which was when the book was written. However, his equal conviction for gratification and reputability ensued in the pursuit of creating a superficial countenance, in the form of Hyde, so that his position would not be compromised by his vices. The city of London, too, has an undercurrent of duality, as the sordid, shabby precincts are in the vicinity of streets of good repute. Jekyll’s residence emanates “a great deal of wealth and comfort” and “Utterson himself was wont to speak of it as the pleasantest room in London” (p.12). Whereas, prior to this description, the reader is introduced to “a certain sinister” building, one that bore “marks of prolonged and sordid negligence,” and Hyde enters it to withdraw a cheque written in Jekyll's hand (p.4). What is ostentatious about the juxtaposing exteriors is that they are constituents of Jekyll’s mansion, indicating a close interrelationship between reputability and notorious appearances. In addition, Jekyll’s household is limned as having three windows that are always shut and are eventually “barred with …show more content…
Mr Utterson, “being a man of no scientific passions,” undertook Jekyll’s phenomenon with reason, often coming up with false conclusions throughout the novella. He treats the mystery as if it were something criminal, thus, he fails to suspect that something abnormal is the cause. When Utterson confirmed that Hyde was the beneficiary of Jekyll’s will, Utterson was confounded that he had relations to his associate. Hyde’s demeanour emitted an “unknown disgust, loathing and fear” that Utterson could not fathom to elucidate in detail. Hyde is the first to revert Utterson’s logic into something that cannot be expressed in words. Upon Utterson’s venture to capture Hyde for the murder of Sir Danvers, he sought Jekyll where he queried if Hyde’s disappearance was on account of him and if Hyde dictated the terms of his will. However, when Mr Guest sedulously compared the writing of the dual personas of Jekyll, “the two hands [were] in many points identical: only differently sloped.” Utterson resolved the situation as a case of forgery, dismissing any possibility that Hyde was derived from Jekyll’s disposition. His logical perception prevented him from accounting a double personality as a feasible factor, as Utterson fails to realise that it was Jekyll himself who determined that his alter ego would benefit from his bequest. Utterson’s shortcomings could be indicative of the
Every human is faced with a decision every second of the day, from the moment they wake up, to when they finally drift off to sleep, and every moment in between. For some the choice between doing good and doing bad is obvious, for others the choice might not be so clear. There are always obstacles that can make the choice hard, be it peer pressure or pressure that people put on themselves to be something different; the option to do the wrong thing is always hanging in front of them. Robert Louis Stevenson represents the archetypal theme of this idea in multiple ways in the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. During the Victorian Era, in which the story is set, there was a largely agreed upon fact that there was a certain way
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”.
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.
Throughout the thriller-mystery story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Utterson, the friendly lawyer, tries to figure out the reason behind why Dr. Jekyll, his friend and client, gives all his money to a strange man and murderer named Mr. Hyde in his will. Readers learn from the ominous third person point of view the worries of Mr. Utterson and ride along in his search for Mr. Hyde. In R. L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he employs characterization, imagery, and weather motifs to construct complex characters and create eerie settings, which parallel the mood of the characters. Throughout the story, Stevenson characterizes Mr. Hyde as a strange man with odd features who nobody seems to like.
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.
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.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “It is much easier to suppress a first desire than it is to satisfy those that follow.” This is certainly true in the situation of Dr. Jekyll, as the temptation of becoming Mr. Hyde becomes stronger as he continually surrenders to the wickedness that is constantly misleading him. Mr. Hyde is never contented, even after murdering numerous innocents, but on the contrary, his depravity is further intensified. The significance of the repression of a desire is a prevalent theme throughout the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, as the inability to repress one’s curiosity can lead to a fatal end, whereas the repression of a desire that can no longer contain itself, or the repression of confronting a guilty conscience, will conclude in a tragic ending and in this case specifically,
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).
Dr. Jekyll depends on his left-brain so much that when he suddenly begins using the right, the balance is thrown too far off. This “cure” inadvertently creates his mental illness and criminality (Stiles 887). At the time of his confession, Jekyll says, “I was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome. This, too, was myself. It seemed natural and human” (Stevenson 88). This statement is rather heart breaking as Jekyll simply sought a means to end his misery. When Dr. Jekyll cannot reverse his “cure” on cue to the good, law-abiding man, he commits an act of “self-destruction by drinking a poisonous phial to avoid capture and the following legal and social condemnation” (Sanna 35-35). In terms of Jekyll and Hyde’s dissociation, no matter the cause, the theory of dualism comes up numerous times.
Jekyll is given as a respected man raised in a wealthy family. During the era, people are meant to be well-mannered and polite without any sign or thinking of violence and crime; however, Dr. Jekyll secretly has a desire to perform evil. Conflicted with the ideal of society, he has repressed his emotion through many years and eventually he decided to conceal his pressure as he said, “And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. 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.” (48) From this quote, Dr. Jekyll discloses that he’s not desired to be cheerful, as many do, and decides to fake his pressure in front of the public eyes. After many years, he then realizes he was only hiding his true emotion. Eventually, to resolve his situation, he is inspired to create a potion that could transform himself to Mr. Hyde that could free him from the struggle between protecting his reputation and following his emotion and
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.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be read in a number of ways through any number of different lenses, which makes for a versatile novella, and an interesting read for just about anyone. It also makes for a great novel with which to learn literary analysis. Using The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde one can see how Freudian psychoanalysis, though it had not been so developed at the time of the novel, can intersect with homosexual undertones, and how the manifestations of the repressed can come to light when the subject of homosexuality is not properly addressed. The novella was published in 1886, placing it in terms of history toward the end of the Victorian era. The Victorian era was well known for its repressive attitudes and high moral standards, and one was expected to live in such a certain way in the middle and upper classes.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is a Victorian novel that explores the psychological implications of the nature of duality. This novel explores the idea of doubleness, duality with the separation of moral obligation and human nature in Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson uses the character Mr. Utterson to narrate the novel and give a logic perspective to Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde’s duality, however Utterson has his own duality that echoes Dr. Jeykll’s. In the novel, Mr. Utterson has a dream that Stevenson uses to explore Utterson’s duality in terms of light and dark symbolism, a separation of his logical mental state, a physical separation between his actions
Due to their concealed yet present inner evil, humans are naturally inclined to sin but at the same time resist temptation because of influence from society, thus illustrating a duality in humanity. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on how humans are actually two different people composed into one. The concept of dual human nature includes all of Hyde’s crimes and ultimately the death of Jekyll. Jekyll proposes that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and describes the human soul as a constant clash of the “angel” and the “fiend,” each struggling to suppress the other (Stevenson 61, 65). Man will try to cover up his inner evil because once it rises to the surface everyone will know the real...