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Feminism in dr. jekyll and mr. hyde
Themes of feminism in literature
Themes of feminism in literature
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Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a Misogynistic Novel
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde description of women is misogynistic. Stevenson’s novel shares the profile of women in the current era. Throughout the novel, the few women that are present are seen as figurative damsels in distress. On many occasions, Stevenson provides evidence that the woman's reaction to disturbing events often include screaming or fainting. During the first section of the novel, a little girl is trampled by Mr. Hyde and the note about her is the screaming emanating from her lips, “quote quote quote” (Stevenson ). She is pictured as helpless and in need of a strong figure to save her. Mr. Utterson comes to the rescue and
One of the emotions Stevenson wants the reader to feel is sympathy towards the people about whom he wrote. Stevenson goes about doing this by telling stories of people who are like his readers but who have bad luck or fewer opportunities and more disadvantages. Stevenson writes about women who have been in jail for long prison terms. These women committed small crimes like using drugs and stealing, rather than major crimes like rape and murder.
Stevenson uses many literary techniques to create suspense and amuses the readers. He uses the literary symbolisms such as paradox and symbolism. However the most important technique is point of view and the changing of narrators throughout the book. Many critics such as Alice D. Snyder, Peter K. Garett, and Vladimir Nabokov wrote literary criticisms about Stevenson’s use of language. Lots of the evidences come from the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in order to support the critics’ claim. Peter K. Garett’s claim of Stevenson’s use of language is that the relation between Jekyll and Hyde is played out in terms of grammatical and narrative positions. Vladimir Nabokov’s claim was that Stevenson creates suspense and mystery by
In both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the 1941 movie adaptation, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a strong representation of evil is present. Both the film and the novel are surrounded with sense of immorality and sin. The text and the film have economical and historical characteristics that help define evil. While the film alone has a strong representation of evil surrounding gender and relationships.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, repression appears to be a common theme. Stevenson chose to incorporate this because it was a common Victorian belief. So what is Stevenson trying to say about repression by making Dr. Jekyll secretly self indulgent? Many people believe that Jekyll assumes the role of Hyde in order to carry out these indulgences that he otherwise could not. Also Jekyll chose to repress his urges because Victorian society frowned upon them. This idea is further elaborated on by Masao Miyoshi, in “Dr. Jekyll and the Emergence of Mr. Hyde”:
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 starts the novella by introducing us to Mr. Utterson who is a discrete lawyer who is ‘never lighted by a smile’ and his enigmatic friend Mr. Enfield. He does this because he is using the technique of foreshadowing when the authors put in little hints to then explore in further detail later in the story. Further on we can see that Utterson is microcosm of the rest of the story; however this isn’t the only reason that Utterson is in the story because soon after this he starts to become the narrator along with Enfield. While they are talking to each other the audience is finding out what is happening. Next, later in the novella we find out that Utterson is actually representing schizophrenia and duality that is in the personality of Jekyll.
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.
Stevenson's choice of certain words in the novel is extremely pertinent to a homoerotic reading of the text. In some Victorian circles (and most certainly not in others), certain words had very explicit homosexual connotations.
Penny Fielding highlights his point of view on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that the novel paints ‘a damning portrait of society defined by repression and its inevitable twin, hypocrisy’. Fielding also insists later that the relation between repression and hypocrisy is one theme of this novel that cannot be overlooked. This opinion can be approved of a truth after reading the novel. Repression and hypocrisy run through the whole story which reflect on descriptions of every character. In this essay, I will focus on the repression and hypocrisy that appear to be connected in the novel by analyzing the background and main characters. Especially, I will quote some fragments from the novel to discuss in details.
Stevenson uses a combination of: horror, supernatural, moral messages, and mysteries. The use of horror captures us because it’s normally shocking and frightening to think about. When you combine that with mystery you get an effect that makes you feel edgy and nervous to read on but you want to read on because if you don’t you’ll never get the answers to your questions. His uses of moral messages is effective in keeping the reader’s interest because it will make the reader question and doubt themselves on things because they might feel more like Hyde than they would like to.
In the novel “The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” a number of
we deny our bad side. It looks at a doctor called Dr Jekyll who feels
Although Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is not technically a feminist novel, Shelley ever so subtly makes a strong case for the plight of women in a patriarchal society. Speaking from the male point of view, Shelley is able to depict everything that is wrong with society from subservient stereotypes, interpretation of procreation and the demeaning treatment of women as objects. While staying true to the gender roles in the time period, it becomes apparent that not only are men held to a different standard than women, but they are also undeserving. Rather than force her controversial observations down her readers' throats, she stealthily crafts the novel leaving one with a newfound respect and value of women and their role in society.
This paper highlights several problems that emerge during the Victorian age, a time of many changes and difficulties in England. During the Industrial Revolution, living conditions changed dramatically; as a result the economy to change from agricultural to industrial. The Victorian Era was also marked by immense progress and tremendous achievement. New values were placed on religion and faith in a society that was unrealistic for women. Robert Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is being told through a third party, Mr. Utterson, who is the lawyer for Dr. Jekyll. There are no major female characters in this story. While women struggled for liberation from a male dominated society, Victorian men felt threatened by the feminist who sought personal liberties. Stevenson’s novel was influenced by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Stevenson pays homage to her at various points in his novel. Mr. Hyde’s rebellious nature threatened the balance of equality in English society. The escalation of horror in The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde depends on the oppression of women. The more oppressed women became, the more horror the characters experienced. In Robert Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he channels Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, by leaving the voice of a woman character absent which alienates femininity, showing hypocrisy through the male characters and the influence of purity and sinful.
To what extent can the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde be? viewed as a gothic novel? Jekyll and Hyde is a gothic novel. It was written by Robert Louis. Stevenson, he got the idea for the story after a dream he had.