“It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it ” (69). This is a quote from the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the topic of duality in human nature is thoroughly expressed in a few different ways. The story is about a man named Dr. Jekyll who concocted a potion that would divide his good side, Dr. Jekyll, and his evil side, Mr. Hyde, in order to escape the restrictions and limitations of Victorian society. However, this plan backfired when Hyde became too strong for Dr. Jekyll to control. Dr. Jekyll desperately attempted to replicate the potion he had previously used to transform into Mr. Hyde to keep himself from turning, but there was a crucial impurity, that of which he could not replicate. In Victorian society there is a rift between the extravagant upperclass, doctors, lawyers, and rich people, and the impecunious lower class, the poor people. Dr. Jekyll wanted people to see him as an elegant and sophisticated person who was respectable and followed Victorian guidelines, but he also wanted to let his frustration out and do things people of his stature normally would not do, so he made a potion. This potion split his personalty into Mr. Hyde and he could use his evil side to do the malevolent things he wanted to do. The quote, “Man is not truly one, but truly two” (143) is another quote from Dr. Jekyll that demonstrates the theme of duality in human nature. Dr. Jekyll is respected, well mannered, and has a benevolent way, he seeks to help his friends and help other people as well. In contrast, Mr. Hyde is evil and angry. Dr. Jekyll is not the only character with duality, another used is Mr. Utterson. Robert Lou... ... middle of paper ... ...(143) is a good example of duality in human nature. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person, but even though they are both part of the same mind they think immensely different. Dr. Jekyll thinks of Mr. Hyde as a son and wants to protect him, however, in Mr. Hyde’s eyes Dr. Jekyll is nothing but a way to escape punishment from the evil crimes that he has committed. “Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other”(131). In conclusion, in the end Dr. Jekyll’s attempts to suppress the evil Mr. Hyde were in vain. He tried to use the potion to bring himself back to his original self, but it failed. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the ideas in his book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to explain the concept of duality of good and evil, not only in human nature, but also in society itself.
The story illustrates this in the two characters of Dr Jekyll. and Mr. Hyde. Mr Hyde is on the evil side of Dr Jekyll, but he is restrained from being. wholly evil by Victorian society. Looking closely at Dr Jekyll.
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
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hyde was an evil being it was slowly starting to take over and Dr. Jekyll knew that was happening. By shutting him out self off more and more he was helping everyone around him. Since he did not have any control over Mr. Hyde he had to stop Mr. Hyde from hurting anyone else and couldn’t tell anyone of these issues. In the book where Hyde and Jekyll are struggling, it says “ I was so far in my reflections” (53). This was Dr. Jekylls note for his struggles when he was finally telling people. He was deep in reflection and hiding them self off because he knew it was too late. It also states in this section of the book: “When Jekyll locks himself in his library” (61). Everyone was worried about him even though sometimes he does do this like in the beginning when he’s in solitude to work on his research. Dr. Jekyll had finally shut himself off from the word completely due to him knowing it was his final moments. He knew that since his potion was out and he could not find more materials it was over so he made a backup plan for when Hyde has taken over. This brutal plan was to kill himself and ultimately this is what he did. He had put all the other parts of the plan into effect and left a note to explain what truly happened, thus signifying the end of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, helping others but only helping him at the
Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 “shilling shocker”, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has been subjected to various interpretations over the years. While some have assessed the trope of duality in the light of racism, colonization and cultural ‘other’, others have drawn on psychological references of split personality or ‘dissociative identity disorder’(i.e. existence of more than one personality in one body). The popularity of the novella and the idea of binaries existing in one being, has given birth to the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ which associates itself to a person whose attitude is vastly different from situation to situation. The respectable Dr. Jekyll, in his
society. Rose writes, “Through serial adaptation, the story of Jekyll and Hyde yields a paratragic, predictive investigation into frightening themes; the process of adaptation reveals itself to be a cultural too, used to retain and refurbish images that contain too much anxiety, or hit too close to home, to be allowed to languish” (Rose 156).
Jekyll is respectable man with a very good career. He is a doctor that is highly regarded in his community for what he does as far as charity and his manners. As young man growing up, he was secretly involved in weird behaviors that made him a bit questionable. Dr. Jekyll finds his other side to be quite bothersome and he decides to experiment so he could try a separate the good from the evil. He creates potions and other things that really do not help. After so many attempts of trying to restrain his evil side, he brings forth Hyde through his failed experimentation. Therefore, he only accentuates his evil self to come forth. Hyde is an extremely ugly creature that no one could stand the sight of. He is deformed, violent, and very evil. Throughout the story, he fights against Jekyll to take over his life eventually causing Jekyll to murder one of his good friends, Mr.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author Robert Louis Stevenson uses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to show the human duality. Everyone has a split personality, good and evil. Stevenson presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as two separate characters, instead of just one. Dr. Jekyll symbolizes the human composite of a person while Mr. Hyde symbolizes the absolute evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who are indeed the same person, present good and evil throughout the novel.
... man. Society in the Victorian era was consisted of two classes, trashy and wealthy. Jekyll was expected to be a gentleman, but he wanted to have fun. This was the reason he created Hyde, so he could both be respected and have fun. He was delighted at the freedom he now had. Lanyon was overly contolled, but Utterson knew all men had both good and bad within them and could control it. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme.
Good and evil exist in everyone and any attempts to repress your darker nature can cause it to erupt. Dr. Jekyll was more evil than he wanted to admit to himself or any one before he even separated his soul. Born into a world of privilege and wanting to keep the impression of goodness and morality, Dr. Jekyll really just wanted to indulge in his darkest desires, choosing to hide behind his serum like a coward. However this became his fatal flaw and at the end of the day he could longer hide his true self.
Jekyll was originally more evil than good because when he created the potion he was concerned about pleasing himself than actually thinking the consequences that would happen by the creation of his experiment. The argument of reputation dealing with the novel of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is able to bring pros to it because would be able to describe the characters and show what they are good at. Based on the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers upon a conception of humanity as the deal of nature. Later on, Dr. Jekyll states that "men is not the truly one, but truly two", he also imagines that the human soul as the battleground for an angel and the fiend struggling for their own mastery. (Sparknotes Editors "Sparknote on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Sparknotes.com LLL.2003 Web 03 May 2016) Maria M Struzziero states that Dr. Jekyll is hiding a dark mysterious for emerging for the first time in Enfield 's words. It also shows that he admits that is not easy to describe adding that there is something wrong with his appearance something displeasing, downright and detestable. (Struzziero, Maria M "Dualism and Dualities- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Themes." Dualism and Dualities – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Themes N.P ND wed 04 May 2016) Another description could be that Mike Arnzen said A lot of emphases was put on "credit" or the reputation of the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Also said that "If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all the unbearable, and the unjust might go away" (Arnzen, Mike "The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Swe nightingale. N.P...11 Aug 2009. Web 04 May 2016) The analysis of data its ability to describe how the reputation of Jekyll and Hyde is. Shows that it 's allowing the readers to understand the insides of what they as being the protagonist and the antagonist. They are differing opinions that say that the angel gives ways permanently to Dr. Jekyll '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 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, to be worn and discarded like a thick cloak.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by author Robert Louis Stevenson is a novel about a man who
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,
Duality is a huge aspect in both of these works of literature. In Jekyll and Hyde Jekyll wanted to be able to cut loose and be able to be like someone who wouldn’t have been respected. He also wanted to be someone who was respected so he made a potion where he could be both; no one would disrespect Jekyll but
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