The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare both share the same theme of duality. They show that everything has two sides: good and evil. Both are great works of literature and even though two different authors write them, the themes intertwine. They are unique in their own ways but are similar in some aspects aswell. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson takes place in a Victorian culture. Stevenson probably chose this time period because it helped add to the theme of the story. Dr. Jekyll was a respected doctor with a lighthearted side. Because of this, he set out to find a way to create an opposite side that never got in the way. After continuously …show more content…
trying, he found a way to separate repulsive and rational. Stevenson implies during the book that humans fear the knowledge of duality so humanity forces it to remain silent. Jekyll decided that he wanted to have another personality exempt from all consequences. These sub-personalities show different passions within society. Stevenson writes, “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought that in that moments, braced and delighted me like wine” (pg. 129). This is the first transformation that takes place. Evil begins to take over and Jekyll no longer wants to be Jekyll, but he yearns for the evil that is Hyde. In Jekyll’s letter to Utterson, he says, “Hence it come 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 worlds, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity in life” (pg. 123). The powerful split in the characters between balanced and vile begins with “a certain impatient gainty of disposition” and Jekyll feels compelled to stay away from early along in his life. Because of this, Jekyll found a way to almost completely split his characters into his secret pleasures and what is acceptable by society. On page 125 in Stevenson’s book he says, “I was on the moral side and in my own person that 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 rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both”. By using the word “primitive” it is implied that he is describing the nature of man between good and evil. Stevenson also notes, “between these two, I now felt I had to choose” (pg. 141). Even thought Jekyll was in control, he had to decide between being respected or repelled by the Victorian society. Romeo and Juliet by Willaim Shakespeare also shows the theme of duality.
Shakespeare says, “O heavy lightness, serious vanity/ Misshapen chaos of well seeming forms/ Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health/ Still waking sleep” (I, i, 178-181). Shakespeare uses this series of oxymorons to display the love of the elusive Juliet. He uses highlights to array the emotional effect that is produced with the words such as “heavy lightness”, “hating love”, “bright smoke”, “cold fire”, and “sick health”. Friar Lawrence says, “The earth that’s nature’s mother in her tomb/ What is her burying grave that is her womb/ And from her womb children of drivers kind/ We sucking on her natural bosom find/ many virtues excellent/ None but for some and yet different” (III, iii, 9-14). With this quote, we see the qualities of both humankind and plants that composes of positive and negative or medicine and poison. Stevenson mentions in his book, “Evil besides (which I must still believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body in imprint of deformity and decay” (pg. 131). With this being said, it is suggesting that mankind’s evil side never truly leaves and it will always affect humankind’s soul. “It leaves an imprint of deformity” means that if and when the evil side abates, there will always be a piece that
remains. From Victorian times to present day, it does not seem like much progress has been made to determine these contrast and even considering that one is better than the other would be near impossible to figure out because of the fact that all of humanity carries good and evil within themselves. And even though these two stories are miraculously different in the plot, setting and tones, they both share the same theme; duality.
Thus in conclusion, the concept that texts are a reflection of their context is applicable in Robert Stevenson’s novella: “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. This is due to the values of the nineteenth century Victorian England such as technological advances, reputation and masculinity being reflected through the main characters of the text through Stevenson’s use of literary devices support.
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.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll, in grave danger, writes a letter to his good friend Lanyon. With Jekyll’s fate in Lanyon’s hands, he requests the completion of a task, laying out specific directions for Lanyon to address the urgency of the matter. In desperation, Jekyll reveals the possible consequences of not completing this task through the use of emotional appeals, drawing from his longtime friendship with Lanyon, to the fear and guilt he might feel if he fails at succeeding at this task. Through Jekyll’s serious and urgent tone, it is revealed that his situation is a matter of life and death in which only Lanyon can determine the outcome.
In this essay on the story of Jekyll and Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson I will try to unravel the true meaning of the book and get inside the characters in the story created by Stevenson. A story of a man battling with his double personality.
In many different types of stories, authors use their writing to critique stereotypes of their own countries, whether it be fiction or nonfiction. In both Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, they show the demise of a person and humanity. They both have prevalent themes of the struggle of power. Except, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in a power struggle of self-control, while in War of the Worlds the struggle is of humanity and the outside world. Both worlds, personal and humanity-wise, are overcome by other forces also trying to gain power. Both are forced to succumb and give in to the struggles they face. For example, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll struggles constantly with not allowing for Hyde to take over his life. He wants to keep his reputation clean, and he wants to be seen as a respectable man.
“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” is a novella written in the Victorian era, more specifically in 1886 by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. When the novella was first published it had caused a lot of public outrage as it clashed with many of the views regarding the duality of the soul and science itself. The audience can relate many of the themes of the story with Stevenson’s personal life. Due to the fact that Stevenson started out as a sick child, moving from hospital to hospital, and continued on that track as an adult, a lot of the medical influence of the story and the fact that Jekyll’s situation was described as an “fateful illness” is most likely due to Stevenson’s unfortunate and diseased-riddled life. Furthermore the author had been known to dabble in various drugs, this again can be linked to Jekyll’s desperate need and desire to give in to his darker side by changing into Mr Hyde.
Jekyll does deserve his final miserable fate because he commits several selfish deeds to the point where he brings his miserable fate upon himself. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses Jekyll to represent how man prioritizes by putting himself over others. Throughout the book, Jekyll’s two different sides are used to show that man is consistently selfish and will usually think of himself before others. Even though Jekyll has a good side and an evil side, both sides of him are selfish. Jekyll originally takes the potion for selfish reasons, Jekyll uses Hyde to conquer his own evil temptations, and in the end Jekyll gives into Hyde and completely gives up.
wrong, a lot like the way Mr Hyde was thought of. So to Mr Utterson,
When Nurse comes to tell Juliet what happened to Romeo and Tybalt, Juliet was really surprised. Juliet inquires “When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend, in mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?”(3.2.87-88), comparing good versus evil drawing attention to the fact that although Romeo’s actions were evil, referring to Romeo killing Tybalt over the murder of Mercutio, his outward appearance remained appealing. Due to Romeo’s grave offense, he is now considered as a “devil”, but his appearance is so beautiful. The theme of opposites show that Juliet is astonished of Romeo’s internal conflict and deceiving external appearances. She continues to wonder, “Was ever book containing such vile matter, so fairly bound?”(3.2.89-90). Juliet is now asking if there was ever a book containing unpleasant things have a beautiful cover, using the metaphor of a bound book comment on her lover. Juliet is really confused in this section because she never thought Romeo would kill someone due to his previously shown solicitous nature. Juliet is trying to reconcile how if anyone is good, they can commit a horrible act, like how Romeo killed Tybalt. The universal truth is that good people do bad things
Duality is a recurring theme in literature; both modern and classic works reference it in numerous ways. It is the idea that everything, no matter what, is two sided, hence it is called duality. There are two works of literature that are considered the best to represent what duality is and what it can stand for: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. These two discuss the effects of duality and the duality of the human nature. Good vs. evil: one of the most popular storylines to do.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a highly acclaimed novel, in which Jekyll is painted as the loving victim while Hyde is the murderous villain. In the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the fact of the matter is one is a psychopath born cold-hearted, while the other is a sociopath created by society. Anti-social disorder is at the crux of the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, which reveals the psychotic characteristics, deprived social relations, and *** of the psychopath, Dr. Jekyll, and the sociopath, Mr. Hyde.
The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a story set in nineteenth century England and focuses on Doctor Jekyll and his alternative personality, Edward Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson was born in the year 1850, in the midst of the Victorian era. Victorian Morality is the term that represents the moral of the people living in this time period. This concept supported sexual repression, low tolerance of criminal activity, and a strong social responsibility.
To begin with, Stevenson shows duality of human nature through society. During the Victorian era, there were two classes, trashy and wealthy. Dr. Jekyll comes from a wealthy family, so he is expected to be a proper gentleman. He wants to be taken seriously as a scientist, but also indulge in his darker passions.“...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 rightly be said/ to be either, it was only because I was radically both..."(125).
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shared the same body, but they didn’t share the same personalities nor physical, mental and morally. In the story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” A man name Henry Jekyll turn himself into a monster named Edward Hyde. Dr. Jekyll made a potion to create Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde then does things that Dr. Jekyll would never do. Mr. Hyde would go out only at night and do unspeakable things. They are clearly two different personalities because of their physical, mental and moral differences.
Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I have been reading the book Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The book was written by Robert Louis Stevens on during in the 19th century. This book was written during a time where Victorian society had a lot of strong moral values. These codes were very strict and controlled every aspect of the Victorian lifestyle. People in these times believed to settle things verbally rather than aggression so fighting was looked down upon.