Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based in the Victorian era, which was a time when hypocrisy was rampant. “Insincerity” was not the mark of a bad man; in fact it was what one needed to practice in order to blend with society and to have a decent reputation. Today one may think of hypocrisy as a bad character trait, where as the Victorians would have thought of being improper the same way. Therefore the Victorians were actually hypocrites, because the alternative was to be honest, and as a result improper. The pressures of “conformity, moral pretension, and evasion” made up Victorian hypocrisy (Houghton 146-149); furthermore they are also the very things that pushed Dr. Jekyll to create an alter ego, Mr. Hyde, and are what caused him to eventually be taken over entirely. Dr. Jekyll found that the expectations to stay in line and not show his inner desires were hard to control, so he created an outlet for them, Mr. Hyde. In a new society conventions determine whether or not one fits into society or is out casted from it (Houghton 147). To Dr. Jekyll, these proprieties were tedious and difficult to manage: “I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and bear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public” (Stevenson 48). Houghton states that individuals in Victorian society were inclined to avoid behavior that “might make him look like an outsider or upstart” (147). In the form of Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll was able to gain relief from the cultural pressures to act and behave a certain way. He could finally escape the demands that he faced on an everyday basis. Dr. Jekyll had done what he needed to do to “avoid social stigma” in his public life (147): “Men have hired bravos to transa... ... middle of paper ... ...principles that surrounded him in the hypocrisy of Victorian life. He wanted to conform to society, act like he was faultless, and hide his inner desires. However, he took joy in his feelings of impropriety, and he did not want to let them go. He succeeded in creating the evil Mr. Hyde, but he still felt a yearning to be imperfect as Dr. Jekyll, which caused Mr. Hyde to gain power over Dr. Jekyll, and take over his free will. In the end, all Dr. Jekyll had control over was whether he lived or died, so he took his and Mr. Hyde’s life. Dr. Jekyll died in the form of his own evil double, Mr. Hyde. Works Cited Houghton, Walter. “[Hypocrisy].” Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Katherine Linehan. New York: Norton, 2003. 146-49. Print. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Katherine Linehan. New York: Norton, 2003. Print.
Jekyll came to the realization that he could use Mr. Hyde to fulfill his desire to continue his experiments on the boundaries of human compassion without sullying his hard-attained reputation. Dr. Jekyll, being the society man that he was, was unable to release his true passion when it comes to his anger. Mr. Hyde’s lose grip on reality made it easy for him to erupt in long repressed anger; as is described in the book: “all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping his foot, brandishing his cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman” (14). Dr. Jekyll would never let his anger get that far away from him, his close kept grip on his emotions made it even more enjoyable to be Mr. Hyde because he could let go of all the pent up rage he’d held inside for so long. However, his previous experience as Dr. Jekyll made it significantly easier for him to function in society and pass off as a respectable man, even if Mr. Hyde could make a person run at first glance. This respectability was not overlooked when an elderly man came into contact with Mr. Hyde in the dead of night: “When they had come within speech (which was just under the maid’s eyes) the older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness” (14). Dr. Jekyll’s past experiences of societal politeness and Mr. Hyde’s ability to let go of his emotions and let his human instincts take over, makes it very easy for Mr. Hyde to get away with things that Jekyll
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. First Vintage Classics Edition. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publishing, Inc., 1991.
Stevenson focuses on two different characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but in reality these are not separate men, they are two different aspects of one man’s reality. In the story, Dr. Je...
Robert, Stevenson L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publications, 2013. Print.
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,
Stevenson Robert L., Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales. (USA: oxford university press, 2008)
Jekyll plays man as a whole, good and bad, he was “wild” and also “smooth-faced” at the same time. Both characters lack vital emotional outputs that make humans socially, even though the psychopath is more cunning than the sociopath. “…lack of conscience, remorse or guilt for hurtful actions to others….There may be an intellectual understanding of appropriate social behavior but no emotional response to the actions of others” (“Psychopath vs. Sociopath” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Psychopath_vs_Sociopath). Both are social defaces, and cannot be helped; however to the naked eye, these two characters are savage. Both victims of anti-social disorder are lacking factors that make humans acceptably sociable, one lacking empathy while the other lacks sensibility. Diffen, a website, tells us, “Psychopaths…lack of empathy; no conscience…sociopaths…high impulsivity” (“Sociopathy versus Psychopathy” -- http://www.diffen.com/difference/Sociopathy_versus_Psychopathy). Dr. Jekyll shows no empathy by using and manipulating people close to him, and Mr. Hyde, as intended, has no sensibility to act with caution resulting himself in trouble for barbaric actions. This, in turn shows the comparison and contrast of the psychopathic creator and his sociopathic creation which in reality are two halves to a whole.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson, 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.
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
... 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.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a scientist, Dr. Jekyll, creates an alter ego using a draught in order to escape the harsh views of society. As Mr. Hyde, he commits heinous crimes against citizens and becomes addicted to the perception of freedom from Victorian laws. Best stated by Norman Kerr about addiction, “there is an inebriety derangement of the mental faculties, so that the consciousness, perception, reasoning, power, and conscience are impaired” (Kerr 138). The character Dr. Jekyll illustrates the condition of addiction in the Victorian era through the motifs of the obsession with appearance and duality. Dr. Jekyll’s obsession with appearance causes him to become addicted to the character Mr. Jekyll himself.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both different is morality. Both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have highly different morals. For example Dr. Jekyll’s morals are to contain the evil inside him and to keep his good side away from his bad side. Eventually Dr. Jekyll’s for trying to isolate his evil side it took over him. Dr. Jekyll’s mind was too weak that is how Mr. Hyde took over. Which now lead to Mr. Hyde’s evil mind, Mr. Hyde is the evil side to Dr. Jekyll and now he has full control. Mr. Hyde is the moral downfall of Dr. Jekyll.
Henry Jekyll’s innermost vices, but since he held himself to an extremely high standard of moral excellence, he needed to find another way of releasing. He creates Hyde as his way of getting these primal urges out. During this time period, the focus on reputation and credibility was huge, and this is how men were judged. He had many urges that he was internally repressing, as a result of existing in the Victorian era, which was well known for how incredibly stuffy and repressed it was. Jekyll was widely respected in the community as a doctor and he had many friends, so it is understandable that he didn’t want to lose his reputation, which came first for men of his social standing in this time period. He went to great lengths to create and cover for Hyde, including renting a place for Hyde to live, and making a bank account for his alter ego. The creation of Hyde turns out to be way more sinister than Jekyll initially imagined. Hyde’s own name is a pun, as he is the part of Jekyll that he must keep hidden away for fear of
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a little different then Frankenstein in a way that the monster isn’t identified as a monster as much for his appearance as he is for his actions. Dr. Jekyll was a scientist and as a scientist he had to keep and good name but he didn’t want to be good he want to be bad. So, he decided he would have two personalities. Thinking that if he had two personalities he could be good and evil. He made a potion that transforms himself into a man without a conscience. So, He could do all those bad things that he wanted to do but then had a way to cover it up by saying it was someone else. But, eventually this plan got out of hand yes, he had two personalities of Dr. Jekyll being the good doctor and then Mr. Hyde being the murder, but he started no being able to control when he was Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. He fears that he will turn into Jekyll permanently. Society doesn’t except this because your not supposed to be two different people. Trying to be two different people is monstrous because that just doesn’t happen and him to think that is okay is monstrous. Also, for him to murder people makes him a monster. By Dr. Jekyll’s friend starting to get suspicious about this situation drive Dr. Jekyll to worry then, he turns back to Mr. Hyde and thinks it’s a good idea to kill himself. So, society drove his monstrosity to kill himself, which made him to continue to be a