In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is regarded that these identities are two different persons but this is not the case, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one in the same. There is much confusion when reading this literary work by Robert Louis Stevenson; this piece is regarded as horrific and disturbing in many ways. But the biggest twist is when it is reveled to the reader that these two people are the same and that below the surface of Dr.Jekyll is an evil man who enjoys committing evil acts. Mainly that Dr. Jekyll believes he has no choice but to commit these horrid acts because he has no control over is evil side. I don’t believe this is the case, Hyde isn’t a real person and doesn’t exist, nor is he someone who commits Jekyll’s sins for him; Jekyll is in control of his own actions. The story itself is about a respectable doctor that tries to separate a man’s good side from his bad; he succeeds in this after creating a concoction which he drinks and somehow “turns” into Mr. Hyde. Each time the concoction is taking Hyde’s actions get more horrific such as trampling a young child, and brutally murdering the well-respected Sir Danvers Carew. What pushes the idea that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same and that Jekyll has total control is that at the end of the novel Jekyll takes his own life to “stop” Hyde from taking total control over him, which shocked most readers. I believe Jekyll had complete control of himself the whole time, and he would have been able to control what happened to himself and others because of his actions. In the narrative of this novel, it begins to greatly depict the anxieties of Stevenson’s age. During the Victorian era, which is when Stevenson lived it became a time of unparalleled industr... ... middle of paper ... ...ay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end." (Chapter 10) Ultimately, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde serves to warn humanity of the possibility (and perhaps the inevitability) of evil resisting the repression of good. We all have a good and bad side, and it is up to us to not allow one side to overpower the other. Works Cited "A study in dualism: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. 1677-1720. Print. "Dr. Jenkyll and Mr. Hyde 2010." 3 KAA SMK Meru 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
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.
In this essay I am going to look at Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll, the first
As Jekyll reached adult hood, he found himself living a dual life. He had become more curious in discovering his other side. Jekyll insists, “Man is not truly one, but truly two” (125). This eventually led Jekyll into the scientific interests of separating his good and evil side, and he finds a chemical concoction that transforms him into a more wicked man, Edward Hyde. At first, Hyde was of pure impulse, but in the end, he became dominate and took control over Jekyll. Jekyll had never intended to hurt anyone, but he was aware that something could potentially go wrong. Jekyll presumes, “I knew well that I risked death, for any drug that so potently shook the very fortress of identity… utterly blot that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change” (127-129). One could say this makes Jekyll equally as menacing as Hyde. Jekyll couldn’t control the imbalance between the two natures. Jekyll foolishly allowed his evil side to flourish and become stronger. This is shown when Jekyll has awoken to find that he has turned into Hyde without taking the solution. Jekyll says, “But the hand in which I now saw, clearly enough in the yellow light of a mid- London morning…It was the hand of Edward Hyde” (139).
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.
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.
“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.
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,
Shmoop Editorial Team, ‘Mr. Gabriel Utterson in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,’ Shmoop University, Inc., 11 (2008) < http://www.shmoop.com/jekyll-and-hyde/mr-gabriel-utterson.html> (accessed December 6, 2013).
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.
Stevenson, Robert. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Longman, Green and Co., 1886. Print.
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
The novella was published in1886, placing it in terms of history toward the end of the Victorian era. The Victorian
Stevenson, Robert L. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The Norton Anthology of