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Relationship between dr jekyll and mr hyde
Short literary analysis of dr jekyll and mr hyde
Short literary analysis of dr jekyll and mr hyde
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“With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not one, but truly two”(Stevenson 42-43). According to Robert Louis Stevenson in his piece of literature and its them in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde there are two sides to a human mind. Stevenson beliefs that the human being has two sides, the good and the evil and how one is always more dominant than the other, either that be the good or evil. This belief is shown through one of the major character, Henry Jekyll, and what drove him to create the potion, to what extent he went to hyde his other side, and the …show more content…
To start with, when Hyde killed Sir Danvers for no apparent reason he went through with writing a letter in Hyde's name, “ “Well sir” returned the clerk, “there's a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped”(Stevenson 21). When Hyde murdered Sir. Danvers Hyde had to go into hiding and for no one to go looking for him Jekyll goes on and writes a letter on Hydes behalf saying that he will not be found and forever be in hiding and gives it to Mr. Utterson. Although, Utterson found it suspicious that it was not mailed but rather received personally, so he goes to a specialist and finds out it is Jekyll's handwriting at another angel. Additionally, another length that Jekyll went through to keep Hyde in the dark was by isolating himself, “On the 12th, and again on the 14th, the door was shut against the lawyer….On the 15th , he tried again and was again refused…… he found his return of solitude to weigh upon his spirit” (Stevenson 22). After Hyde had gone into hiding Jekyll went back to his old self and hanged out with his two friends, but when the side of him that he tried to repress, which is Hyde, came back into the picture he went back to isolating himself and shutting out everyone. Nevertheless, the lengths that Jekyll had to go through to hide Hyde , …show more content…
One example, of what consequences Jekyll had to pay for because of his other side, Hyde, was losing a childhood friends, “ “ I have had a great shock,” he said, “and I shall never recover. It is a question of weeks” (Stevenson 23). The consequence that Jekyll faced was that one of his childhood friend is dead because of him. When Hyde went to retrieve the drawer from Lanyon, the truth was revealed, Hyde and Jekyll were both the same person. This truth was too much for Lanyon therefore he died a few weeks later of the shock. Another example of what consequences Jekyll had to face for hiding Hyde was his own death, “Right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely contorted and still twitching. They drew near on tiptoe, turned it on his back, and beheld the face of Edward Hyde” (Stevenson 33). The biggest consequence that Jekyll had to deal with was payed with the death of himself. At the time that the body of Edward Hyde was found on the floor of jekyll's laboratory, it was not known that it was actually Jekyll who died as well. Hydes side that he controled got bigger and more dominant leading for higher dosages of the potion but in the end it did no good, he was stuck as Hyde and for that he decided he'd rather die. Nonetheless, it is seen through the consequences that Jekyll had to face, that there are two sides to all
However, as the same happens much too often in real life, Jekyll is unable to keep this promise. He has already sunken too far into his addiction and it completely controls him, which Stevenson brilliantly illustrates as Hyde gains strength and begins to take over. As Hyde becomes stronger, he usurps Jekyll's body, mind, and life - just as drugs and alcohol often do to addicts, who sometimes lose their jobs, their possessions, and their friends. Jekyll finds himself turning into Hyde spontaneously, so he has to seclude himself from society, and give up his existence as Jekyll. His addiction has gotten so out of hand that his life has been completely destroyed; he is beyond resolution, since the only way to combat his problem is to kill Hyde, thereby killing himself.
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).
To conclude the way that Stevenson has described Hyde and what Jekyll has done in most parts he has related it to the devil which in Victorian times was considered very dangerous, even though today he’s not considered that powerful it would still make a big impact. Stevenson has been successful in using many elements of a shocker/thriller to write a novella with a much deeper moral significance because every aspect of the story relates back to the Victorian morals of 1837 till 1901 and for a 21st century reader some parts of the novella will make them think what is really happening around them now and whether it is right or not!
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
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 most prominent character in the story is the mysterious Mr Hyde. Edward Hyde is introduced from the very first chapter when he tramples a young girl in the street, which brings the reader’s attention straight to his character. The reader will instantly know that this person is a very important part of this book and that he plays a key role in the story. This role is the one of a respectable old man named Dr Jekyll’s evil side or a ‘doppelganger’. This links in with the idea of duality. Dr Jekyll is described as being ‘handsome’, ‘well-made’ and ‘smooth-faced’. On the other hand, Mr Hyde is described as being ‘hardly human’, ‘pale and dwarfish’, giving of an impression of deformity and ‘so ugly that it brought out the sweat on (Mr Enfield) like running’! These words all go together to conjure up an image in the mind of an animal, beast or monster. During the novel...
Jekyll was a lower class citizen, like Mr. Hyde. Unlike Jekyll, Hyde has the sole privilege of being dismissed and unnoticed because he is of a lower class. According to Martin Danahay, author of “Dr. Jekyll’s Two Bodies”, Jekyll wears the body of Hyde “as if Mr. Hyde were a pair of pajamas that he would wear while sleeping in one location, but not the other” (23). Essentially, he could take a nap as Jekyll, wake up as Hyde, and spend the evening in opium den after opium den, experiencing different forbidden pleasures other than sodomy. Dr. Jekyll enjoys his new found freedom through Hyde at first, but soon grows weary of it when Mr. Hyde takes over whenever he wants. As Hyde grows into more power, he becomes reckless and starts leaving messes for Jekyll to clean up. More messes means a greater chance of being exposed, and having his gentlemanly reputation ruined. It makes sense as to why Dr. Jekyll kills himself and Hyde in the end. According to Sanna, Jekyll is “no longer able to revert to his good and distinguished aspect and personality” and commits suicide to avoid social condemnation (36). Jekyll kills himself because he can no longer control Hyde’s lust for wickedness, and he is tired of trying to keep up the appearance of someone he is not in a society where men having a need for certain pleasures is frowned upon. And, because Jekyll cannot control his need for these pleasures, he would rather die than be made a fool
Hyde kills Sir Danvers due to Jekyll’s attempt to repress him from coming out, Jekyll is imprisoned in his house because he realizes that he could no longer be Hyde in public. From this point onward, light is brought to the matter of Jekyll’s uncontrollable desire to be this detestable man and the reckless nature takes control due to its rush. When Hyde killed Sir Danvers, he needed to hide himself from sight and become confined but he could not confine Hyde because that was what gotten him into this predicament in the first place. He felt imprisoned in both being forced to be Jekyll and having to hide himself from his friends in case Hyde took over at any given point. This is analogous to having a drug addiction because just as somebody would want to hide their persona when on drugs, Jekyll is hiding Hyde. This additionally takes over their body and can affect them randomly and uncontrollably, just as Hyde affects Jekyll. In addition, this scene reveals how cruel Mr. Hyde because Jekyll says that when Hyde killed Danvers, he was “With the transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight for every blow; and it was not till weariness had begun to succeed that I was suddenly in on top of my delirium, struck through the heart by a cold thrill of terror” (49). Jekyll has now begun to have good feelings while being Hyde, even though he does regrettable things in an uncontrolled and selfserving
For this reason I’ll be explaining Jekyll’s mental health. Jekyll has as what we now call Multiple Personality Disorder; “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 be rightly said to be either, it was only because I was radically both,” Stevenson 57.) The disease was first discovered by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He would ask patients symptoms that he found common in MPD. Many patients know about their alternate personality but refuse to acknowledge it’s existence. In some cases they may even refer to it as a separate person entirely. In this case Jekyll is very much aware of his alternate personality, going as to so far as to willingly change into him. However despite this he also categorizes Hyde into a separate being. For example when Hyde does something unappealing or distasteful he blames it on a separate person. Consciously though he is aware that he is Hyde and Hyde is him. (MD, Arnold Lieber. "Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder." PsyCom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986. Vertical Health LLC, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016).
Jekyll hid away due to his fear of being found out. When Jekyll “was seized again with those indescribable sensation that heralded then change”, he went to “shelter” in his “cabinet” before he was “raging and freezing with the passions of Hyde” (64). For he was scared for the punishment he would receive if he was found out. Such as blackmail, losing standing in his community, while also receiving life imprisonment or death from the state. With this going on and his good friend Mr. Utterson trying to find out why he was gone, Jekyll was always stressed. When Utterson and Poole barged through the door, Jekyll couldn’t be seen for what he was. He hid his true authentic self to the very end. For when Utterson called Jekyll a “‘self-destroyer’ Utterson concludes, not only because he has killed himself, but because it is self-destructive to violate the sexual codes of one’s society”(Showalter 113). For the main reason, Jekyll ended his life was because he went against what was societal norms during the time. He was gay and that was illegal. Which is why he had a double life as Hyde. Which finally led him to become a self-destroyer,
When Jekyll first turns into Hyde, he feels delighted at his newfound freedom. He states: "... And yet when I looked upon /that ugly idol in the glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, /rather of a leap of welcome..."(131). Now he could be respected as a scientist and explore his darker passions. Stevenson shows duality of human nature through society.
Though Hyde is pure evil, Jekyll is not pure goodness; he is still the same old conflicted mix of both good and evil. To cover his tracks, Jekyll rented a room for Hyde, opened a bank account in his name, and explained to his household servants that Hyde was to be allowed to freely come and go through the house. Hyde was even made Jekyll’s sole heir. At first, Jekyll delights in having his alter ego. Through Hyde, he can live out his fantasies of doing whatever he pleases, with no consequences, seeing as how he has but to drink the potion to make Hyde disappear. No accountability for Hyde’s
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Having curiosity is a wonderful thing. The trick is to be wise with it. If one cannot conquer their own wonder, how can they conquer life? They cannot. This is why Jekyll parishes, he was curious, but not fully wise. Duality is well known throughout the world. There is good and evil all around people, they just have to be observant. Dr. Jekyll was well aware of his co-mingled person; he just was not the best at knowing how to deal with it. There was more to Jekyll than just Hyde, much more. He was not just a puzzled man with evil in his heart; he was also insightful and remorseful deep in himself. Stevenson wrote this novel with a purpose. “The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish” (Robert Louis Stevenson). Stevenson strives for individuals to accept the inevitable dualities of their beings, not to fear it, but to embrace it. Being one-sided is boring; having personalities is a beautiful thing. Though, they must be cautious with their soul, and maintain control to an extent. There will always be ones who stray too far, but if done right the individual has created such a unique being in themselves. That’s what is needed. That’s what Stevenson is saying. If people are to be co-mingled of all these opposite forces, they need to bring themselves to a balance to create a successful world. Consider the fact that everyone is a Dr. Jekyll, struggling with themselves. Some just happen to even themselves out more effectively than others. Everyone is a Dr. Jekyll. The sooner they recognize this, and learn to balance themselves, the more productive they shall be for themselves and
Jekyll’s intention to create his other half, in order to free him from the temptation of evil, instead causes him to become obsessed with the deeds he was able to do. He uses the part of him that, even disguised as Mr. Hyde, was still Dr. Jekyll to control just how much Hyde did or did not do. However, instead of using Hyde to stop himself from performing these unthinkable acts, Jekyll allows Hyde to continue with his rampaging. The first time that Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde he realizes that this person was not the man he had thought he had known himself to be: “I lingered but a moment at the mirror: the second conclusive experiment had yet to be attempted; it yet remained to be seen if I had lost my identity beyond redemption and must flee before daylight from a house that was no longer mine” (45). Jekyll knows that perhaps he is no longer the man he had been but in fact this new him that he did not know. Dr. Jekyll’s conscious remembrance that he was doing an experiment and that he had to make sure it had worked before he could do anything else, proved that after the potion to turn the one man to the other was taken the man that was replaced still had conscious knowledge of what was occurring to and around his body. Jekyll’s knowledge of Hyde’s actions also allows him to realize when he becomes addicted to the potion. Jekyll goes so far with his love for this other half that he takes on the role of Hyde as if he were in a stage play, finding enjoyment in the new
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.