Comparing Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde By R. L. Stevenson

Many young kids get scared of what is in the dark, leading them to sprint up the stairs after shutting the lights off, or believe that something is hiding in the closet or under their bed, or even during a storm when the wind is blowing and they see shadows coming through the window. When kids are told to imagine a monster, they all picture something different. Some will picture a giant, scary monster, and others picture a cute and fluffy one. In literature novels, monsters are depicted to be cruel and frightening, which creates a new level of horror for the readers. Some readers think of monsters as characters who are depicted and have features of monsters, but in reality it can also be a regular character who has a few monster characteristics.

Hyde from the novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L. Stevenson, connecting to the monster Frankenstein in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein both represent the uncontrollable actions of human nature. According to the article “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Dr. Jekyll uses Mr. Hyde as an “alter ego” for his own evil actions and his inhuman responses to certain situations “especially between private and public selves.”(Lebeau, 2024) This is similar to the creature in Frankenstein because they both represent the dark aspects of scientific experiments that the creators do not think of until it is too late. Both Dr. Jekyll and Victor had a sense of regret in creating the monsters when they saw that their creations develop the evil side. An example of this is in Frankenstein, where Victor has fully created and regretted his creation is when he says, “...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley, 56) When authors use these “monsters” it cautions the readers of the dangers of trying to overstep the boundaries of creating a new life or trying to undergo changes to be someone

Jekyll switches into Mr. Hyde, who is another human being, therefore it is a person to person change. This change is different in the Twilight story because it is a person switching into an animal, Werewolf, leading the animal to be known as the monster. The werewolf switches when the full moon comes out, whereas Mr. Hyde’s switch occurs when Dr. Jekyll wants to give into evil acts. According to J.J. Park in his article “The 21st Century Werewolf Monster,” he states that “the character Scott becomes a werewolf at night and he knows how dangerous he is, which is what keeps him from telling his family”. (jpark, 2018) This situation is very similar to the situation of the creature Frankenstein because Victor, the creator of the monster, knows how dangerous and how much trouble the creature has caused, therefore he tries to hide it from others and will not take the blame for any of the creature actions such as when the creature murders a few of the characters. In literature not only is the werewolf considered a petrifying monster, but so is Grendel from the epic poem Beowulf. According to Britannica, “Grendel descended from Cain and was an