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Comparing Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde By Robert Stevenson

937 Words4 Pages

In Stevenson’s novel, the titular Dr. Jekyll is a well-honored individual who is revealed to have a secret persona, Mr. Hyde, who is an embodiment of his evil. In Wilde’s, the titular Dorian Gray is a high-class gentleman who has a painting of himself that takes the consequences of his aging and sins instead of himself, and he becomes increasingly immoral because of it. In both “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Stevenson, the authors demonstrate how the Victorian culture of repression could bring out the worst in humanity, even in some of the best, most respectable people. Both texts are written and set in Victorian England, and both have strong themes of societal pressure …show more content…

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this is shown in many ways, with “Utterson's repressed personality and his friends' appreciation of it provide a good example of the rigid patterns of conduct followed by many middle-class Victorians” (Perkins), as well as Jekyll’s own. The culture of the time encourages the people to uphold specific standards in their actions, moral but simple and toned down. Jekyll can put up an act, but in actuality he doesn't live up to those expectations. After discovering the possibility of the drug, “the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm” (Stevenson) at the true moral implications of the change. He is so Whitmer 2 desperate for an alternative, a way to express his internal thoughts and desires that aren't acceptable, that he jumps at the opportunity to do so. Meanwhile, the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the book itself, was written in response to the culture of hiding and acting more respectably. Wilde’s purpose was to criticize the veneer, that “Victorian morality did not radically transform citizens' behavior but merely forced them to camouflage their baser instincts” (Schmitt). He was against the hypocrisy of the time, and so he wrote about a character living in that state who was brought to

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In chapter 1, Stevenson portrays My Hyde as a brutal and sadistic man, which is show when Mr Enfield explains to Mr Utterson his story which occurred outside the strange-looking door, ‘The man trampled calmly over the child’s body’ The adverb ‘calmly’ shows that My Hyde trampled over the poor child without agitation or any strong emotion. I find this act very detestable and brutal as he is physically abusing a young girl, without any care as he walked on. This also makes us feel like it’s not his first time doing this as he continued walking despite the screaming the child was making. Furthermore, he seemed to handle all the aggravation and hate pretty smoothly by giving them money and as we have learned that in the Victorian era, there were

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1) Thesis: In Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author preserves the Victorian era principle of reputation. 2) Evidence: After the man knocks over the small child, the man responds to Mr. Enfield’s threat of making “‘his name stink from one end of London to the other’” with, “‘No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene’” (3).

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233 Words | 1 Pages

In The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Louis Robert Stevenson utilizes differences in the city and surroundings of London to contrast between Jekyll and Hyde, nice and bad respectively. During Mr. Utterson’s walk with Mr. Enfield, it is said that the alley they occupied is “thriving” and “the inhabitants were all doing well” (Stevenson 6). The nature of this location is similar to that of Jekyll. He was thriving, quiet, and was doing well. A few steps later, the duo run into “a certain sinister block of building thrust forward” that “bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence” (Stevenson 6).

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525 Words | 3 Pages

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” because the story takes place in Victorian England we see that the characters have no room for expression of emotions or violence. Everything they do is secret, so the more Dr Jekyll is repressed, the more he wants to be Mr Hyde. The original characteristics of Henry Jekyll are reflected as “...life of effort, virtue, and control” (pg. 172) because, most of his life his vice activities were maintained a secret. According to Jekyll, when evil is separated into one body, one will not know right from wrong because there is no conscious in a being of complete evil which was Hyde for

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1178 Words | 5 Pages

Everyone has, once in their lives, gone through the troubles of right and wrong within themselves and how they affect others through their decisions. In "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson, the protagonist, Dr. Jekyll, struggles with the consequences of his dual identity. He has created a potion that transforms him into the malicious Mr. Hyde, representing the darker aspects of his personality. It’s shown that throughout the novel, the coexistence of right and wrong in a person’s identity, also known as the duality of man, can lead to both internal and external conflict between oneself and others. In chapter 2’s setting, changes are unveiled when Mr. Utterson has his first interaction with Hyde, where his timid

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The story has been adapted into various film versions over the years, but one of the most famous adaptations is the 1931 movie starring Fredric March as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this film adaptation, the story is changed in several ways, while still retaining the novel's central themes. One of the most significant differences between the novel and the film is the portrayal of Mr. Hyde. In the novel, Hyde is described as a small, deformed man, while in the film, he is depicted as a handsome and charismatic man, with dramatic makeup to show his sinister side. Another significant difference between the novel and the film is the portrayal of the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde.

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He is at the will of Mr. Hyde, and despite consciously knowing what happened to Hyde, he could not stop what was to come. Struggling to subdue his drive to enact evil actions, Dr. Jekyll subconsciously scapegoats Mr. Hyde as the culprit rather than himself. Similarly, Patricia Comitini describes the essence of Dr. Jekyll as an addict. She also elaborates on how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn’t the most significant dyad, but Jekyll and Utterson, as Dr. Jekyll is someone struggling with an addiction, similar to the culture during the Victorian Era, and Utterson who is considered “unaddictable” and she frames her lens around Jekyll and Utterson being contrasting figures, not Jekyll and Hyde (Comitini 113). This new lens brings light to the hypocritical

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Gothic literature has seen a variety of characters with unstable and deteriorating mental states, often illustrated by a descent into madness. This can begin and end with anything, but in the cases of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, this fall begins with desire and ends with a complete change in identity on the part of the main character. The two novels have some key differences, mainly in specific character motivations - Henry Jekyll is driven mad and corrupted by his desire to act in ways that are immoral and unbecoming of someone of his status, while Dorian Gray is a man who is ultimately altered by his longing for eternal pleasure and beauty. Neither man

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A dark and gothic tale about secrets and identity, scholars have read the novella through a variety of lenses. But the most compelling lens is to view the novel as a commentary on the dangerous life of homosexuality - where Jekyll is the closeted version of men in proper society.

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1316 Words | 6 Pages

In this chapter, Dr. Jekyll experiments with a potion he has created, hoping to separate his good and evil sides. However, the experiment goes awry, and he transforms into Mr. Hyde, a sinister and immoral persona. Hyde goes on a rampage, committing a series of heinous acts. Meanwhile, Utterson, a close friend of Jekyll, becomes increasingly suspicious of Hyde's actions and tries to uncover the truth behind his connection to Jekyll. This chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book as the mystery deepens and

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925 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comprise of notoriety, great versus shrewdness and harm control. At the end of the day, Utterson resolutely attempts to keep his closest companion Dr. Jekyll from being dragged into the repulsive issues of Mr. Hyde, and Dr. Jekyll experiences the best of lengths to keep his Hyde personality from being found, so as to maintain a strategic distance from anybody knowing about his to some degree flawed logical work and ethically wretched conduct. A great part of the novel depends on the characters ' notorieties, how they need to keep up a decent open picture, as they are high society individuals. The novel happens in Victorian England and the principle characters are for the most part male individuals from high society

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395 Words | 2 Pages

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde itself does not talk about drug use, but it is considered an allegory for drug use and addiction, which is its theme. Mr. Hyde and Jeykll are used to symbolize and represent Robert Louis Stevenson’s real issues. Dr. Jekyll is a professional lawyer who uses his skills in a good way for his community. He is described as a “handsome, well-made, and smooth-faced man”. In contrast, Mr Hyde is described as “pale, dwarfish, and hardly human looking”.

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868 Words | 4 Pages

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story of a man who has two different personalities living in the same body. The two personalities are totally opposite from one another and you never see them at the same time. The two personalities are so different that friends of Dr. Jekyll cannot tell that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. Dr. Jekyll is a respectable and honorable man from a wealthy family.

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Drugs are like mirrors of light. In both ways, they offer reflections into one’s true soul, and although they may negatively influence one’s point of view, both can promote discovery through careful insight. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the audience and Utterson discover Jekyll’s last letter explaining his experiences with the transformation substance, a full formula write-up on the drug, and an explanation for creating the antidote, as the audience must decide on whether they should preserve the information for scientific discovery or if individuals must destroy it to prevent disaster. Although one may argue that the drug is too dangerous to be in humanity’s grasp, scientists must preserve Dr. Jekyll’s transformative

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561 Words | 3 Pages

At first, the social constraints of the world are lifted from Jeckyll, or so it seems. When Hyde’s influence grows stronger, Jeckyll has less control over his darkest thoughts and even darker impulses. Therefore, this evolution of a symbol creates a bridge to moral wrongdoings and serves as a poetic warning of unchecked desires. Jekyll’s anger and pure unhappiness is depicted through other perspectives, such as the maid said, “but he never answered a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman” (Stevenson).

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