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Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Research Paper

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In every person, there are two wolves battling within, one of light and one of darkness. The one that wins is the one that you feed. This proverb uncovers the Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. His novel can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers of tampering with the boundaries of human nature as scientists during the time were interested in the topic of duality. The contrast between the characters, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, is used by Stevenson to convey the duality that is present in human nature. The contrast in physical appearance between Dr Jekyll, the well-known and established scientist, and Mr Hyde, the unsettling and disfigured alter ego, serves as a symbol of …show more content…

Dr Jekyll’s behaviour heavily influenced his reputation as he was well known throughout London. Mr Enfield, the cousin of Mr Utterson, describes Dr Jekyll without directly referring to him as the “pink of the proprieties”. This quote and Victorian idiom, explain how Dr. Jekyll is someone who is absolutely beyond reproach, with a spotless reputation and is the least susceptible person. He also said in his letter that “I am safe in all men’s respect”. This shows us that he wanted to maintain his strong reputation while releasing his alter ego, presumably so people would not suspect him. Mr Hyde was also known throughout London, for all the wrong reasons. He seemed to not care about his reputation as he seemed to love complete freedom and no restraints. When he trampled over the child, Mr Enfield, along with others, told him that they would “make his name stink from one end of London to the other”. At this, Mr Hyde stood in the middle of the crowd with a black-sneering coolness as if he did not care. This indicates how important it was for Dr Jekyll to keep his good reputation, to never arouse any suspicion that he became Mr Hyde in the darkness. His struggle to maintain his good reputation highlights the struggle to balance the expectations of society with one’s inner desires. The contrast in reputation between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde highlights the complex relationship between morality and temptation, the duality within human nature, and the struggle between opposing

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He upholds the values that are expected of him in Victorian society. Stephenson shows this through Jekyll’s physical features (“a large, well-made, smooth faced man of fifty”) (Stephenson 35). His larger size and advanced age shows increased maturity and responsibility, hallmarks of his character. Being a doctor, he is required to live the way other upstanding people should live.

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Duality is the ghost of man. It haunts man in unperceivable matters such as the right and left brain (Melina par 1). Although duality may not make complete monsters out of humans, as seen in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, which is the first science fiction work (Stableford par 7), it can still summon unimaginable evils from within us all. This is especially seen in the Gothic and fictitious novella known as Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” This book contrasts his previous works such as Treasure Island, an adventure tale (Robert Louis Stevenson par 9); however, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is also an adventure tale in its own right.

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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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Much like the Minotaur, Hyde is violent and evil, he often attacked people who were just passing by him for no good reason other than to fulfill his evil desire to hurt people and cause harm. In the book Hyde beats Sir Danvers, a man who was just walking past him to death. Jekyll later recalls how he (Hyde) had felt after the murder “I mauled the unresting body, tasting delight in every blow...at once glorifying and trembling, my lust of evil gratitude and simulated my love of life.” Hyde’s intense pleasure after killing his victim shows how evil monsters are, they can kill without feeling any regret. Hyde is a pure evil being created through a scientific breakthrough.

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Dr. is thought of as having a high status, while Mr. is thought of as having a status that is much less than that of Dr. In the book, Dr. Jekyll acts like he is a good person and does not do things that result in negative consequences. However, when he is Mr. Hyde, he does terrible things, such as being disrespectful and even worse, killing people. This correlates to the thought of Dr. being better than Mr. Another example is the name Hyde. The name Hyde is the word hide with a “y” instead of an “i”. This symbolic thought makes sense because Hyde is Jekyll hiding.

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He relishes in his freedom from rules. Although Dr. Jekyll 's personality traits or basic humanistic qualities were split into very different people, he never lost that touch of Mr. Hyde when he was Dr. Jekyll. Rather, he had Mr. Hyde in him his whole life, it would seem, and just succeeded in annexing out Dr. Jekyll when he became Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde never considered how his actions were hurting people. Nevertheless, as Dr. Jekyll, he experienced guilt for what was considered moral shortcomings.

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The duality of human nature consists of the idea that humans battle between the admirable and immoral side of every-day life. In addition, humans battle their ego and self-doubt. Throughout the book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the reader can identify the theme of the duality of human nature. Dr. Jekyll’s outward appearance displays excellent human nature, but on the inside he embodies the corruptness of human nature. Dr. Jekyll desires immorality, but he does not want to suffer the consequences; therefore, Hyde appears in the book.

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“The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes” (13). We see in situations throughout the book that our initial opinions don’t always fall through. As the reader sees, Dr. Jekyll lives in a nice home that seems, to an extent, beyond normal. The outside of the house that is seen in the light, symbolizes the fake Victorian Era characteristics of Jekyll of which his true self is hidden. Beyond the door, the laboratory symbolizes the true hideousness of Jekyll beyond the surface or in other words, Mr. Hyde.

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He no longer threw gatherings for all his friends at his house, he was just sulking away in his quarters. This change in Jekyll was surprising to his peers because while they knew him, he had put on a look that concealed a whole other side to his nature. All along, he had this deep-down longing to be something else. Dr. Jekyll always believed that there was a “duality of man”, and if he could discover how to separate both identities of evil and good, then “life would be relieved of all that was

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‘Writing the body’ is a trope in literatures across cultures. Literature employs diverse images of the well-formed, the deformed, the anomalous, the abled and the disabled, human body to represent a plethora of ideas and thoughts. The novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde employs the body as a metaphor to exhibit the dual natures in a human being. R.L. Stevenson’s novel has become a seminal work in the discourse on dual selves subsequently. The phrase ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ has made its way in English dictionary to denote a person who has two distinct personalities, good and bad.

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Another point depicted in Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the actions of both identities during the time they are present. Mr. Hyde is on the go during the night time, while Dr. Jekyll is active during the day. During the night Mr. Hyde lurked around the corrupt part of London whereas, the distinguish Dr. Jekyll affiliated with the sophisticated wealthy part of London. Therefore, this is a clear indicator that shows specific details of the morality of Mr. Hyde as being bad or evil, and Dr. Jekyll as being good or pure.

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Mr. Hyde and Dr Jekyll majorly relates on the tale adapted from Robert Stevenson’s novella about a man who develops and takes a specific type of drug, which releases his evil side and turns him from a mild-mannered science man into a murderous maniac. As the plot goes on, his appearance changes along with the behavior. This paper analyzes this characters using Jeffrey Jerome’s concept as outlined in the “monster culture”. Discussion From this novel, it is apparent that Stevenson has demonstrated, through his characters, the concept of “Monster Culture” outlined by Cohen. For instance, Dr Jekyll a principle character in this novel is a man with two distinct personalities,

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In “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, the dualistic issue dominating the novel, coincide with the Freudian concepts of instincts and today is known as a strong example of Freudian personality theory in fiction. Freud believed that the psyche is built of three structures which battle for dominance; the id, the ego and the superego. By using his theory we are

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