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Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Duality Analysis

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In the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, an interesting duality is presented. Throughout the story, Jekyll and Hyde’s personalities clash, fighting for control, in turn exposing their true natures. Jekyll, a kind, well respected man is viewed by the town as being in an unfortunate arrangement with the nefarious Mr. Hyde. In actuality, Mr. Hyde may be the one getting the short end of the stick, as without being tied down to Jekyll, Hyde could be many times more powerful and wealthy than he already is. He may lack a key aspect to life that is the respect and kinsmenship that Jekyll receives, but because of his nature and that of 1880’s England, he hardly cares; old England was treacherous and strict, …show more content…

By his sheer drive, Hyde quickly becomes a very wealthy, well known, and infamous man in London. He pursues money and power ruthlessly, lacking empathy or courtesy, using any means to get what he desires. The effectiveness of Hyde cannot be denied, as he has already made what one could presume to be millions based off his lifestyle. Hyde’s reputation, however, has gone into the abyss, his profiting off the suffering of others does not sit well with any sound human within London, especially after the Carew murder, when the people were “crying it in the square” (Stevenson, 30) so loud that Jekyll sunkenly mumbled, “I heard them in my dining room.” (Stevenson, 30). Being as he is, Hyde does not mind the dislike from the people. His nature is heavily narcissistic, keeping his drive focused on his infamous status rather than his negligible respect. In a way, Hyde could be related to the drug, cocaine, as argued in the article “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Cocaine”. The drug was still somewhat new to England at the time and was widely frowned upon as it made abusers paranoid, spontaneous, and crazed, all characteristics associated with Hyde. This connection could also allude to his addiction for power, but not just social superiority. Hyde

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The notoriety of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has made the narrative about the duality of man humanity known even to those who have never open the book nor seen the famous film adaptation. However, though it may not be immediately apparent, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, at its core, a story of addiction. Britain’s Pharmacy Act of 1868 had sought to identify and eliminate the use of narcotics, and though the effects were largely beneficial at first, by the 1880’s, when Stevenson’s novella was first published, deaths related to opium were on the rise. It is no coincidence that the title character is a chemist, like those affected by the Pharmacy Act, nor is it a coincidence that he is the victim of an addiction.

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Significance of Reputation in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde illustrates the significance of concealing your secrets and desires in order to maintain a flawless reputation. He creates distinctive characters with various reputations and contrasts their abilities in retaining one. Stevenson emphasizes this through Hyde’s actions, when portraying Utterson’s flawless reputation, the contrasting vulnerability to desires between Utterson and Jekyll and the creation of Hyde.

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a mystery novella, is told through the eyes of Mr. Utterson, who, in appearance, is described as a “lawyer of a rugged countenance” (Stevenson 1). He is inexpressive and looks as if time has worn him thin. While he is loved by his close friends, he comes across as someone who is reserved. As the story progresses, Mr. Utterson struggles to allow himself to venture away from his traditional rational thinking and begin exploring his curious thoughts. Mr. Utterson holds the values of a Victorian gentleman.

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Temptation Ramifications In Stevenson's novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll gives Lanyon, his distant friend, a critical choice: he can take the potion Lanyon had helped him obtain or he can leave without any explanation. He says “will you be wise? Will you be guided?...or has the greed of curiosity too much commanded you...as you decide you shall be left …. neither richer nor wiser.”

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“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (3). Mr. Hyde ran over a young girl late into the night without feeling any guilt. Robert Louis Stevenson shows the archetypal theme of good and evil exists in all people in the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. Good and evil exist in all people and we struggle with these two forces. This is shown through Jekyll because he is good with a little bad in him, this is also shown through Hyde, who is evil with some good, and it is lastly shown with the lab because it brings good and evil into Jekyll’s life.

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1591 Words | 7 Pages

Robert Stevenson uses his protagonist’s, Dr. Jekyll, person versus self conflict to illustrate this point. Throughout the text, the reader learns that Dr. Jekyll was born into good fortune and was well-respected in society. However, the reader learns that it was not enough for him. He craves irregularities and he seeks a way to experience both sides of his identity without harming his reputation, which leads him to immoral experiments that bring out Hyde. To be specific, Jekyll states the following, “Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame” (Stevenson 55).

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And hitherto it was his ignorance of Mr. Hyde that had swelled his indignation; now, by a sudden turn, it was his knowledge. It was already bad enough when the name was but a name of which he could learn no more. It was worse when it began to be clothed upon with detestable attributes; and out of the shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there leaped up the sudden, definite presentment of a

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Hyde is a nasty individual who causes destruction everywhere he goes. Utterson, an astute individual who can understand people’s behavior very well, is instantly dismayed by the beast that is Hyde saying, “All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil,” (Stevenson 12). Pure evil is a very strong phrase and carries a lot of weight but according to Uterrerson it is true and Hyde is worth saying it about. On top of this, it is practically impossible not to find one good quality about someone but since Hyde was so jaded, disturbing, and revolting Utterson, a great judge of character, could not find any good in his life. Hyde is the pure embodiment of what a person becomes like on drugs, he causes havoc in the lives of innocent people and also his own.

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The relationship between Heart of Darkness and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can also represent the need for power. The reader can see this from Mr. Hyde who represents the evil identity which is different from Dr. Jekyll who has the more respected identity. Mr. Hyde becomes stronger and stronger as time goes by and eventually takes power over Dr. Jekyll. The struggle between good and evil here started by a potion that Dr. Jekyll concocted.

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So, perhaps Jekyll’s experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without his reputation as Jekyll being tarnished at all. Jekyll and Hyde are not the only examples of duality in this novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms as both a foggy, dreary and ‘nightmarish’ place, and a well kept, bustling center of commerce. Indeed, just as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society.

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In both Crime and Punishment and Pride and Prejudice, the reader is afforded a glimpse of the darker side of human nature. Raskolnikov’s shocking coldblooded murder of Alyona Ivanovna, an elderly pawnbroker, and her sister Lizeveta, reflect a degree of brutality almost unimaginable in a human being. Likewise, Miss Caroline Bingley, while certainly not guilty of crimes as grievous or horrific as Raskolnikov’s, betrays a similar sentiment of heartlessness in her treatment of the Bennet sisters throughout the plot of Pride and Prejudice. However, the nature of each character’s cruel actions remain remarkably different. Raskolnikov seeks to transcend the ethical conventions binding society and act as a conscience-free moral agent, whereas Caroline Bingley’s behavior is very much a product of institutionalized classism, and she acts wholly within the parameters which Victorian England’s strict

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He murdered Sir Danvers Carew. " Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and

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Hyde the embodiment of Jekyll’s repressed homosexuality, he also represents all of the negative aspects of being a homosexual in the 19th century. The most visible homosexual men in the 1800’s were middle to low class men and outsiders (Evans and Onorato). Hyde lives in the “dismal quarter of Soho” (Stevenson 22) which is described as a “dingy street [with] many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women […] passing out, key in hand, to have a morning glass” (Stevenson 23). This shows the reader that Hyde is indeed a man of low standings, which fits the stereotype of the 19th century gay man. Another key point is that Hyde is accused of blackmailing Jekyll by Enfield as he calls Hyde’s house the “Black Mail House”

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1170 Words | 5 Pages

In Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, Hyde represents threats to British society.

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1492 Words | 6 Pages

This distinct use of visual imagery creates a stark contrast between two seemingly different personas who will later be revealed to be different sides of Dr. Jekyll himself. The use of environment and setting also aids in distinguishing the two characters. When Mr. Utterson visits Hyde in his home, the surrounding environment is portrayed as a “dingy street” and “a gin palace” with “many ragged children huddled in the doorways” (Stevenson 1689). These images are symbolic of vice and poverty, all of which emphasise the perverse and deviant nature of Hyde as he commits several sins in the novel and is lacking in morals. On the other hand, Dr. Jekyll’s home is often depicted as “warmed by a bright, open fire”, “large”, and “comfortable” (Stevenson 1685), an embodiment of the Victorian outward respectability and “moral”

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