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Jekyll And Mr Hyde Character Analysis

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Never judge a book by its cover. This common idiom advises against making conclusions based on looks, but in Robert Louis Stevenson 's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, many readers use appearance to determine the morality of the characters. This deduction, while fitting for a book set in Victorian London where the practice was common, is not the intention of Stevenson. In the book, Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to separate his good and evil personalities. While his "evil" version has an inferior appearance, Dr. Jekyll cannot boast of having superior moral standing than Mr. Hyde. Using this novel, Stevenson critiques the Victorian social hierarchy and shows superficial deductions are not accurate through Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. …show more content…

Adhering to Lombroso 's beliefs is Mr. Hyde, a man who gives Enfield "a strong feeling of deformity, although [he] couldn 't specify the point" (Stevenson 5). Stevenson introduces this man to readers as someone so despicable he can run over a young girl without looking back. Based on the crowd 's and Enfield 's reactions to Mr. Hyde, his appearance is as deplorable as his behavior. This reaction emphasizes the power appearance has in creating assumptions. These people have only just met Mr. Hyde, but this singular action and his appearance are enough for the crowd to make judgments. As Darwin discusses in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, animalistic behavior and appearance are linked a more violent person (qtd. in Stevenson 157). Specifically, Darwin emphasizes the action of sneering, defining it as "uncovering the canine tooth on one side" (158). This facial expression draws attention to the mouth in a threatening manner, and the canine tooth has the association with dogs and wolves. Within the first chapter, Mr. Enfield notes Mr. Hyde as having "sneering coolness" (Stevenson 3) and being "easy and sneering" (4). These animalistic tendencies create a negative association towards Mr. Hyde, but beauty is not the best way to judge character in …show more content…

While Hyde 's morality is apparent in his appearance, Dr. Jekyll is not as morally superior as his looks may suggest. Opposed to Mr. Hyde 's abhorrent appearance, Dr. Jekyll has a "large handsome face" and an established, well-regarded reputation (Stevenson 19). The impression of Dr. Jekyll is one of good nature and respectability, but the doctor is a morally suspect character with his main flaw being selfishness. After the murder of Carew, Dr. Jekyll 's main concern is his reputation, which shocks Utterson (19). Mr. Utterson 's surprise at this comment reflects this idea of the time: a well-groomed man must be in good moral standing; therefore, this unashamed selfishness is surprising. In Julia Wedgewood 's review, she draws attention to Stevenson 's representation of "the individualizing influence of modern democracy in its more concentrated form" (qtd. in Stevenson 137). While Mr. Hyde performs the crimes, Dr. Jekyll is the one who freed this evil and maintains the responsibility for Mr. Hyde 's actions. In his letter, Jekyll admits to allowing his conscience to blame the incidents entirely on Mr. Hyde (Stevenson 46). Due to his selfish nature, Dr. Jekyll distances himself from Mr. Hyde to claim innocence and protect

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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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Jekyll is seen performing scientific practice, attempting to achieve a goal which can be argued to exceed his mental capacity. Dr. Jekyll wished to remove his dark side, tampering with the duality of man. He expressed hatred towards is his darker side. It shows this in the quote “many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as i was guilty of;... I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.”

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Jekyll lives his life as a good person with some evil and he struggles with this threw out the whole novella. Dr. Jekyll shows his good side

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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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Gabriel Ferguson Professor Matsen ENGL-2035-W01 9 April 2023 Sociopathy & Psychopathy in Literature Empathy. Just like any mental illness there are series of assumptions that are made against those who have psychopathy or sociopathy. This fear of both sociopaths and psychopaths has been commonly reflected in literature over the past several centuries and even continues to this day. People fear the darker aspects of themselves, and many pieces of literature reflect this ingrained societal fear of what lurks both within and without. “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, and “I Hold Your Hand in Mine,” by Tom Lehrer each convey characters that exhibit signs of sociopathy,

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In the morally ambiguous world, these two characters act out their roles with ruthless efficiency, executing vicious acts of violence within the pursuit of their own agenda. they're polar opposites, one a kind hearted soul striving toward personal growth and reform while the opposite a self-serving “dark triad” who others fear will destroy society itself. Jekyll and Hyde tells the story of 1 man's efforts to hide the evil in his heart. Jekyll is a man who can't accept himself, so he creates another person to take responsibility for all of his wrongdoing. The story demonstrates that there are times in one's life when one simply cannot stick out oneself, when one is dissatisfied with oneself, and when one is ashamed of oneself.

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Overall, Stevenson’s presentation of the duality of man is conveyed by the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde because towards the end of the novel. Jekyll begins to realise that the schism which once caused them to despise one another, help them understand each other situation. Jekyll even begins to ‘pity’ Hyde toward the end of novel, praising his ‘love for life’ by calling it ‘wonderful’, as his creator he consequently acknowledges the condescending attitudes towards Hyde, unfairly for his appearance, however rightfully so for his actions. Moreover, like Darwin’s theory, Hyde could never be accepted into society, often being characterised as a ‘brute’. Additionally, Jekyll’s actions would be condemned by the Victorian readers, as he was

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He is a deformed man, yet no one can outright express how deformed he looks, only that he has a sense of deformity. In an age where people judged others based on their looks rather than their character, Mr. Hyde’s appearance is able to show that Victorians were both

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After drinking a potion, he could change into Hyde, a person with no conscience. Soon, Jekyll is metamorphosing without taking the potion. Hyde later kills Sir Daniels Carew by beating him to death. Hyde continues to struggle with Jekyll and Jekyll continues to struggle with Hyde. In the end Dr. Jekyll must decide if he should take the life of both he and Mr. Hyde or if he should face the consequences for the evil that HE ultimately has committed.

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Jekyll ends up finding a shameful freedom in Hyde's acts. Jekyll, who is intelligent and widely respected, still has deep the desire to embrace his immoral side and ends up acting on it, giving in to his hidden

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The fact that Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published in the year after private male homosexual acts was made illegal […] Two characters that paint the most homosexual undertones are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Utterson. While Jekyll represents the negative and repressed views of homosexuality, Utterson is the opposite. Utterson’s characterization represents homosexuality that was tolerated in the 19th century. Through clever storytelling and characterization, Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is able to provide insight on how homosexuality was viewed in the 19th century.

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(Stevenson 1886, p. 10). The thought of human are different at different time. Sometimes, when they consider about good things, their faces will change friendly. Otherwise, ugly will present on their faces. There is an example in the text.

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or Is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures…”,(Stevenson 19), Stevenson is utilizing the popular Victorian phrase—troglodyte—in a Darwinian fashion to emphasize the primitive nature that is Mr. Hyde. Comparing that to the, “large handsome face” of Dr. Jekyll allows Stevenson to apply the Victorian belief that physical properties had a direct correlation to a person’s tendencies

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In this world today, people assume things just by looking at the appearance of a person or object. Physical descriptions and appearances represent a lot about someone and their personality, even back in the Victorian Era. In Robert Luis Stevenson’s novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he uses the physical description of Jekyll and Hyde to reflect good and evil. Jekyll’s physical appearance described in the book establishes the feeling of good. Dr. Jekyll hosts a dinner party for his friends and is introduced to the reader as “A large, well made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (Stevenson 17).

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Within the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, there stands a strange case of good versus evil. However, this story has no great villain or even a valiant hero, it has only a man fighting with his vices and dark urges and desires, which grow darker, more morbid and perverted at the novel goes on. Then, as a means to free himself of such darkness and “evil,” the man creates an antidote or rather cocktail of drugs to help him in such matter. Only problem being, the cocktail separates his psyche in two and with the two sides released from each other. The darkness the bad is allowed to grow and lash out unattended and unblocked.

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