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Analytical essay the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hydeby robert louis stevenson
Essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde
Analytical essay the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hydeby robert louis stevenson
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Many men of the period, as shown through Mr Utterson, were very concerned about the way that they appear to society, Mr Utterson for example ‘drinks gin’ ‘to mortify a taste for vintages’. However, Mr Hyde is primarily described by his actions rather than his physical appearance, the first encounter with Mr Hyde is when he ‘trample[s]’ a young girl, and it is only later that the reader discovers that he is ‘deformed’, by focusing on the actions Stevenson is forcing the reader to not judge a book by its cover, but rather by its deeds and morals -which is a key theme throughout the book. Mr Hyde clearly does not care about what other people think of him, and this really makes him an outsider to a society focused on facades and decorum. One could argue that by doing this Stevenson is saying that people shouldn’t care so much about keeping up appearances and this is what prevents us from being our true selves, but there is a problem in this conclusion, Hyde’s true self is evil and uncaring for the feelings of others which surely isn’t beneficial to anyone. However, Stevenson isn’t saying that we should all mince our words so as not to hurt anyone, he is offering the two extremes to the reader and showing that it is not possible to be one or the other, a Jekyll or a Hyde, we have to be ourselves and still try to have empathy for others because that is what makes us human.
Hydes menacing personality evokes a feeling of horror by leaving the reader questioning a character, in this case, Hyde, reliability in the human world
In the article “Dr. Jekyll and the Emergence of Mr. Hyde” the author, Masao Miyoshi discusses how this story is portrayed by readers as a crude science fiction or a moral allegory. Miyoshi then begins to explain the structure that Stevenson used when writing. He does this by going through each main character that is presented throughout Stevenson’s stories and describes how they felt thought out the story during specific scenes. This article evaluates these characters by comparing them to each other. An example, of how Miyoshi does this is by taking a main scene from the original story and compares how different characters reacts towards the certain event.
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
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).
This may be why he permanently morphed into Mr. Hyde, and then committed suicide because he could not face a world in which he was so hated. In a way, he became what he always was, a base man who sought after
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is something I can easily say is work of art within itself. Jekyll and Hyde forces the reader to contemplate not only the duality of their own nature but also contemplate on their own thoughts and actions. This is something not many pieces of literature are able to achieve. Though this book may be about the dual nature of a man who is two different men that interchange between one another, it has a multitude of messages that may be taken away from it. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a great piece of literature that will be read for many centuries to come.
Firstly Stevenson presents Mr Hyde as a Frightening outsider through the portrayal of an impulsive unevolved person. This creates a sense of a frightening outsider as Hyde’s attitude was unfit for his society. Hyde is often described through animalistic imagery to emphasise how he is unfit in the society and how unevolved he is and to create the image of a troglodyte a word by which he is described in in the Carew murder case.
In the gothic novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson depicts an idea of the supernatural realm. It is a tale of a man that is well-known among the townspeople as Dr. Henry Jekyll. The doctor transforms into a being completely opposite of himself. Being a man of science, he feels a compulsion to create a potion that will release his alter ego, Mr. Hyde, while protecting his true identity. Throughout the story, many examples of symbolism are presented to the reader.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been a classic must read book for years throughout the world. Good and evil has been a dilemma in many books including this one. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s mystery novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Victorian Era influences characters’ actions. During this era, everyone was expected to be proper and perfect. Jekyll says if he has two identities of good and evil, he could keep his reputation.
In the novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the complexity of human nature. He uses characters and events in the novel to present his stance on the major theme: “man is not truly one, but truly two” (125). Branching from this major theme are many more specific views on the idea that human nature is divided into good and evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two very different people who occupy the same body. Human beings struggle with good and evil and Stevenson goes to the extreme to to show this relationship.
There has always been good and evil in the world. This has been going on since the beginning of time. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s mystery novella, Dr jekyll & Mr.Hyde uses descriptive language to create a mood of suspense. The way the author created this tone is by the characters actions.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" brings the double personality theme, but, the story itself is about the mystery behind Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde's connection. The whole story goes around Mr. Utterson - a decent lawyer - trying to find out what is wrong with his dear friend, Henry Jekyll, and what is his relationship with the devilish man, also known as Mr. Hyde. On the end of the story, the reader finds out that Mr. Hyde is Jekyll's evil side: the doctor was fascinated by the duality of human nature and decided to do some experiments to separate his two sides, the good one and the evil one. Henry Jekyll wanted to do things that he couldn't because of his reputation and social morals, therefore, the best and only way of doing what he really wanted to was to have another side that no one knew. On the other hand, he didn't know how evil his other side could be: Mr. Hyde was purely evil and Dr. Jekyll wasn't purely good.
Battles with our inner self exist in everyday life, whether it is an emotional, spiritual or mental issue. These types of struggles are common in each person’s according to their conviction of life. In a recently study made by the University of Indiana proof that a highly percent of the population is afraid to be themselves or to act as they want to, by the repression they receive of society. Individuals work hard to establish and organize their life so society can accept them or can’t criticize them, causing an abuse in the essence of each human being. This obstacle of life is common since humanity exists and to show a clear example of this struggle Robert Louis Stevenson explained us in his classic novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” the consequences of this issue where he uses personification and simile to show that repression builds a conflict between the public appearance and the inner essence of Dr. Jekyll.
Stevenson also warns readers of the all-consuming nature of evil. This is indisputably epitomised in the character os Dr. Jekyll as he succumbs to his “other self”, Hyde, and is unable to escape from the insidious nature of Hyde. Only death was able to relieve Dr. Jekyll of his immoral and “wicked” side (Stevenson 1689). Therefore, the text could be viewed as a 19th century social novel that allegorises the evils and immoral vices of
