ipl-logo

The Duality Of Man In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

606 Words3 Pages

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson is a unique book that focuses on the dual personality of mankind. This book questions our human mindset about why certain people can indulge themselves in committing terrible things. It also predict that human beings are dual creatures and have the ability to think irrationally. However, I believe that Vladimir Nabokov introductory essay of the Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was to reveal to readers the duality of man, our adaptation to the things around us and the vices of homosexuality act during the Victorian Age. The dual personality of man is the main theme that is present in the entire novel of Stevenson's book. Dr Jekyll, a respectable gentleman of the Victorian life, honest and hardworking associating himself with Mr Hyde who signifies the violent evil side. Although Dr Jekyll may seem nice and good in his physical appearance, yet still he is a mixture of evil. He says “If I'm the chief of sinners, I'm the chief of sufferers too”. …show more content…

As we already know, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same person but the relationship between them was not made clear or known to us by Stevenson. My question is why would the respectable and successful Dr Jekyll allowed Mr Hyde free access to his house not to talk of including him in his will as a beneficiary in his death or disappearance. Also, through out the entire story, Dr Jekyll is surrounded by the company of unmarried men and at one point Utterson thought Hyde was blackmailing Jekyll. Why did the author not specify their relationship?? I think Robert Stevenson could not make specific references to homosexuality because of the era in which he lived

Show More
Related
236 Words | 1 Pages

In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , the dualities reflected of the Victorian times. Where people lived a double-life because the norms society set for honourable individuals to comply with were to high for people to come after . Double standards created along of this and fuelled the deception of the middle-class . As society allowed , they lived superficially respectable , moral lives . Alternatively , at night , when doors was closed , that was when people started showing who they really were , showing their dark and desires from the deepest part of their mind .

Read More
709 Words | 3 Pages

The Twin Experiments During the Holocaust, many gruesome, inhumane, and disgusting things were done to people. One of the worst, though, was most definitely Dr. Mengele’s twin experiments. Mengele had an unhealthy obsession with twins and people with bodily and disfigurements, such as heterochromia or club foot; he did vile experiments on many people, and his victims were never left unscathed.

Read More
1321 Words | 6 Pages

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.”

Read More
1661 Words | 7 Pages

“They are preposterous.” One of the first things James Veitch says about spam emails encompasses his numerous adventures in replying to them. Yet their absurd nature is far from the only aspect of his lecture. This isn’t Jame’s first Ted Talk on replying to spam; he’s had multiple appearances on the ted talk stage and even more interactions with these spammers, which begs the question of what is his purpose for wanting to share his experiences in his Ted talks. He states how it's fun, and a way to get off the scammers spam.

Read More
1581 Words | 7 Pages

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson is a book that intrigues one’s mind, because it makes us question ourselves about the balance between the two opposing forces. The story starts out with Mr. Utterson, a lawyer and a great friend of Dr. Jekyll, hearing about Hyde for the first time, who is very shady and somewhat misconfigured. Mr. Utterson hears about Hyde’s bad reputation, and his usage of Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory; therefore, Mr. Utterson suspects some kind of relationship between Hyde and Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Utterson’s friend Lanyon, who is a doctor, dies after Dr. Jekyll goes into seclusion; Mr. Utterson goes to Dr. Jekyll’s house to seek the truth behind Lanyon’s death, but he instead sees Hyde dead. Mr. Utterson

Read More
1220 Words | 5 Pages

Jekyll & Hyde: The Duality of Scientific Philosophies The novella “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” has many elements of science compiled inside the story. The main scientific occurrence of the story is the duality between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is what creates the basic concept of the story. The whole story plays around with this idea of duality and also on different scientists in the novella’s perspective on science.

Read More
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

Read More
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).

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Dr. Jekyll is seemingly good, kind, and benevolent; while is not purely good he is a moral gentleman. He started his experiment so he could totally separate the bad and the good in himself into two separate beings. He did not succeed, however, for Dr. Jekyll is plagued by the feeling that he wants to become evil again, thus he wants to become Mr. Hyde. It is important to note that Mr. Hyde is completely evil; he has no goodness in him, in contrast to Dr. Jekyll who was a troubled mix. Mr. Hyde feels no remorse for any evil he has done and actually feels elated when he does commit a moral sin.

Read More
151 Words | 1 Pages

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

Read More
411 Words | 2 Pages

In the novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry Jekyll had the belief that there were two sides to everyone. One side being good. One side being evil. There is a purpose for the two coexisting.

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
586 Words | 3 Pages

Mr. Hyde is the embodiment of Jekyll’s repressed homosexuality. Firstly, Hyde’s victims reflect Jekyll’s repressed feelings. The first victim is “a girl of maybe eight or ten” (Stevenson 3). His act of trampling the young girl shows his resentment toward women. This is because the Victorians try to force their views onto him and that he should be

Read More
1067 Words | 5 Pages

“It signified, briefly enough, that the writer’s benefactor, Dr. Jekyll, whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand generosities, need labour under no alarm for his safety, as he had means of escape on which he placed a sure dependence.” (Stevenson 1886, p. 34). Hyde writes this letter in order to make policemen and lawers believed that there is another person called Hyde. Moreover, it can still make himself to be an important status, can show to public that this event does not have any relationship with him. However, in his heart of hearts, sometimes, he wants to be a good person.

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about The Duality Of Man In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Related Topics

Open Document