Knowledge And Consequences In Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Irresponsible Use of Knowledge & Consequences

Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein and Robert Stevenson 's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two horrific tales of science gone terribly wrong, it emphasizes the saying, with great power comes great responsibility. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tells the story of Dr. Jekyll who, while searching for a way to divide his good self from his bad impulses, creates a potion using science that transforms himself into a man without a conscience. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a bright young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. In the texts, authors Robert Stevenson and Mary Shelley use multiple literary elements to emphasize that knowledge

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). Here, Jekyll is stating that he represses his private desires so much and wants the irregularities in life so badly that he finally faces a challenge, whether to keep his private figure hidden or to reveal it to society and subsequently be judged by society. He now has to make a life changing decision, if he continues to enjoy his pleasures secretly, he will have it on his conscience daily and be tormented by the guilt; if he confesses them, he will no longer have the guilt on his conscience, but he will also be judge harshly by society. Mary Shelly also uses her protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, in way that empsizes

Dr. Jekyll is viewed as a smart man with a lot of knowledge, however, due to Jekyll not being satisfied with his life, he is determined to get more out of his live and is willing to do anything to fulfill his determination. Dr. Jekyll expresses this when he states, “[A] grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside… [t]here was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a millrace in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul.” (Stevenson 57). Dr. Jekyll is in a state of happiness at this point of the text. He is being very positive and is describing how he feels to be free of the bonds of obligation. He is implying that he had left all the prior obligations he had as Dr. Jekyll, but now knows that he is a completely different person and is able to do the irregularities that he was able to do as Dr. Jekyll. Victor Frankenstein throughout the text played god and misused science in many ways. He attempted to make a beautiful human being but due to lack a skill, he made a monster unintentionally and