Jekyll And Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. It concerns a lawyer, Gabriel Utterson, who investigates the strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the reclusive Mr. Edward Hyde. This novel represents an ideology in Western culture; the perpetual conflict between humanity’s virtuosity and immorality. It is interpreted as an accurate guidebook to the Victorian era’s belief of the duality of human nature. This essay will explore Mr. Edward Hyde and whether Stevenson intended for him to be a mere character in the novel or something of wider significance.

Now this story does not follow Dr. Jekyll through his journey of creating his evil alter ego. Moreover he is not even the first initial character that we are introduced to in the novella; we are first introduced to a man named Mr. Utterson. He is actually the lawyer of Dr. Jekyll and he takes an interest in his newfound protégé who is referred to as Mr. Hyde. His negative feelings towards Mr. Hyde, beget a personal investigation into his life and his connection to Dr. Jekyll. Sadly he does not realize the truth behind the mystery of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde till the end of the novella, where he finally discovers the secret from reading Dr. Jekyll’s last words written in a letter addressed to him after Dr. Jekyll’s untimely death.

Just as the emotions between a parent and toddler can change any second from loving to embarrassed and angry, the two main characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, struggle through a family-like relationship. Throughout the novel, the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde changes from a close, family-like relationship to one of hatred toward the end of the book. Changes in the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde can be seen in: observations by Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll’s state of mind before and after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, and Dr. Jekyll’s confession.

On their weekly walk, a particularly practical lawyer with the name Mr. Utterson listens as his friend Mr. Enfield tells an awful story of violence. The tale describes a dark figure called Mr. Hyde who treads over a young girl, disappears into a random door on the street, then intently pays off her relatives with a check signed by a respectable gentleman. Because Utterson and Enfield dislike gossip, the agree to drop the subject. However, one of Utterson’s clients and close friend, Dr. Jekyll has will documents written to Mr. Hyde. Soon, Utterson starts having nightmares of a faceless figure who courses through the streets of London at night. Confused, the lawyer visits Jekyll and friend Mr. Lanyon to try and learn more about Hyde. Lanyon confesses he doesn’t really see much of Jekyll anymore, because of a dispute they’ve had over the course of Jekyll’s research, which Lanyon states as “unscientific balderdash.” Interested, Mr. Utterson watches over a building Hyde visits, which is actually a laboratory attached to Jekyll’s

Dr. Henry Jekyll is a respected doctor and a friend of Lanyon, a fellow physician and Utterson, a lawyer. He is a well-respected man in the city of London and is known for his charitable works. On the outside, he seems like a harmless individual. What the people of London don’t know is that since a boy Dr. Jekyll has taken part in unnamed corrupt behavior that could ruin his reputation if discovered. Dr. Jekyll finds that the “evil” part of his personality is troublesome, so he takes matters into his own hands and invents a tonic that can allow him to fully become his darker half. This, in turn, brings about the uncanny Mr. Edward Hyde; a creature not of the rational world and free of conscience. His appearance alone is but enough to make one’s hairs stand on end. Mr. Hyde is a violent and irate man who represents the fleshy, sexual aspects of a personality that Victorian men of that time period felt the need to hide. Anyone who crosses his path tells of his

Utterson, Lanyon, Enfield, Jekyll... one of these does not belong. Clearly, within the context of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry Jekyll struggles to fit himself into the strict Victorian society. In the events leading to his demise, he longs to separate his firm, polished face from his true inner self; from here, Stevenson paints this juxtaposition with the use of several point-of-view techniques. When Utterson, the protagonist, “[stands] a while when Mr. Hyde had left him... putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity” (Stevenson 19), he clearly becomes the literal center of attention for the story’s opinions and perspectives. Rather than giving an omniscient style to the novel, Stevenson provides an external viewpoint in order to engage his audience. The use of point-of-view techniques in Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reinforces the audience’s reaction to the story’s moral dilemma.

Dr. Jekyll character appears as "a large, well made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness". However, when angry "The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and their came a blackness about his eyes". He displays himself as a strong-minded man, as he argues about his will with Mr. Utterson, however he accustoms himself to Hyde, and becomes too weak to oppose him. Mr. Utterson, after meeting Hyde for the first time, starts to feel sorry for his friend, however he does suggest that Jekyll has a dark past: "was wild when he was young; a long while ago to be sure".

On the other hand, the interaction between the immorality and integrity of Jekyll is characterized by his repeated expression of temptation and his inability to resist, ultimately resulting in the death of his persona. Similar to how the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” gains a new identity, Jekyll’s persona is gradually replaced by the evil persona of Hyde. Some psychoanalytic critics “see Jekyll and Hyde not as equal personalities, but Hyde as a suppressed version of Jekyll, undercutting Jekyll's idea that separation of the two personalities may be achieved” (Brackett). At the outset, the relationship between Jekyll’s immorality and integrity is lopsided in favor of the latter, but as Hyde commits worser crimes, Jekyll’s spirit deteriorates.

Even though he knew it could lead to his arrest, Hyde brutally murdered a highly regarded man. He could not look past the evil temptation, and so it overtook his better judgment. Jekyll acknowledges these horrible acts committed by Hyde, but they do not seem to impact him. Because Jekyll has not performed the actions, he does not feel guilty; however, he eventually realizes Hyde’s true malevolence. By this time, it is already too late. Hyde already has too much control over Jekyll, and he understands he must give up: “And indeed the doom that is closing on us both, has already changed and crushed him. Half an hour from now, […] I shall again and forever reindue that hated personality […] I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to and end” (Stevenson 70). He realizes that Hyde has become dominant, and that his inner evil cannot be suppressed. Accepting this as fact finally ends Jekyll’s struggle with suppression and

Dr. Jekyll, the protagonist in Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is the ultimate embodiment of the standards of morality by which the upper class Victorians claimed to abide. In the novella, Dr. Jekyll is a righteous, upstanding member of the elitist

In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two." So, in Jekyll's view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Jekyll's case, his good side is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him, but at the end of the book his evil side becomes stronger and unstoppable. However, as a respectable member of society and an honorable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and free his evil characteristics. Unfortunately, rather than separating these forces of good and evil, Jekyll's potion only allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil, so there is never a way to strengthen or separate Jekyll's pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever had.

Throughout the novella there is a constant power struggle between Jekyll and Hyde, which Hyde eventually wins but Jekyll finishes by taking his and his counterpart's life. In the beginning Jekyll is in full control, all he has to do is drink the potion and "Edward Hyde would pass away like a stain of breath upon a mirror". Also another important discovery to know was that in the beginning there was only pain turning into Hyde but as committed more atrocities, Jekyll became more consumed by evil, finding it hard to become himself again. Jekyll soon comes upon the theory that Hyde is smaller in person because Jekyll's evil side has been "less exercised", but as Hyde commits more wrongs his stature becomes stronger. Two weeks before the murder of Sir Danvers, Jekyll is in bed in Sohowhen he falls back to

Utterson is what would be considered as the perfect European gentleman. A prominent lawyer who was well respected in his community and is now trying to protect his long-term friend, Jekylls’ reputation from the mysterious Mr. Hyde. There are few instances in the novel when Mr. Utterson is taking walks with Mr. Enfield, but they do not gossip, or otherwise speak ill of those closest to either of them, especially Utterson, as if they were of blood relation.[5] Although he investigates what seems to be an unrealistic series of events, he chooses to not believe it and to continue looking for an explanation. And just as Utterson avoids the reality of what he may have discovered, as inconceivable as it may be, so too does European society prefer to deny the existence of an uncivilized acts of inhumanity, no matter how essential these acts may be.[6]

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde not only conflicting forces but also affected by each other and dual natures. The book is written in only Dr. Jekyll’s perspective, so this paragraph will going to explain about Dr. Jekyll. Existence of Hyde provokes to know him more or to have a hard time (Suffered, wanted to destroy Mr. Hyde). In the story, Mr. Hyde couldn’t control himself and committed a crime. “Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of things; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body.” (Stevenson 3). Through this, Dr. Jekyll was suspected to blackmailed by Mr. Hyde, which decreases his social status and it could bring him big influence during Victorian era. Not only negative effect, but also positive effect exists. For instance, in beginning of the story, Dr. Jekyll has a lot of inner conflict, and due to that conflict, he seems always unorganized. “The thoughts of his mind, besides, were of the gloomiest dye; and when he glanced at the companion of his drive he was conscious of some touch of that terror of the law and the law’s officers which may at times assail the most honest.” (Stevenson 22). The narrator reveals this in chapter ‘The Carew murder

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde “explores the sinister side of Victorian masculinity, in particular the idea that the criminal tendencies and depraved behaviour normally attributed to the lower classes could also infect the middle and upper classes.” Maxwell continues expressing how the lower classes are associated with felonies but in this novella it “infects” Mr. Jekyll, a member of the upper class. Utterson avoids telling the cops that Dr. Jekyll is a close friend of Hyde after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. Instead of maintaining his friend’s reputation and protecting his public image, Utterson talks to Jekyll directly. As a result of this, the relationship of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is kept a secret. There is great importance on outside appearances; so in order to protect themselves and Mr. Jekyll, they must keep themselves quiet. Not only can they ruin their reputations, for they can also ruin how they think and how they act.