Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella that follows the basic outline established by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. However, Stevenson’s monster is not created from body parts but comes from the dark side of the human personality. In both novels, a man conducts a secret experiment that gets out of control. The result of these experiments is the release of a double, or doppelganger, which causes damage to their creator.
While most people think that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn’t as important as Frankenstein, its use of theme, setting, class, Victorian drug culture and detective fiction, show that it is just as important to gothic text for understanding this genre and tradition.
The story begins with the Will of Dr. Jekyll where we learn that if he disappears or dies his fortune will be left to Mr. Edward Hyde. Through the lawyer Mr. Utterson, we come to know Jekyll and Hyde. Mr. Utterson says Hyde is an unpleasant and cruel man who knocks over a child on purpose and steps on her. But this is only the beginning of his evil behavior; later on, he kills Sir Danvers without reason. Hyde is seen going into Dr. Jekyll 's home several times on different nights throughout the novella. How do the two men know each other?
One feature of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is its theme of dual personality, good versus evil. We see in the story that Dr. Jekyll struggles to keep the balance between both sides of his
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a complex and tricky novel to fully grasp, but the reader can come to understand many parallels to their own lives. Stevenson’s creation has stood the test of time because of its power to astonish; even if one previously new the outcome. This power has made Jekyll and Hyde, a pair that will continue to provoke thought in many readers in generations to
In the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson provides insight into the inner workings of the duality that exists within humans. Dr. Jekyll is a well-respected doctor in his community while his differing personality Mr. Hyde is hideous and considered by the public as evil based on appearance. As the novel progresses Dr. Lanyon begins to investigate Mr. Hyde, he begins to realize similarities between both Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll such as their handwriting which results in the discovery that they are the same person. Dr. Jekyll is able to transform himself into Mr. Hyde by drinking a serum he has created which was intended to purify his good. Stevenson stresses the duality of good and evil that exists
The story of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde is a prime example of good versus evil as a man struggles with an experience that goes bad. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a man of science and he develops a potions that causes him to have two separate and distinct personalities. As time passes, Dr. Jekyll discovers that he is losing his ability to control the sinister side of his personality, Mr. Hyde. The effects of this scientific experiments will dramatically change his life and the lives of his friends.
Jekyll is tempted to do bad things and he uses Hyde to overcome his temptations. Jekyll gets his satisfaction of doing bad deeds by becoming Hyde. Jekyll says “If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way” (Page 105). He states that he wants to do bad things but knowing he cant and still live the life he has, he uses Hyde as an escape from his temptations. Once Jekyll is able to control his temptations but still do bad as Mr. Hyde he says “I felt younger, lighter, happier in the body” (Page 106) Mr. Hyde is Jekyll’s way of escaping his sophisticated lifestyle and entering a totally separate way of life. Jekyll then didn’t feel any guilt for Hyde’s actions.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two horrific tales of science gone terribly wrong. Shelley?s novel eloquently tells the story of a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a living monster out of decomposed body parts, while Stevenson?s novel describes the account of one, Henry Jekyll, who creates a potion to bring out the pure evil side to himself. Although the two scientists differ in their initial response and action to their creations, there are strong similarities between their raging curiosity to surpass human limitation, as well as their lack of responsibility concerning their actions. These similarities raise an
In the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ Robert Louis Stevenson explores humankinds conflicting forces of Good and Evil. Through the central characters and the key theme of the duplicity of mankind Robert Louis Stevenson successfully portrays the theme of Good and Evil in the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde is the most obvious villain as he was created to be pure evil, but the character of Dr. Jekyll also has villainous aspects. Mr. Hyde is often shown to have little to no self-control as seen when he physically violates two people. This is seen when
The sophisticatedly-constructed novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was devised in 1886, during the revolutionary Victorian era, by the author, Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson developed a desire to write in his early life and ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ cemented his reputation. The novel is widely known for its shocking principles that terrified and alarmed the Victorian readers. ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ plays with the idea of the dual nature of man, his two identities. On the surface, Dr Jekyll is a conventional, Victorian gentleman, but below the surface lurks the primitive, satanic-like creature of Mr Edward Hyde. One of the elements that play a significant part in the novel is setting. Stevenson subtly uses the setting to
Robert Stevenson wrote “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in 1885. In “Dr. Jekyll and My Hyde,” Stevenson creates the atmosphere of a horror story. He does this through many different techniques. He makes subtle suggestions that the central characters lead a double life, creating suspense, dramatic events and the taking of innocent victims.
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde" written by Robert Louis Stevenson and "Frankenstein" written by Mary Shelley, both deal with the scientists upsetting the laws of the universe. Both of the scientists, Dr. Jeykll and Frankenstein, are attempting to play God in both of the famous novels. Dr. Jeykll is trying to understand the dual nature of humans to be both good and bad, by wanting to separate the two. While Frankenstein rises to balance his intellectual and social interactions. The stories are both very similar in the fact that they both create a monster. The "monster" in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde" is presented by Dr. Jeykll. The "monster" in "Frankenstein" is presented by Frankenstein himself. In "The Strange
In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is regarded that these identities are two different persons but this is not the case, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one in the same. There is much confusion when reading this literary work by Robert Louis Stevenson; this piece is regarded as horrific and disturbing in many ways. But the biggest twist is when it is reveled to the reader that these two people are the same and that below the surface of Dr.Jekyll is an evil man who enjoys committing evil acts. Mainly that Dr. Jekyll believes he has no choice but to commit these horrid acts because he has no control over is evil side. I don’t believe this is the case, Hyde isn’t a real person and doesn’t exist, nor is he someone who commits
Doubleness in gothic literature often explores the duality of humanity. It asks whether there was inherent goodness and evil within a person. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson engages with the idea of an individual being comprised of two separate entities—a double in one body—the evil Mr. Hyde and the good Dr. Jekyll. This split person of Jekyll and Hyde talks back to the optimistic ideas about humanity, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. He writes in his address “The American Scholar” that “They did not yet see... that, if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him”. However, in Stevenson’s novel, the world does not “come round to him” in Jekyll’s pursuit to a better self by indulging in his worse self, instead he was consumed by his own evil and harms others in the world. In Stevenson’s language, he continually emphasizes the advancement of self by using terms like “prison-house of [Jekyll’s] disposition” that encapsulates the inner turmoil Dr. Jekyll faces because of Mr. Hyde’s horrifying actions (1678). In this paper, I will argue that Jekyll’s inability to indulge into his darker desires without any stain on his consciousness is merely an illusion. Dr. Jekyll believes his “instincts” will stay grounded within himself when in reality, he is unable to maintain his status in upper society and thus he succumbs to Mr. Hyde’s reckless freedom. Not only does this reflect the
The main Protagonist of Dr. Jekyll and Mr, Hyde is Dr. jekyll, a brief description about him is that he has a reputation as a doctor and is also a friend of Lanyon, who is also in the medical fields as a physician, and also Utterson, who is a government lawyer. Dr. Jekyll who is a very successful man, who is well founded in the community, and is known for his modesty and humanitarian works. Dr. Jekyll has been doing this for many years, but many people do not know his engagement on bad behaviors and he discovers his evil side a huge weight to handle.
Completing Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, it is clear there is an odd and unusual relationship between the two main characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The two characters can be seen as one person but with drastically different personalities. Dr. Jekyll is an older, well liked, respectable doctor. While, Mr. Hyde is younger, hideous, evil, and dwarf like. The different personalities represent that every man/woman have two personalities inside them.
n the novel of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we can see that the man with two sides has a different personality.I will talk about The mental, physical, and moral diffrences between these two men. I will also be talking about their personality.This story is more of a before and after of a man who became a monster. {{remove first person}}