The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

In this book, there exist a battle between good and evil in the main characters where we are bound to ask ourselves what is superior between good and evil? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are easily seen as an allegory of the evil and good that exists in men. The book depicts the struggle with two sides of the human personality. Since Mr. Hyde seems to be taking over Dr. Jekyll, one could claim that evil is stronger than good. Nevertheless, Mr. Hyde ends up dead at the end of the story, which strongly shows the weakness and the failure of evil, so we have to ask ourselves whether good can be separated from evil. “Great people are involved in bad things this is the fact of life, yet this does not make them evil” (Stevenson pp 28-75).

Every person is born with bright and dark personas that people moderate due to the standards of society. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll and Hyde battle for the power to stay alive in the story. As Jekyll continues to try and take over his evil persona, Hyde tries to stay alive and cause evil in the world. In our society, many people will struggle with self control and Dr. Jekyll has trouble controlling his alter ego by performing his evil pleasures. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson explores the theme that the dual natures, good and evil, of an individual person’s humanity are constantly struggling for control through the development of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 's personas.

Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu’s texts, Dracula (1898) and “Carmilla” (1872), use gothic tropes in similar ways to captivate readers with horror and terror. This essay will illustrate how, in comparison, both texts include the gothic tropes: the New Woman, sexuality and setting, in order to provoke emotions and reactions from the audience. To do this, I will focus on the women that challenge traditional gender roles and stereotypes, and deconstruct each text in regards to the very strong undertones of homosexuality; specifically between Carmilla and Laura, and Dracula and Harker. By discussing the harshness and darkness of the environments described, including ruined castles and isolated landscapes; I will also explore the ambiguities of

and 1/10 evil so he will have 90% guilt where as Mr Hyde is 0/10 good

Gothic literature is a deliciously terrifying blend of horror and romance. From Walpole's Castle of Otranto to Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's infamous Dracula, as well as Edgar Allen poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, the Gothic novel has been around for centuries, and, despite a few major changes, has maintained some of the basic elements of classic Gothic romance since its very origins. The height of Gothic literature, which was closely aligned with Romanticism, is usually considered to have been the years 1764-1840, but its influence extends to the present day. Gothic literature was focused on elements of death, decay and both physical and psychological terror. These elements were often portrayed by setting, characterization, form, and recurring motifs. The Gothic style also suggests a belief in the supernatural and thus many gothic texts contain an air of mystery and intrigue. Another key aspect in any gothic text is 'evil'. During the emergence of the Gothic literary movement, it is perhaps not surprising that the period was characterised by widespread terror, namely from the French Revolution. Subsequently, the genre became very popular among writers as it enabled them to express their sympathy and concern over such political movements. The presence of the quintessential elements of gothic horror consequently helped to make the genre so alluring to both readers and authors.

This essay examines the extent gothic tropes can be applied in the analysis of 19th century representations of female vampires in Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1898). This essay will explore and discuss the female characters in “Carmilla” and Dracula, emphasising their differences and similarities. It centers on the uncanny, incestuous, uncomfortably-erotic exchange of power between the old and the new woman. This essay will also discuss the temporarily abrogated in favour of tabooed deviations from the sexual norm; including homosexual relations, specifically between Carmilla and Laura, and Dracula and Harker. Lastly, this essay will explore literature typified by ruined castles, secret passageways, concealed portraits,

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Stevenson, is a novel that tells a tale of how one man was able to fulfill his dream of creating a dual personality. Henry Jekyll, the protagonist in this selection, is a respected doctor who seems harmless at first sight. However, as the novel progresses, Jekyll’s ulterior motives begin to be discovered and Jekyll must choose between his reputation and his own desires. Throughout Stevenson’s novel, Jekyll’s outward appearance and reputation, fight against good and evil, and controversial science experiments determine the true character of Henry Jekyll.

The plot of Robert Louis Stevenson’s legendary novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is relatively well known. A scientist, Dr. Henry Jekyll, tries to separate his inner good from evil and ends up with an alter ego, Edward Hyde. While Hyde, he commits numerous atrocities, including trampling a child and beating Sir Danvers Carew to death with a walking stick. The story is mostly written from the point of view of Mr. Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer who is friends with Jekyll and eventually pieces together the mystery of his dual nature. Scholars have written countless articles on the duality of man in the novella, but few focus on the implications of the crimes that Jekyll commits as Hyde. In ending the saga of Mr. Hyde with Dr. Jekyll’s suicide, it is evident that Stevenson intended for readers to come to their own conclusions as to Jekyll’s guilt, as well as how he should be held accountable. This is complicated by the fact that, by committing suicide, Dr. Jekyll could be considered mentally ill by law. The legal system in Victorian England arguably treated the mentally ill unfairly, so in having Dr. Jekyll commit suicide, Stevenson could show this unfair treatment to the public. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson couples the character of Dr. Jekyll with his legal and medical knowledge to suggest that the unjust way the Victorian legal system and dealt with the mentally ill needed to be reformed.

Bram Stoker 's Dracula is a staple of the Gothic Horror genre. It is a novel that has been scrutinized by countless readers since it was published in 1897. While Stoker 's novel is certainly not the first example of a piece of gothic horror, or even the first example of a gothic horror story focusing categorically on vampires, it still managed to plenarily capture the attention of the public. But not only did Dracula enthrall the readers of its time, but it perpetuated to be a mainstay of the gothic horror genre, and was continually discussed over the following years. The myriad of ways this novel has been interpreted over the years verbalizes both to the depth of the novel and its themes as well as to the fascination that the public has

Many gothic texts utilize the reader’s imagination to allow the plot to continue without normal logic. Events are accepted within a novel that would otherwise not be given thought to. Stories create an escape for the mind, to embrace unrealistic information, and ignore the frightening events in one’s own life. With the novel Dracula, the reader is forced to imagine the circumstances the argue that vampires

Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that encompasses horror, gore and romanticism. Both Carter and Stoker use gothic elements to present the subversive values and taboos that are experienced through their female protagonist. In addition to his, both texts invite the reader to cross the threshold between the homely and the familiar, the unconscious and conscious. Both Stoker and Carter use the traditional gothic setting, the abandoned castle and secret passages. The narrative creates an eerie atmosphere and suspense through the description of the setting, foreboding the threatening nature of the castle and the villain.The castle in Bloody Chamber is a typical gothic setting, a place of isolation and entrapment, It is described as being in 'faery solitude', and this is a classic gothic theme of blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy”, a typical feature of gothic fiction. Carter is subverting fairy tales and trying to highlight the frightening reality of them. Additionally the castle is described as being adrift “It was now very late and the castle was adrift, as far as it could go from the land, in the middle of the silent ocean where at my orders, it floated, like a garland of light”. The fact that the castle is far away from land, could be interpreted as the liminality between rationality and irrationality, a key component of the Gothic, moreover the reference to silence could be foreshadowing the Marquis attempt to silence the heroine, both physically (

Although Dr. Jekyll struggled with the noticeable inner demon that was Mr. Hyde, many tend to overlook the true inner demon that initially provoked Dr. Jekyll to create the potion which ultimately lead to his downfall. In Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry Jekyll was not satisfied with his life, even though he had everything he could ever ask for, and this is when his inner demon took over as he stated, “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life. Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as

The impact of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was so big that the same publishing year (1886) served glory for the author. And here a discussion arises, as his work did not specifically suit the citizen’s taste. Why was it so special? Nowadays one could read this novel and without any prior knowledge or research, could see it as another interesting science fiction and horror book, as I initially did. So the key to success lays in its release in history and thus the people’s daily lives. But what did catch the reader’s interest? It should have been an unusual happening, something the Victorians did not speak about or did not realize and that hidden matter piqued my interest. That is why the research question is: “How accurately does Robert Louis Stevenson depict Victorian society in the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?”

The scope of this chapter is to introduce selected Gothic novels in order to analyse Gothic elements. The Mysteries of Udolpho is presented first, since it is an exemplary novel regarded as a model of Female Gothic literature. Furthermore, four Northanger novels are compared to this model analysis to show whether it is possible to label them as copies of Radcliffe. The analysis focuses on several elements: setting, nature, supernatural, suspense and characters.

The most famous element of Gothic fiction is the supernatural. When thinking about the Gothic genre, many are familiar with the occult-driven storylines of Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and Shelley’s