One might question the extent to which Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact a single character. Until the end of the story, the two seem nothing alike. Stevenson uses this marked contrast to make his point: every human being contains opposite forces within him or her, an alter ego that hides behind one's front. Correspondingly, to understand fully the significance of either Jekyll or Hyde, we must consider the two as looking at one single character. When viewed separately, neither is a very interesting personality. It is their relationship that gives the novel its power. Despite the seeming opposition between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, their relationship in fact involves a complicated duo. While it is true that Jekyll largely appears as moral …show more content…
Jekyll himself ascribes his odd results to his state of mind when first taking the potion. He says that he was motivated by dark urges such as ambition and pride when he first drank the liquid and that these allowed for the release of Hyde. He seems to say that if he entered the experiment with pure motives, an angelic being would have emerged. However, one must consider the post events in the book before accusing Jekyll of any blame. For, once released, Hyde gradually comes to dominate both personas, until Jekyll takes Hyde’s shape more often than his own. Of course, by the very end of the novel, Jekyll himself no longer exists and only Hyde remains. Hyde seems to possess a force more powerful than Jekyll originally believed. The fact that Hyde, rather than some creature, emerged from Jekyll’s experiments seems more than a chance event, subject to an arbitrary state of mind. Jekyll’s drinking of the potion seems almost to have afforded Hyde the opportunity to assert himself. It is as if Hyde, but no comparable virtuous essence, was lying in …show more content…
You may recall that Hyde is described as resembling a “troglodyte”, or a prehistoric creature; perhaps Hyde is actually the original, authentic nature of man, which has been retained but not destroyed by the gained weight of civilization and conscience. Perhaps man doesn’t have two natures but rather a single, ancient, without morals one that remains just barely restricted by the bonds of civilization. However, the novel suggests that once those bonds are broken, it becomes impossible to get them back again. Even in Victorian England, Stevenson suggests that the dark, instinct side of man remains strong enough to take in anyone who proves foolish enough to unleash
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hyde is an evil double of the honorable Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll creates Hyde by scientific experiments, to prove his statement: “… man is not truly one, but truly two.” He means that the human soul is a mixture of evil and good, and Hyde is the manifestation of the evil that existed in Dr. Jekyll. As a respectable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll can never fulfill the evil desires existing in him. Therefore, he separates his “evil-self,” giving him a separate identity. However, as Vladimir Nabokov explains in an introduction to the Signet Classic version of the book, "[Jekyll] is a composite being, a mixture of good and bad...[and] Jekyll is not really transformed into Hyde but projects a concentrate of pure evil that becomes Hyde” (Stevenson 60). Unfortunately, rather than separating and equalizing 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. Thus, 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
“...Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.” (Page 79) As Hyde becomes stronger the change becomes uncontrollable for Jekyll. The change to Hyde is more frequent and Jekyll gives into the change as he no longer has the impurities from the first batch of salts to help him maintain that change. Jekyll is able to separate Hyde from himself as he speaks about Hyde in the third person, “He, I say-cannot say, I. That child of hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear and hatred.”, (Page 87) this quote justifies the division of self. Finally, without the impurities Jekyll leaves the decision up to Hyde to either turn himself in for the murder or commit suicide as a result of the loss of Henry. This is the result of evil taking over the personality.
As Jekyll thinks he’s in control of Hyde, his addiction to his darker side spirals out of control and he transforms into Hyde without taking the potion. Hyde’s character is gaining strength and Jekyll is getting weaker. Jekyll gets weaker because he is getting weaker at controlling Hyde. By becoming Hyde and letting his evil side out, he has made live harder for himself because now he wont be able to get rid of Hyde as he once said he could. Hyde has now overpowered Jekyll and is in control.
Jekyll confesses to Mr. Utterson that he and Mr. Hyde hate each other. For instance, Dr. Jekyll starts to hate Mr. Hyde when he says “goodbye for ever Mr. Hyde” (64). Dr. Jekyll says goodbye to his evil side. He loathes his evil side because Hyde has shown Jekyll and Hyde’s capability to murder. Furthermore, Mr. Hyde detests Dr. Jekyll because he’s a prisoner inside Dr. Jekyll’s body. In addition, the narrator states that, “Hyde and Jekyll now hate each other with equal passion” (69). Mr. Hyde’s imprisonment within Dr. Jekyll’s body makes Mr. Hyde dislike him, so he tears Dr. Jekyll’s books (69). Mr. Hyde’s disgust of Dr. Jekyll causes Mr. Hyde to ruin Dr. Jekyll’s most important personal belongings. Clearly, after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hate each other
Seeing how Jekyll is a respectable member of society, he cannot fulfill his evil desires and he feels crushed by society’s judgmental ways and begins to ponder what life would be like if he were allowed to be different. He gives into his fascination and starts to experiment using the power of science and in turn concocts a potion which allows him to transform into Hyde, his evil “twin”. At first, he was satisfied, living this other side of himself, but then it turned into something horrific, causing him to trample a young girl and killing a completely innocent man. Jekyll states in his letter to Utterman “…I was still cursed with my duality of purpose…” (page 72). Stevenson concludes that man is not in fact a purely dual being, but a primitive being, tamed and civilized by the laws of society. Stevenson portrays Hyde in highly animalistic terms – short and hairy with gnarled hands and a horrific face. In contrast, Jekyll is described in the most gentlemanly terms - tall, refined, polite and honorable, with long elegant fingers and a handsome appearance. Thus, perhaps Jekyll's experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without considering the constraints of society and civilization.
Hyde in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Stevenson presents Hyde in many different ways by describing the main character of Hyde, in an effective and detailed style, and providing a variety of language, imagery and atmosphere, which also helps to create the symbol which Hyde stands for. Stevenson explores what good and evil symbolised at that time in the Victorian society, and how this leads up to the representation of Hyde. Respectability and reputation were very important factors to consider in the Victorian society. The Victorian society was very strongly divided into classes, with the aristocracy having the highest value of respect. The split personality of Jekyll and Hyde
these introductory events, as Utterson discusses Hyde’s late-night incident with Enfield, the two remark that the man “wasn’t like a man... [but a] Juggernaut” (Stevenson 6). In this case, Stevenson describes Hyde as a being that does not resemble the humanistic character of the Victorian Age. Furthermore, the view of this situation from this external perspective can describe the confusion regarding Hyde’s issues. Later, after Hyde’s repeated incidents, he disappears “as though he had never existed” and gains notoriety for “the
“All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Robert Louis Stevenson was no fool when it came to understanding the duality of human nature evident within mankind. In his novella, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson is able to explore his interests concerning the dark, hidden desires that all human beings are guilty of possessing. In his story, a well-respected professional by the name of Dr. Jekyll experiments with the idea of contrasting personalities and successfully undergoes a physical separation of such identities—one which would soon wreak havoc upon his very existence. As a result of his success, Edward Hyde is born. Hyde, characterized as a miniscule and terrifying, apelike figure from the start,
To begin with, Jekyll, in Stevenson’s book, lives behind a disguise for years trying to embrace his civilized-self and ignore his savage urges. The fear of his mask falling off at any moment pushes Jekyll to create Hyde as his only solution towards a sense of liberation. In Jekyll’s mind his identity is being ripped apart constantly making him and his alter ego, Hyde, perfect specimens, “of a double consciousness, of a ‘divided self’” (Letley 10). In his statement about the case, Jekyll declares
Though Jekyll is fully responsible for his behavior and actions, Hyde is not. While Jekyll has the option to do good or evil, Hyde is completely focused on evil as this was the intent of the transformation. The fact that Jekyll chose to create a potion to bring forth Hyde rather than bringing forth someone who was concentrated on pure good shows that Even a respectable man such as Jekyll had unconscious urges to do bad. “If he had “approached [his] discovery in a more noble spirit,” willing the good to overpower the evil, he would have “come forth an angel instead of a fiend”. Hyde on the other hand has no choice other than to do evil, and therefore it is arguable whether he should really be blamed for his actions.
Stevenson illustrates his belief that it is impossible to truly be good with Doctor Jekyll. He even comments “[M]an is not truly one, but truly two” (Stevenson 125). Jekyll has conformed to society his entire life, trying to be a perfect person. He has never had the opportunity to express his other half. Jekyll creates Hyde so he can be free of societal constraints and do things that a reputable man cannot. Jekyll releases Hyde who ultimately consumes him because he has never learned how to moderate his evil impulses.
Torn between the natures of “good” and “evil, Robert L. Stevenson uses his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a representation for the duality of the human mentality. The human nature portrays itself as “good” in the presence of man, but allows its dark side to lurk freely in the absence on others. As the novel progresses, Stevenson uses suspense along a gothic setting to capture the reader’s attention. The moral of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde proves that if our blackened nature is subconsciously feed, our uncorrupt nature will starve and wither away. Stevenson uses his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to open his reader’s eyes to their own corrupt nature, witness how one nature thrives upon the other and as a connection to all of mankind.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In comparison these two men could not have personalities further from opposite, yet somehow are linked to each other. It is a mystery throughout this novel as to how two men with such different personalities could possibly be connected to each other, until it is discovered that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact the same person. Mr. Hyde was created to be an outlet of Dr. Jekyll’s rage that he could not express freely as himself due to the pressure Dr. Jekyll faced in the Victorian Era. Throughout the novel as Dr. Jekyll’s addiction to the potion and the effects that it has on his identity increase he fully succumbs to the destructive urges he has had all along and the old Dr. Jekyll is gone. All people are inherently dual natured, but it is up to each individual to chose to surrender to either their superior, acceptable tendencies or surrendering to their disagreeable, unpleasant
This classifies him as not just a cruel person, but truly a being made up of pure evil, which Dr. Jekyll is battling through the story. Additionally, the murder of Sir Danvers Carew is an occasion that also fits into the theme. From a maid’s point of view, the entire murder of Sir Danvers is captured, and the precise turning moment for Hyde comes when the author writes, “And then all of the sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman,” (Stevenson 21). Once again, Hyde is seen to be triggered in some way to resort to fury. The wickedness within has planted a seed in Jekyll by now, and as Hyde does this they both feel the delight in murdering the man, no matter how disgusted Jekyll is.
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