Darwin in Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

1 I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals, since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher

In the article, “Was Darwin Wrong?” By David Quammen, Quammen speaks about how evolution by natural selection is a theory and the main idea of life. Quammen also goes into speaking about people who are living their lives off of those scientific theories and how their discomfort are being paralleled by Harun Yahya, who is an author of a current volume called “The Evolution Deceit, “which, he points out a story about the six-day creation in the Koran as factual truth and calls the evolution theory a deception forced on people by those who rule the world organization. Furthermore, it is mentioned that 37 percent of Americans were pleased with letting room for both god and for Darwin that is, godly creativity to get things ongoing, evolution as

Mr Hyde is introduced surprisingly to the reader because of his iniquitous action performed on the little girl and this is very different from the way in which Mr Enfield and Mr Utterson are introduced. Mr Utterson and Enfield are introduced to be sincere gentlemen shown to have prestige in the society as Mr Utterson has a respected job of a lawyer and Mr Enfield is the ‘well known man about town’ whereas Mr Hyde is instantly portrayed as sadistic, merciless and ferocious. Mr Hyde “trampled over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” therefore this ensures that the reader’s response to Hyde is negative because only a malevolent person would do this despite being mature. The fact that he trampled over the little girl without any reason suggests that he may attain pleasure from doing such hideous activities which would give Mr Hyde an image of being sadistic

Years ago, Charles Darwin developed a theory of evolution. The strong will readjust and change while the weak die off. This became known as natural selection. The world is ever changing and in order to survive, one must adapt to their surroundings. Without doing so, the chances of survival are slim. Much like society today. Society has the top 1%, who are adjusting just fine to this ever changing world. But what about the other 99% of people? Majority of them are the ones struggling to change their life. Whether it be by going to school to earn a degree and a higher paying job, or cutting back on expenses to afford the necessities of life, one must adapt. Dystopian literature gives people an idea of what could happen in this ever growing, refined world. Most dystopian literatures install a sense of fear in people. A fear that society could be taken over by a select few, an unnatural force, or Mother Nature herself. The movie, In Time¸ and the story by Ray Bradbury, The Murderer, give chilling examples of what could, or could not, become of just Earth, but society as well.

Charles Darwin is becoming one of the most famous scientists of this century. He has a theory that we as humans have evolved from a single celled organism to what we are now after billions of years. He has been studying aps for many years and he says they are extremely similar to humans like in their behavior if treated unfairly they will get mad. They can even do some easy tasks like give a rock to a person and they get food. As said in his famous quote “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

The Japanese attack on Darwin on the 19th February 1942, did not happen by chance but from the work of a major contributing factor leading to various consequences and eventually cementing the event as a significant one.

This gives the impression that Hyde is a monster than comes out only when it is dark and nobody can see him. Whatever he is, he cannot be called human. In Victorian England, if a person looked ugly, criminal-like or ‘giving an impression of deformity’ they were considered to be ugly and criminal-like inside to. If you imagine a person reading this story when that was what was thought, the description of Mr Hyde would instantly label him as the bad character.

During the latter portion of the nineteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson published his novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The fin de siècle saw the rise of different thoughts and ideas surrounding science and society. These concepts and interpretations sparked the discourse surrounding the theory of degeneration; which was the concern that civilization would fall to a lower state of being. This chapter will be reading multiplex personality as a manifestation of this broader cultural fear. Stevenson’s story played upon the changes society was facing during this time and the interest in scientific explanations for mental illness. He creates the character of Dr Jekyll, a scientist who invents a potion to unlock his inner,

[He] seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then all of a 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. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway. [p. 27]

Stevenson’s “The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” was one of the most famous works of horror fiction of all time in English literature. It was based in the nineteenth century. It reflects the influence of two important ideological forces in the Victorian era. The text uses gothic and detective elements to interest the reader as they were very popular at the time. The focus of the text is concentrated on the issue of Jekyll and Hyde’s personality which was described as someone who lived a double life of outward sanctity and secret iniquity. This is so that it would to create a mystery for the reader as they are trying to unravel who Hyde is.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson centers on humanity as a dual in nature. We are confronted with the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The novel serves as a reminder of how all humans have some sort of darkness that is deeply rooted within them, all they have to do is release it from its hiding place. The story focuses on a man, Dr. Jekyll, and his descent into madness while turning into Mr. Hyde late at night and committing atrocious crimes. The duality of man can be measured by his ability to hold back the evil parts of himself and not by his ability to carry it out.

Saposnik, Irving S. “The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Studies in English Literature.

Jekyll is a good man, a well-respected man in his profession, but Mr. Hyde, on the other hand, is downright sinister. He is a cold-blooded killer, a monster who tramples upon a little girl simply because she happens to be in his way. On a deeper level, however, the comparison is not only between good and evil, but also between evolution and degeneration. Throughout the novel, Mr. Hyde’s physical appearance provokes repulsion. He is described as ‘ape-like’, ‘troglodytic’ and ‘hardly human’ (Ch. 2). As Mr. Enfield, a well-known man about town and distant kinsman of Jekyll’s friend Mr. Utterson detects ‘There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable’ (Ch. 1). About fifteen years before Jekyll and Hyde, Charles Darwin had published The Descent of Man (1871), a book in which he concluded that humankind had ‘descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped’ which was itself ‘probably derived from an ancient marsupial animal’. Going back even further, Darwin hypothesized that ‘some amphibian-like creature, and this again from some fish-like animal’ had led these stages of evolution. Mr. Hyde is stated as physically revolting but perhaps only because he subconsciously reminds those he meets of their own distant evolutionary inheritance. When Dr. Jekyll’s medical colleague, Dr. Lanyon, bears witness to Hyde’s transformation back into Jekyll, the knowledge that the horrid, murderous beast

Stevenson shows how repression can lead to the development of dangerous, horrible secrets. The novella depicts repression through the character of Dr. Henry Jekyll, and shows what kind of threats it could pose on the society and its individuals. Edward Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s doppelganger. He is the manifestation of Dr. Jekyll’s suppressed thoughts and desires. When Dr. Jekyll transformed into Hyde he turned the tables around. He challenged society. The transformation of a typical, respected Victorian gentleman into a troglodytic, dwarfish creature is an unsettling secret that highlights Gothicism in the novella. The idea of transforming from a high class Victorian gentleman into an apelike atavist underlines society’s fear of social and moral regression (Clausson, 2005).

Mr Hyde, otherwise, is the definition of evil. A killer; a monster who tramples upon a small girl simply because she was in his way. Into an inner level, however, the comparison is not between good and evil but between evolution and degeneration. Throughout the narrative Mr Hyde’s physical appearance is disgusting. Described as ‘ape-like’, ‘troglodytic’ and ‘hardly human’ (ch. 2). Mr Enfield, a well-known man about town and distant relative of Jekyll’s friend Mr Utterson, observes ‘There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable’ (ch. 1). Some 15 years before Jekyll and Hyde, Charles Darwin had published The Descent of Man (1871), a book in which he concluded that humankind had ‘descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped’ which was itself ‘probably derived from an ancient marsupial animal’.[1] Going back even further, Darwin hypothesised that these stages of evolution had been preceded, in a direct line, by ‘some amphibian-like creature, and this again from some fish-like animal’. Such a nightmarish biological lineage that denied the specialness of humans, feeds into many late-Victorian Gothic novels. Dracula’s ability to transform into the shape of a wolf or a bat is one example, while Dr Moreau’s experiments upon the hapless animals on his island as he attempts a barbaric form of accelerated evolution is another. Stevenson’s portrayal of