Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Analysis

In the opening chapters of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, not only does Stevenson portray Mr. Hyde through his descriptions, but he also creates juxtaposition between Mr. Hyde and his descriptions, making the reader feel confused about the character of Mr. Hyde as is Mr. Utterson during the first few chapters. For example, in ‘The Carew Murder Case’, the interior of Mr. Hyde’s house is described as “... furnished with luxury and good taste.” This shows juxtaposition between Mr. Hyde’s house and himself, as Mr. Hyde would never be described as ‘luxurious’ or a man with ‘good taste’. Also, I think that Stevenson wrote this intending to give the reader a feeling of annoyance towards Mr. Hyde just as Mr. Utterson would be feeling at this point. The fact that Mr. Hyde’s house is being described as ‘luxurious’ makes the reader feel that it’s unjust that someone as horrid as Mr. Hyde could be so easily concealed by the interior of his house to a stranger. Stevenson’s intentions here were to have the reader feel more resent and hate for Mr. Hyde and to, again, show a different form and method of mankind’s dual personality being concealed. There is a saying that keeping your secrets or real thoughts bottled up for too long will only cause agitation and will result in the bottle exploding and leaving nothing but destruction

In the article “What Everybody Gets Wrong About Jekyll and Hyde,” by Steven Padnick, the author explains the real story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The article answered an overlooked question about Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll, which many people tend to not questioned. The article shocked multiple readers that have only read the modified version of the story. The author surprised many readers by stating the missing key points in the modified version of the story. Mr. Hyde who is represented as a separate person from Dr. Jekyll in modified version, is in fact not a person but actually a mask for Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Hyde being a mask makes sense because we are only presented with the perspective of Jekyll and never of his alter ego.

To seek refuge while committing a crime at the same breath is possible as long as someone takes the blame. A topic that Stevenson’s tackle when he introduce Dr. Jekyll a secret sadist that concocted a potion turning himself to Mr. Hyde in order to execute his pleasures in a form of a nightly excursion, venturing on the streets and committing heinous activity. Since, Hyde exists upon drinking the potion Jekyll is free commit his dreadful deeds provided that Hyde will take the blame for Jekyll requires to keeping his respected image intact. Moreover, having Hyde take all the blame, Dr. Jekyll can act upon crimes without the worry of consequences. For instance, in the scene of the unfortunate girl whom Hyde mercilessly assaulted, leaving

The novella begins with Mr. Utterson a lawyer going for a walk with his friend and Mr. Enfield. They walk past a door, which jogs Mr. Enfield’s memory and begins to tell a story about a juggernaut that trampled a little girl. Since everyone was yelling at the juggernaut, the man offered to pay a lot of money and went through the door to get a large check from Dr. Jekyll’s bank account.

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.

Jekyll talks about the years before the creation of the potion that transforms him into Hyde. He summarises his finding of the dual nature, human beings are half good and half evil. Jekyll’s goal in his experiments is to separate two opposite elements, creating a person with only good characteristics and a being of only evil. He does this because he wants to free his good side from dark urges. He fails this experiment, in fact he only manages to create a whole evil person ‘Mr Hyde’. In the letter, Jekyll says ‘I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man . . . if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.’ The events of the novel inform the reader that the dark side (Hyde) is much stronger than the rest of Jekyll, this is why Hyde is able to take over Jekyll. This letter is really important for the reader so that the whole novel is understood. A lot of horror is created and it is all quiet in the reader's mind. The reader feels horrified by the way in which Jekyll seems to love and care for Hyde. Jekyll’s words make the reader angry that a man who was so good could enjoy becoming so

The key ideas in chapter 1 of ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr

“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,

The novel Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson contains frequent situations where conflicts among the characters arise. This literary classic also has a prominent and iconic villain depicted in one of the title characters, Mr. Hyde. The general plot of the novel is as follows; Utterson, a respected lawyer, and Enfield, Utterson’s cousin, are on their weekly walk when Enfield tells Utterson about his first encounter with Hyde. During his retelling, Enfield explains how he witnesses Hyde trample a young girl in the street and then pay for her family’s silence in the matter. Utterson nor Enfield are one to indulge in gossip, so they put an abrupt end to the conversation. Soon thereafter, Utterson visits his and Jekyll’s mutual

Jekyll, a prominent scientific figure in London, is the owner of a large estate and overall a handsome and wealthy man in his fifties. However, Jekyll hides many of his childish indiscretions in his well-nurtured childhood which he tended to enjoy; hence the reason he waited till after death to expose any of these misfortunes because they’d completely ruin his professional career. Mr. Hyde represents the pure, amoral evil residing inside himself, symbolized by the fact that Jekyll's clothes sag off of Hyde and the fact he is far younger than fifty, bringing up the idea that this sinister side of Jekyll was not developed until years after his birth. It is through deception that Jekyll is able to retain his appearance to society and keep his well mannered and well kept attitude in face of his sinister side, Mr. Hyde. The overall motif of appearance vs. reality becomes apparent in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson by not only expressing how far Jekyll would’ve gone to preserve his name

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes on the omnipresence of dualistic attitudes in the average men on a daily basis. Dualism is defined by the dictionary as the division of an item into two contrasted aspects. Throughout the novel, Stevenson elaborates on this duality of human nature by creating a character named Jekyll, a very successful and known doctor, who has a physical and metamorphic alter-ego whom he calls Mr. Hyde. In this novel: duality in the human nature, morality versus immorality, and right from wrong are aspects which are emphasized and implied on to demonstrate the overall human nature according to a Victorian perspective. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a chemist who is well-known in his town as a respectful and respected doctor.

a wooden door on a wall with no windows, and is revealed to lead to

Hyde is gradually becoming someone who is a selfish, cruel creature who is consumed with the hatred of Jekyll. Meanwhile, Jekyll continues his separation from Hyde. He considers the option of ending Hyde altogether, accelerates his performance and refuses to accept Hyde as a part of him. Hyde is furious at Jekyll’s treatment and he becomes increasingly evil. He assumes control at will, and Jekyll, failing to understand that what he had attempted was impractical, continues to believe that the experiment could succeed if he could only obtain the right combination for the potion. In desperation, Hyde commits suicide, thus destroying both men. To strengthen his theme of propriety, Stevenson layers contrasts within the various points of view that form the narrative. The friendship of Enfield, the first narrator, and Utterson who is curious, because they are almost polar opposites. Although both regard Hyde himself with disgust, the mystery of Hyde’s identity provides a mere sketch for Enfield, while Utterson finds it very troubling. For Dr. Lanyon, who is more closely connected with Jekyll, the understanding of Jekyll and Hyde is fatal. Throughout the novel the reader finds various points of view, Stevenson highlights information that deepens the insight into the psychology of Jekyll. The characters in the novel continuously react with shock and

Although Dr. Jekyll can be seen as a composite character still struggling with the good and evil inside him, Mr. Hyde is pure evil. Time and time again, characters in the book are disgusted by even the mere sight or presence of Mr. Hyde. According to Calder, this is because “it is when [evil] takes on human aspect that it becomes terrifying” (10). Dr. Jekyll is described as being about middle-aged, large and handsome. Mr. Hyde, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. He is a much younger man, shorter in stature and with a deformity about him that no one could quite place. Dr. Jekyll himself credits this to the fact that the evil side of him was much less developed and thus Mr. Hyde is also less developed than his normal self (Dr. Jekyll). As the story continues and Mr. Hyde begins to exercise his evilness more and more, his body also gets bigger and stronger. According to Judith Halberstam, “the monster functions as [a] monster… when it is able to condense as many fear-producing traits as possible into one body” (131), which is precisely what Stevenson did here with Mr. Hyde. Many of the descriptors of him and his actions even make comparisons to him as an animal, such as when he shrinks back “with a hissing intake of breath” (Stevenson 9) or when he hits Danvers Carew “with ape-like

People have always been judged on their actions and there’s no sign of it stopping now. The Victorian Era correctly portrays this theme. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s mystery novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this time greatly influences Utterson and Jekyll’s actions.