In the book Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, the book takes place in London in the late 1800’s, a lot of things are different then now in the twentieth century of the real world, not only how people talked and or described things but also how they act. For this essay I wanted to point out these differences, so I’ve looked through the book and picked out some things that show them. One of the first major things that caught my attention was how they author described places. On page 12, Stevenson describes a Mr.Utterson's house as a ‘bachelor home’ Nowadays, we’d call it a bachelor pad. A bachelor home or pad is a house where a single guy lives. Over time our language, or how we frase something has changed, whether that's because we've gotten lazy and shortened the language never quite intending for it to stick, or because we simply believe that's the best way, it's happened and is continuing to happen still. The youth are the main …show more content…
One of the things I picked up on right away is that in this book the characters have a very polite nature to them that most of us don't have today. I’m not saying that people now are impolite but we do mostly, lack the amount of polite restraint when it comes to our actions and words. This generation is all about speaking our minds and doing what we want, at times this may seem rude or impolite to others especially compared to the way people act in the book. One of my examples is when Mr.Utterson asks Mr.Enfield if he ever asked any questions about the house Mr.Hyde went into to get a cheque for the family of the little girl. Mr.Enfield says, “No sir: I had a delicacy, I feel very strongly about putting questions; it partakes to much the style of the day of judgment.” (Stevenson 9) He showed concern for what asking questions could do to someone, moreover he showed that he respected people's
Stevenson writes ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ with the intention of showing the reader the duality of man and explores this through the juxtaposition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this novella, Stevenson also uses the environment and setting of the story to represent the contrast between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Stevenson used the contemporary setting of Victorian London to write his gothic horror novel. The streets with the gas lamps were the perfect setting following the true horrific stories of Jack the Ripper. He refers to Mr Hyde well as he wanders the streets of London not knowing who he’s going to meet. The elements in gothic horror include irony, movement, time, senses, horrific
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. It concerns a lawyer, Gabriel Utterson, who investigates the strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the reclusive Mr. Edward Hyde. This novel represents an ideology in Western culture; the perpetual conflict between humanity’s virtuosity and immorality. It is interpreted as an accurate guidebook to the Victorian era’s belief of the duality of human nature. This essay will explore Mr. Edward Hyde and whether Stevenson intended for him to be a mere character in the novel or something of wider significance.
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish author. Written and published 1886, this novella reflects on the individual, and societal behavior during the Victorian era. During the Victorian era people, were supposed to behave like a normal person. Certain behaviors were highly restricted for example, showing evil. Instead, they were expected to give respect for everyone. People who acted out against the norm during this period were usually sent to asylums because such behaviors were unacceptable. People in this society did just that, they behaved as if they were perfectly normal. This does not mean that their bad side did not exist. Instead, they hid their
The contrast between Jekyll's more modern, sophisticated makeup and Hyde's animalistic appearance is significant in interpreting the meaning behind the Jekyll and Hyde character. Those who argue that Hyde represents a devolved version of humanity use Hyde's appearance to justify their stance. Author and professor Anne Stiles points out that Stevenson uses words such as 'ape-like', ''troglodytic', and 'hardly human' to describe Hyde. A troglodyte, from the Greek word meaning 'cave dweller' is used to describe a person who is reclusive, hermit-like, and ignorant. Stiles goes so far as to say "from a late-nineteenth-century perspective, Jekyll represents the pinnacle of evolution, while Hyde approaches its nadir…racially, Hyde is an ape-like
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 this essay I am going to look at Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll, the first
Just as the emotions between a parent and toddler can change any second from loving to embarrassed and angry, the two main characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, struggle through a family-like relationship. Throughout the novel, the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde changes from a close, family-like relationship to one of hatred toward the end of the book. Changes in the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde can be seen in: observations by Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll’s state of mind before and after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, and Dr. Jekyll’s confession.
Frequently overlooked in favor of discourse on the duality of man or the dubiousness surrounding the characters’ interactions with Hyde, Jekyll’s portrayal of his transformations into Hyde in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde has an indubitable parallel to symptoms of drug addiction. This allegory fits seamlessly into the narrative once the reader becomes aware of its presence. Not only does Henry Jekyll present symptoms paralleling drug addiction, his transformations into Hyde and how the other characters in the novel react to them are also typical of situation involving an addicted person. Finally, the ease with which a respectable member of the bourgeoisie lapses into such a degenerative state serves the
“But it is more than ten years since henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me”. (12 Stevenson)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was wrote in 18th centuries, the times that were defined as ‘Gothic revival’. The literature in this times had similar thematic elements include supernatural or ‘fantastic’, violent crime (death and murder), passionate romance (often with death). The novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was considered as typical Gothic literature. Particularly, repression and hypocrisy are highly emphasized in the novel. Repression is undoubtedly a cause of conflict between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The root of this repression can be found in Victorian England where there was no sexual appetites, no violence and no freedom of expressing emotion in the public sphere. Everything should be restrained and people in that times all behaved solemn and were not allowed to show their joys and sorrows. This repression can be well reflected within Dr. Jekyll in the novel. According to quotation of Stevenson’s description:
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
This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong
Many more became more pessimistic and turned from the permeated artistic circles which also brought to light the weakening of the Western culture and its dominance. Stevenson’s novel clearly depicted good and evil with civilization and savagery; it helped show that civilians knew the truth regarding England’s attraction to the savage Western cultures just like Hyde enjoys the restraint from freedom.
“It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend’s quarters and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a tasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent, the table laden with chemical apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw, and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola. (Stevenson