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Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Effect On Society

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Effects of social acceptance on the individual Throughout history the benefit of fitting within a social group has been discernable. That old adage “We’re stronger together” has had its roots in the very conception of society. You can accomplish more with a group of people than you can alone. The more this group of people expands, the more intricate their function in the society becomes, and therefore, the more influential that society is. However, what happens when, within the complex labyrinth of society and the members needed to keep its mechanisms moving, that society is faced with a piece it cannot work in to its machinery? The great coils of that society shutter at that idiosyncrasy, they ostracize it, but what …show more content…

In 2003 Mark Leary and colleagues analyzed 15 cases of school shooters, and results revealed that all but two suffered from social rejection (Aggressive Behavior, 2003). Researchers have found that not only does social rejection have profound psychological effects, but it can also instigate physiological reactions as well. Naomi Eisenberger, PhD, at the University of California, Los Angeles, Kipling Williams, PhD, at Purdue University, and colleagues found that social rejection activates many of the same brain regions involved in physical pain (Science, 2003). Pain, which when applied to the right person at the wrong time, can be more explosive than any gun. As the discerning sage Yoda once said, “Here is the path to the dark side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate…leads to suffering.” In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the thematic basis of the story is made exceedingly clear. It turns out that Dr. Jekyll is not only symbolically fighting with his good and evil natures, but physically trying to fight off the …show more content…

Enfield’s first encounter with Mr. Hyde he said that, “I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I can’t specify the point.” This quote is vastly illuminating, not only on the nature of Mr. Hyde, but the lens by which Mr. Enfield, and as an extension, Victorian Society, view malformation. Eugenics is defined as “the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)”. Its origin can be traced as far back as the Pre-Galtonian philosophies in Ancient Greece and Rome. In Ancient Sparta, children were inspected by elders and through the means of phenotypic selection the “Undesirable children” (ones who were weak, malformed) were cast off into a pit to die. In the Roman Empire patriarchs were given the right to "discard" infants at their discretion. This was often accomplished by drowning undesired newborns in the Tiber River. The philosopher Seneca wrote of the practice that: "We put down mad dogs; we kill the wild, untamed ox; we use the knife on sick sheep to stop their infecting the flock; we destroy abnormal offspring at birth; children, too, if they are

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