Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Research Paper

Every human being has two sides, the good one and the bad one. The good sides trying to do everything good, trying to make things right, trying to fight for what they believe or love. The bad side is led by its own thoughts or repressed emotions, engaging in bad behaviors without any concern. Every individual must pick which side will have the authority. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson underlines that the deadliest opponent is oneself because life is a perpetual conflict between doing the right thing and falling into temptations.

Some believe that every individual has an evil persona trapped inside that is just waiting to get out! This may be true for some but it may also just be another excuse for one to commit evil deeds. In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a prominent doctor (Dr. Jekyll) conducts a scientific experiment in which he compounds a certain mixture he consumes and transforms into an ugly, repulsive creature (Mr. Hyde), representing the pure evil that exists within him. This novel is truly an astonishing piece of literature that consists of many components that make it a marvelous piece of literature. Not only is the symbolism fascinating

The characters in both ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde’ suffer an unhealthy obsession/addiction to their scientific work and revenge. In Stevenson’s story of ‘The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde’, the character Dr. Jekyll is dominated by his narcotic and relentless need to settle his unhealthy craving for larger quantities of the potion which turns him into the evil and cruel Mr. Hyde. The main protagonist states his fail when he says “…and it was as an ordinary secret sinner that I at last fell before the assaults of temptation.” Throughout the novel and movies produced, there are detailed events in which Mr. Hyde is portrayed as a raving addict. Dr. Jekyll not greeting his friend Utterson, showed the audience that Dr. Jekyll’s lack of the substance sent him spiralling into a sort of depression and ‘down’ period. Like any drug or alcohol addicted person, this was due to his

The essay “Instabilities of Meaning, Morality, and Narration” written by Garrett (1988) argues that the story of Jekyll and Hyde consists of a battle between good and evil and the strain of dual personality of man. He also suggests that Stevenson’s use of pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘he’ allow for the characters to drift into an omniscient voice in which the characters of Jekyll and Hyde can be merged together. Garrett uses the example of Hyde’s letter to Dr. Lanyon in which Hyde is able to emulate Jekyll’s

The front aspect of Dr Jekyll’s house presents a ‘great air of wealth and comfort’ where as Mr Hyde is seen entering a building which seemed to display an air of ‘prolonged and sordid negligence’. This distinction could suggest that any respectable man can have also have a disreputable personality just as two opposing buildings could be situated right next to each other. Stevenson splits the consciousness of Dr Jekyll into a decent side that largely succeeds in attempting to supress his desires, and an unscrupulous side that runs around town trying to gratify his animalistic desires. In doing this, Stevenson explores the battles that everyone in society faces as through Hyde, the respectable Jekyll is freed from the restraints imposed by society

Stevenson's Representation of Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

In this novel Stevenson's characters, Jekyll and Hyde, are stereotypes of people who are 'good' and 'evil'. The good is the friendly doctor (the caring profession) and the evil is the hunched, ugly murderer. These two stereotypes combine to create the average man who has the capacity to be both 'good' and 'evil', and they have both 'good' and 'evil' thoughts and emotions. All people

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll; this upstanding citizen, a true Victorian gentleman has created a potion to separate the dark side that is within us all. In this novel Stevenson, illustrates a way that one can face their demons. This novel brings a whole new scenario when it comes to bringing out one’s “wild child”, Mr. Hyde is the complete opposite of Dr. Jekyll; in a way he is the mirror reflection of Dr. Jekyll. This is because, a mirror image is often the person, but it has been flipped. Dr. Moreau on the other hand, has his creatures to be his mirror images.

Jekyll is drawn to an experiment concerning human nature both by his own belief “that man is not truly one, but truly two” (104) and his desire to indulge once again in the wilder aspects of life without the judgement of society. Anxious to experience a pleasure not afforded to a man of his class and reputation, Jekyll sets about using science to prove his theory of an individual being both moral and immoral. Jekyll, through this experiment, allows himself to experience the pure evil he believes lies within each person without fear of facing consequences socially or monetarily for his actions. Despite the chaos and wickedness of his actions when left unchecked by a moral figure, Jekyll maintains his conscience to a degree that he is aware that he must be stopped. Jekyll is seen constantly conflicted by his decisions, at war with his decision to partake in his social experiment. Choosing to die rather than allow the destruction caused by said experiment to continue, Jekyll commits suicide as an act of heroism that conveniently also salvages his reputation(Singh and Chakrabarti). In order for Jekyll to stop Hyde’s unruly and destructive behavior, he must not only kill Hyde but himself as well in the process. Jekyll’s conscience maintains the idea that while good, and evil are equipotent, good conquers evil due to the ability of conscience to recognize times in which wrongdoing crosses an unspoken line and take necessary precautions

The gothic novella, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1886, is a glimpse back in time to the Victorian era. The novella highlights the Victorian morality and the Victorian model of life. The key features of Victorian morality include a set of moral values pillared in sexual restraints, low tolerance policies on crimes and a strict social code of conduct. Dr. Jekyll is a respected member living in the Victorian society, who abides to all the rules and regulations. Mr. Hyde is his own repressed and animalistic personality, awakened through his wild science experiment, to dissociate the good and evil personalities with the help of a potion. The themes incorporated in the novella are: the existence of dualism in human nature (good vs. evil), repression, physiognomy, reputation, friendship, murder, curiosity about science, religion, violence on the innocent or weak, and death. Though the story is a science fiction, it is fascinating that the same person can have entirely opposing personalities. The protagonist, Dr. Henry Jekyll represents the good side of the human personality and the antagonist, Mr. Edward Hyde represents the evil side of the human personality — display the phenomenon of dualism in human nature. Thus, the story concentrates mainly on the issue, whether human nature is inherently good or evil and Stevenson portrays how the dichotomy of good and evil coexists within the

The novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson elaborates on the ideas of the duality of human nature and the nature of good and evil. The story revolves around Dr. Jekyll and a strange character named Mr. Hyde. The narrator Mr. Utterson is Dr. Jekyll’s lawyer and he is trying to solve this mystery and figure out the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. By the end of the novel, Mr. Utterson discovers that Dr. Jekyll was in fact Mr. Hyde all along. Dr. Jekyll created a potion that was intended to rid him of all evil, but instead it morphed him into a new completely evil person, which Dr. Jekyll called Mr. Hyde. Stevenson develops this idea of good and evil in many different ways. Two prominent ideas

The dual character combination of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the most well-known in literature and is arguably the most blatant example of duality Stevenson uses to try and get the theme of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde across. The dual personalities Dr. Jekyll possesses are stark examples of the animalistic and civilized sides of man that inherently resides in all men. The virtuous Dr. Jekyll serves as a portrayal of the more rational, human side of man. When Mr. Utterson attends Dr. Jekyll’s dinner party he paints a picture of a quintessential Victorian man when describing Jekyll’s appearance, “well

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, is a gothic story that clearly aimed to express the notion that all humans have two sides of character to themselves, both of which contradict each other. However, the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, presented this complicated theme in an artistic and creative manner. He incorporated almost all of the qualities that make a gothic novel/story unique from the rest of the genres. Along with literary elements and gothic characteristics, the characters in the novel also went through character development, and in most cases, character decline. Stevenson also left the reader to think about how this story could affect the actions of their life. The theme really seems to resonate in the reader’s mind due

Jekyll’s experiment was a switch between succession and failure. In allowance to satisfy his desires, Dr. Jekyll’s goal was to extract his evil nature as a physical state and new identity. After the pangs of transformation from the salt, he achieved this new identity and now can switch between the two lifestyles. Although everyone who sees Mr. Hyde and describes him as deformed and ugly, Dr. Jekyll’s impression of his new body is rather welcoming.  The assets of the new identity include: Dr. Jekyll’s name remains pure, Dr. Jekyll innocents, and the feeling of guilt does not present itself in Dr. Jekyll.  This was expressed after the trampled child incident in which Dr. Jekyll slept with a slumbered conscience for, in his mind, Mr. Hyde is not

So when Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it reinforced the degenerate nature of humans. Dr. Jekyll’s recognition that of the “primitive duality of man.” (Stevenson, 79) Jekyll’s analysis of his innate evil motivated his decision to “divide and compound man’s dual nature” (79) As Hyde, Jekyll’s double, manifested in people’s vision, they too began to regress. As if to say that each person had evil, the possibility of a suppressed Mr. Hyde skulking in each individual” (255) and the guise and molding of society will only control them for so long. The Sawsbone “slang for a doctor, especially a surgeon” (33), a gentleman of healing arts turned “sick and white with desire to kill” (33) and “there was something about the lot of us, [Mr. Enfield’s group], that meant mischief.” (34) Jekyll’s double seemed to invoke other people’s nasty nature and considering that it was the dead of night without the rest of society’s watchful eyes, Stevenson seemed to imply that civilization kept a tight rein on human nature until it ceased to exist.” Although Victorian Society’s expectations still existed like in Dorian Gray’s novel, Stevenson uses them as a means to forge Jekyll’s identity in opposition to