The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
In the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ Robert Louis Stevenson explores humankinds conflicting forces of Good and Evil. Through the central characters and the key theme of the duplicity of mankind Robert Louis Stevenson successfully portrays the theme of Good and Evil in the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
In the novel good is portrayed by Henry Jekyll and Gabriel Utterson. Mr. Utterson is a London lawyer and an old friend of Henry Jekyll, he is loyal to his friends and is concerned about Henry Jekyll and questions him of his new friend Mr. Hyde to whom he has left his possessions in his will:
‘You know I never approved of it’
‘ ‘My will? Yes,
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This shows both good and evil in Henry Jekyll, he is good in the sense that he wouldn’t put his profession to shame yet evil as although it is Edward Hyde who indulges in his pleasures, it is still Dr. Jekyll’s soul who is directing these actions. In the novel, although Dr. Jekyll does represent good he is not to represent only good but also evil.
EVIL
In the novel evil is portrayed by Mr. Hyde and as the novel progresses evil begins to gain more power over good, Mr. Hyde begins to take over Dr. Jekyll and becomes more dominant. Jekyll is beginning to lose control and his evil side is taking over:
‘I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.’
Mr. Hyde is a small and ugly looking man and this contributes to how he is perceived and a person. His appearance and manner provoke a bad reaction from people:
‘Gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.'
'I had taken a loathing to the man at first sight.'
At the time Stevenson was writing the novella, people were very judgmental of those who looked different. Back then, these 'deformed' people would have been shut away. These reactions from the late 1800s had a huge influence on the attitudes that Stevenson's characters had towards Hyde in the book.
Throughout the novel there are many different descriptions of evil. The doors used by Jekyll and Hyde are an example of
Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
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.
If Hyde has been described as Hyde "savage, uncivilized, and given to passion…poorly evolved" (Shubh), then perhaps he represents the true, original nature of man, repressed by society, norms, and conscience. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde suggests that this restrained, amoral side of human nature, once given a chance to escape, cannot be controlled. Even in this 'height of western civilization', Victorian England, this tempting evil can overcome even the most virtuous of men. Jekyll is neither good nor bad, but a man whose deeply repressed urges motivated him to separate, but not remove, the evil parts of his nature. There is a misinterpretation that Hyde is an unwanted byproduct of trying to create pure good, that Jekyll is not in control as Hyde, and that Jekyll doesn't enjoy being Hyde. In fact, Jekyll loves being Hyde, he revels in the freedom that he brings him (Stevenson 54), but the problems with his dual personality starts when he has to face the consequences of his actions. Jekyll has a difficult time balancing Hyde's debaucheries and Jekyll's rational, refined side. However, Jekyll realizes too late that he has indulged in Hyde too much and has let him grow out of control. At the beginning of the novel, Hyde was the “smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll” (Stevenson 57). His more youthful appearance represents how young and free Jekyll feels as Hyde, but also symbolizes how little his personality was seen before Jekyll drank his potion. Early in the novel, Hyde is easily controlled, Jekyll can use his potion to limit how often he transforms into Hyde (Stevenson 56). However, as he starts to morph back and forth, it starts to take more and more potion to control the switches until
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hyde is an evil double of the honorable Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll creates Hyde by scientific experiments, to prove his statement: “… man is not truly one, but truly two.” He means that the human soul is a mixture of evil and good, and Hyde is the manifestation of the evil that existed in Dr. Jekyll. As a respectable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll can never fulfill the evil desires existing in him. Therefore, he separates his “evil-self,” giving him a separate identity. However, as Vladimir Nabokov explains in an introduction to the Signet Classic version of the book, "[Jekyll] is a composite being, a mixture of good and bad...[and] Jekyll is not really transformed into Hyde but projects a concentrate of pure evil that becomes Hyde” (Stevenson 60). Unfortunately, rather than separating and equalizing these forces of good and evil, Jekyll's potion only allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil. Thus, there is never a way to strengthen or separate Jekyll's pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever
Considering The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as an Effective Representation of Evil
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
How Stevenson Explores the Nature of Good and Evil in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Jekyll seems to be in control of his desires and temptations but as Hyde he can fulfil them and not feel guilty. Stevenson is stating that everybody has evil inside of the, wanting to get out and that everyone gets a thrill of letting it out sometimes.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde is the most obvious villain as he was created to be pure evil, but the character of Dr. Jekyll also has villainous aspects. Mr. Hyde is often shown to have little to no self-control as seen when he physically violates two people. This is seen when
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.
In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two." So, in Jekyll's view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Jekyll's case, his good side is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him, but at the end of the book his evil side becomes stronger and unstoppable. However, as a respectable member of society and an honorable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and free his evil characteristics. Unfortunately, rather than separating these forces of good and evil, Jekyll's potion only allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil, so there is never a way to strengthen or separate Jekyll's pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever had.
Dr. Jekyll realizes through his experiments “that man is not truly one, but truly two” (Stevenson 57). This shows that Jekyll has realized that all men have 2 sides to themselves: good and evil. Jekyll has created his good side, Jekyll, to help people and his bad side, Hyde, to have fun and do bad things that he couldn’t do as Jekyll, but Jekyll made
Good and evil has been a part of humanity since the beginning. However, it is possible that good can overcome evil even though one’s bad side can be superior. Friendship is crucial in the story. It was Utterson’s friendship with Jekyll that motivated him to figure out the reason why his friend was acting so strange. Their friendship stopped Utterson from jumping to conclusions, and it made him try to see the good in
Everyone loves the classic age-old battle of good vs. evil. Just watching until the very end to find out that good eventually prevails is arguably the most satisfying thing about the rivalry and why filmmakers as well as authors take on the theme so often. However, good vs. evil is also something that human beings simply cannot escape. As long as there is good in the world, there will be evil; also, as long as evil exists, there will be some good to stop it. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, he presents the reader with many different themes throughout. The main theme in Jekyll and Hyde is good vs. evil and the battle between the two. The second theme is repression and how repression affects the characters throughout the novel. Stevenson focuses on the battle between good and evil and the tendency to repress the true self in his classic work in order to emphasize that all people have within themselves these same struggles.
When Utterson first meets Hyde, he is described as someone unnormal with evil hints. It is described that his exterior generates feelings of disgust and even unease to other characters. Yet this deformity is described not only on a physical level but also on moral one (and thus, differs from the depiction of