The Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Having a career in science and medicine was a big deal during this time. Dr. Jekyll is an educated, wealthy, and well-respected man. Through the eyes of the public, he is seen as a perfect, ideal Victorian man. He is a “large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (31). Because of his status in society, Dr. Jekyll is obligated to hide his pleasures and show the society his caring, affectionate, and loyal virtues.

Utterson, Lanyon, Enfield, Jekyll... one of these does not belong. Clearly, within the context of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Henry Jekyll struggles to fit himself into the strict Victorian society. In the events leading to his demise, he longs to separate his firm, polished face from his true inner self; from here, Stevenson paints this juxtaposition with the use of several point-of-view techniques. When Utterson, the protagonist, “[stands] a while when Mr. Hyde had left him... putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity” (Stevenson 19), he clearly becomes the literal center of attention for the story’s opinions and perspectives. Rather than giving an omniscient style to the novel, Stevenson provides an external viewpoint in order to engage his audience. The use of point-of-view techniques in Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reinforces the audience’s reaction to the story’s moral dilemma.

Reinterpretations have played a major role in all forms of entertainment. They provide another, unique perspective on something old, something you may have read or seen. They make it possible to relive, or re-experience something that you cherished, or they can enable you to love something you hated. Reinterpretations have a lot of artistic power, as can be seen in a review of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, compared to The Incredible Hulk, directed by Louis Leterrier. The value of reinterpretations can be explored through the use of these two texts by looking at the theme of duplicity in man, and analysing the characters Bruce Banner and Dr Jekyll.

During the latter portion of the nineteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson published his novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The fin de siècle saw the rise of different thoughts and ideas surrounding science and society. These concepts and interpretations sparked the discourse surrounding the theory of degeneration; which was the concern that civilization would fall to a lower state of being. This chapter will be reading multiplex personality as a manifestation of this broader cultural fear. Stevenson’s story played upon the changes society was facing during this time and the interest in scientific explanations for mental illness. He creates the character of Dr Jekyll, a scientist who invents a potion to unlock his inner,

To begin with, Dr. Jekyll is a well-rounded, well-respected man descending from a highly intellectual and respected Christian family of doctors and lawyers. He is nothing short of the ideal Victorian gentleman: tall, polite, honorable and refined, physically portrayed as being “a large well-made man of fifty,” and as having a “large, handsome face” (Stevenson, 19). Opposed to this seemingly impeccable man is none other than Mr. Edward Hyde, a short, hairy, ‘troglodyte’ man with a horrific

Kenned for the promotion of rigorous morality, the period between 1837 and 1901 in England is synonymous with human restraint. The Victorian era, named after Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne, began with the elite in control of society and its politics. Concerned with maintaining power over their society, these hundreds of families fixated on the convivial disseverment between the upper and lower classes; associating enlightenment with the upper class became a leading thought abaft this disseverment, which regarded the lower class as brutal in nature. This thrust the Victorian era into a period of human hypocrisy and emotional elimination: a cultural conception that drain into the fields of science and religion. Robert Stevenson mimic

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. The novel is set in Victorian England and follows a man by the name Dr. Jekyll, a respected doctor. Dr. Jekyll is a revered man in society and has every intention of remaining that way. However, one day he goes too far with one of his experiments and he creates a draught that unleashes a split personality within him. This personality goes by the name of Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll does not seek a cure at first because he enjoys having an outlet for all of his desires that are deemed unacceptable by society. Hyde commits evil deeds, such as murdering an old man and trampling a young girl, which Dr. Jekyll could never normally let himself go through with. Dr. Jekyll believes that he can remain a good, reputable man even when a part of him is doing wrong. However, he soon learns that this is impossible. Soon after, Dr. Jekyll loses control over his ability to transform into Mr. Hyde. At first, he would only change during the night. Then, he started transforming during the day as well. Dr. Jekyll finally admits that the problem is starting to get out of control. However, he cannot create a remedy any longer. Dr. Jekyll is eventually completely overtaken by Mr. Hyde and the reader does not hear from him again. In this novel, Dr. Jekyll illustrates the duality of human nature through his struggle to choose between good versus evil, societal expectations versus unacceptable desires, and

It is taken for granted that monsters are scary. Everyone knows that vampires are blood thirsty creatures, and that zombies will stop at nearly nothing. But how do these fictional creatures invoke fear in people? Did monsters just become synonymous to terrifying, or is there a hidden interpretation to their existence? In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde is without a doubt a monster. His appearance is strange, his behavior erratic, and his morals nonexistent. The respectable Dr. Jekyll morphs into Mr. Hyde by consuming an odd potion. In the form of Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll fulfills the dark needs that he has. Yet, that is not really the reason that he appears to be scary to other people. Throughout the book many people describe Hyde as being deformed and creepy in a way that cannot be put into words. Although Mr. Hyde is the evil that resides within Dr. Jekyll, he is also a monster that represents the fears of the Fin-de-Siécle. Through his devolutionary appearance and criminal behavior, he represents the fears that people of that time held. Therefore, he provides insight into the fears of the society, which in turn creates a direct window into the time period.

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the dual consciousness of man imposed by Victorian Era moral standards. Stevenson illuminates the conflicting nature of man with the rigid social institutions, the emerging sciences of the mind and body, and the prudish façade of contemporary moral society. Dr. Jekyll’s experiment parallels emerging psychological and medical ideas of the time-period. “The more that I read about the debate in Victorian psychology over the “double-brain”, the more I realized Stevenson’s story paralleled this professional discourse.” (Danahay) His two selves, represented by Jekyll and Hyde were backed by the then dominant, Dual Brain theory. Stevenson’s novella exposes the truth about Victorian society’s double life. The public face and accepted truth of prosperity and respectability was countered by immense poverty and abundant sin. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an important piece of Victorian literature because it symbolizes many of the emerging ideas present in society at the time.

Frankenstein by author Mary Shelley is a Gothic science fiction novel written in Switzerland between 1816–1817, and published January 1, 1818. Set in eighteenth century Geneva, Frankenstein tells the story of a young man by the name of Victor who goes away to college to study natural philosophy, chemistry, and alchemy. When armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months constructing a creature out of old body parts, and in the secrecy of his apartment, brings his creation to life. The monstrous abomination later disappears, and when a mysterious series of deaths start to occur in Victor’s family, he is certain his creation is the cause, and devotes his life to vanquishing the savage fiend. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886, is a mystery thriller about a respectable man by the name of Henry Jekyll, who takes a potion to occasionally become a dark and evil character, which he so cleverly calls “Mr. Hyde”. Meanwhile Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll’s lawyer and close friend, tries to figure out why his dear friend Dr. Jekyll is acting so suspiciously, while simultaneously trying to uncover the origin of Mr. Hyde for himself. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shares common themes with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein such as dangerous knowledge, monstrosity, and the use of doppelgängers. Both Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde, develop the idea of the doppelgänger to emphasize how social

This is a story about Mr.utterson, a lawyer in charge of the will of a well known doctor named henry jekyll. As the keeper of the doctor will he gets confused when mr jekyll plans to leave his everything to mr hyde when he dies, Mr Hyde is a rumored murderer. Mr utterson tries to ask jekyll who hyde is but jekyll didn't give him a straight answer.

The intended audience in the “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is for adults. This novella tells a heartless version told by a gentleman’s point of view. Stevenson used this gentleman to narrate the story. The gentleman is Mr. Utterson, the

Being a respected doctor, Jekyll is tied of chains by his social status in the society, for instance if a child is restricted to do something, by his parents. He will eventually find a secretive way to fulfill his needs. In the same manner Jekyll finds Hyde as a solution to satisfy his simple need like drinking. “His every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another” ().As the quote demonstrates Hyde enjoys drinking, which he cannot do as Dr. Jekyll, living in an oppressed Victorian society. The small and harmful temptation like drinking leads to more serious offences. As this boosts, Jekyll’s confidence, he ends up indulging into violent acts, “With ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down a storm of blows” (). The simile in this quote delineates Jekyll’s unexpressed desire that erupts through Hyde. His small desires manifests into bigger crimes. Stevenson uses this theory to showcase temptation the evil cause of problems in mankind.

In an attempt to consider the duality tale, one narrative inevitably finds its way to the top of the heap as the supreme archetype: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Immense disagreement permeates the pages of literary criticism relevant to the meaning of the story. Yet, for all of the wrangling focused on the psychology, morality, spirituality, and sociality of the story, it has remained, since 1886, a novella that according to the Reverend W. J. Dawson, gives Stevenson “a place apart, and high above all contemporaries, as an interpreter of the deepest things of the soul” (qtd. in Abbey 318).

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) is a scientific horror story that uses science as a solution to the protagonist’s utopian project of isolating the good from the evil. Dr. Henry Jekyll visualizes the potential for a better, near perfect world. The Victorian period in which he lives is one dictated by the ideals of progress, however, reality presents him with a world nowhere near what a utopian society would be like. In the novel, the protagonist goes through a battle between his two opposing identities of good and evil. The internal struggle between these two personalities serve as the ultimate determination on whether or not a utopia can ever be reached.