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The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Hyde

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Novels, plays, and movies often depict characters caught in a conflict with their doubles. Such collisions call a character’s sense of identity into question. Robert Louis Stevenson takes this idea of doubles to a whole new level in his novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. Upon closer examination of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde and his reoccurring theme of duality, we see that however constrained a society is, a person must break free, be multifarious, exploratory, and irresolute. A person must be able to see the “damage behind apparent failure” and the hypocrisy “behind worldly success.” The first instance of multiplicity immediately takes form after Stevenson introduces the narrators. Stevenson utilizes the frame story through Mr. Utterson. The narration in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is complex, drawing from almost all the characters to paint the scientist’s dark secrets. Although it is true that there are three main narrators, Stevenson uses two different perspectives to bring the story into a new light. Firstly, there is the main third-person narrator, Mr. Utterson. Mr. Utterson is a limited, third-person character, whose knowledge stops as we find Jekyll’s body. The lawyer personally uncovers more and more evidence as a detective, a close friend, a man of justice, and a “respected” member of society. Apart from Mr. Utterson, Stevenson narrates from the perspective of Dr. Hastie Lanyon, a friend and a colleague of

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