In this essay on the story of Jekyll and Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson I will try to unravel the true meaning of the book and get inside the characters in the story created by Stevenson. A story of a man battling with his double personality. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde becomes Jekyll's demonic, monstrous alter ego Apr 02, · Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, speaks about a person with a split personality. It tells of a person leading two parallel ways of life. At one time, he is a being but at other times, he has a different personality all together. We will write a custom Essay on Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, both explore the ambiguous nature of human morality through the lens of mystery. Both texts are set in an urban environment, the Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essays | GradeSaver
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, speaks about a person with a split personality. It tells of a person leading two parallel ways of life. At one time, he is a being but at other times, he has a different personality all together. We will write a custom Essay on Dr. Jekyll And Mr. At one time, he is a human, exhibiting human nature and character but at another moment, he is an ogre trampling on children and killing innocent people.
His work leans towards a general disliking of human nature, which is shared by a few other misanthropists who have expressed this through their satirical writings. Alceste states that his hate is general.
He hates all men because some are evil and filled with wicked deeds, and hates others because of their permissiveness towards the wicked. This is a story that is perceived from varying angles and perspectives. The novel tells a story about one doctor with split personality.
The story dissects the existence of duality within the life of a person or basically the duality of human nature. Robert Louis suggests that within every human, there exists the evil and the perfectly human and good side. As a consequence, the bad nature is occasionally cast upon the human side.
Jekyll is one person who has continuously veiled a life featuring wicked and evil acts and he feels like he is always fighting within himself, essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde. He was wondering what side of him to expose and at what time 1 Stevenson He happens to scientifically create a concoction that has the supernatural ability of transforming him from one side of his dual nature to the other.
However, essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde, after taking it for a longer time, he realizes that he does not need the portion in order to transform. This is a fact that eventually brings him down. The Victorian norms dictated that things had to happen with due consideration to class, essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde, and no class was to overlap the other in its areas of operation.
The class system demanded that issues leadership, governance and politics be left to the upper class. To the upper class, Mr. Hyde represents the working class. To them, the working class does not consist of gentlemen but rather people of no status. This novel, as most philosophers and literary persons argue, was meant or rather the events in the novel were a forecast on what was to be the situation in Victorian England, which is the setting place for the novel.
One very outstanding modern world challenge as manifested in the novel is scientific research. Some scientific researches are carried out by unscrupulous scientists who have ill intentions with their discoveries just like Mr. Hyde in the novel.
The modern world is faced with the challenge of regulating the work of scientists. Recently the world has had to deal with the controversial issue of human cloning. We as humans are not quite sure where this scientific move will lead us to, but we fear the ability of cloning to create a million terrorists. The world over, people are faced with the weakness of being economical with very vital information. He also prevents him from engaging in a dangerous affair with Mr. Hyde is hiding his rather despicable scientific work and his beastly behavior.
Utterson denied providing information to the police when he discovered about his friend. This, in a modern sense, reflects the many different inside jobs within the society. This includes the people living with and hiding evil. People are upholding status quo since no man would ever want to appear any lesser.
The aspect of class is also portrayed. People who can afford excesses are graded as the upper class, while those who can barely afford basic needs for themselves belong to the lower class. The people in the middle class also exist and they are either graded as upper middle class since they are closer to the upper class or lower middle class just next to the lowest class.
In this book, class is reflected in the physical appearance or rather the architecture. In opposition to this, Dr. The modern society, just as essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde the book, is marred with violence.
There are records of various acts of violence. The scenes always involve the culprit — who is Hyde — and a victim who is always an innocent individual. In the earlier chapters of the book, another bad side of Hyde is witnessed. He is recorded to have trampled on a young girl in the street without any mercy. This was done without any prior provocation 3 Kiely and Robert Just as the novel concludes, we discover that Hyde seriously enjoyed committing those heinous acts of violence.
He drew a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from violence. Jekyll commits suicide in front of Utterson and Poole, essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde. However, it is ironic that, in this case, none of the victims is innocent. Another challenge that the modern society is faced with is male domination. The novel Dr. Hydein a way, depicts a classic touchstone of the Victorian society and its ways of life. The novel reflects what the Victorian society really was. Most essentially, it proves the fact that this was a male-dominated era.
The men had all privileges and possessed the powers that were bestowed upon them by the society. Just as in the modern society, this was a society fighting male domination. In the entire novel, female characters are very few, if any.
All the main characters in the book are male or rather professional gentlemen. This basically reflects what the era upheld and respected — men of status. The modern society is trying to wreath itself out of male domination with worldwide calls for gender equity and gender balance.
The first female that we come across in the novel is the young girl who is literally run over by Hyde. This further depicts the female members of this society as very feeble, helpless and in need of help from others males in order for their voices to be heard. The modern society is also faced with the challenge of people having different sexual orientations, essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde.
Apart from the book having very scanty information regarding women characters, there is also no information on any of the characters having intimate female relations. Most of the literary persons suggest that Louis Stevenson, being a worker under the Victorian restrictions, was essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde reluctant to relay information regarding its monkish patterns of existence 4 Calder and Robert It can be rightly argued that Jekyll indulged in rather secret pleasures.
Another discovery is made about Lanyon, Enfield, Utterson and Jekyll. Firstly, they are essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde bachelors. Secondly, they derive their friendship and intellectual stimulation from one another. Undeniably, homosexuality is a feature that is of great concern all over the world, juggling between acceptability and rejection. A new and somewhat radical thinking by Sigmund Freud suggests that the story is about psychoanalysis and issues of the subconscious.
He reiterates that the conscious entails everything we are aware of including those that we can talk about and even think of in a rational manner. The subconscious is the store of feelings, desires, thoughts and memories that are not within the conscious awareness. The subconscious controls behavior and experience even though one may be consciously unaware of the influences within.
Freud also identified the preconscious. He defined it as the memory. He states that the memory is not always a component of the conscious but can be recovered or retrieved with less difficulty at any time.
This is visible in the story whereby Mr. Hyde is a representation of Dr. These boundaries have been cast upon him by the Victorian society 5 Rogers and sorrel The modern man is fighting within himself to be rid of the primitive form, which is a form that is wild, violent and uncouth. People essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde to conform to the set essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde of conduct or face the consequences.
It is rather important to note that the primitive form is the true and genuine version of a person. The modern form has merely been molded by the modern society. Another modern societal challenge is poor communication. The persons in the book opt to withhold issues of great importance to the society. In the first chapter of the book, Enfield conceals some important information. He refuses to tell about the culprit who ran over the girl on the street.
He claims that he is avoiding gossip. However, later after naming Hyde, the book states that Utterson and Enfield unceremoniously ended the conversation. This silence reflects the moral character of the Victorian era, which essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde an era that greatly emphasized on the outward appearance and no one would have liked to be identified as a gossiper.
The novel is also a reflection of the modern London City. During that time, the city was undergoing great transformations and in effect did not lack the challenges that come with urbanization. The city is described as being idyllic and of much splendor but at the same time, it is also revealed as dangerous, dark and full of mysteries.
Halloween Special: Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde
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The main theme of the novela, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is about man’s double being and between good and evil. The book represents a double life of a person who is sick and tired of his normal life. Dr. Jekyll, a doctor and a well-liked member of a society of successful bachelors, that values his perfect reputation, created Mr. Hyde In this essay on the story of Jekyll and Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson I will try to unravel the true meaning of the book and get inside the characters in the story created by Stevenson. A story of a man battling with his double personality. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde becomes Jekyll's demonic, monstrous alter ego Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, both explore the ambiguous nature of human morality through the lens of mystery. Both texts are set in an urban environment, the Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins
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