The novella Jekyll and Hyde tells the tragic story of a battle between good and evil, a battle for total control over the mind and soul. The clash between the pure and impure sides of man: a fight to the finish. It explores the aspect of a person’s good and bad side; holy and unholy, the one who bathes himself in God’s light and the one whom plays with The Devil’s fire. The battle between the good-willed Dr. Jekyll, and his evil persona: the murderous Mr. Hyde. The author, Stevenson, presents this in numerous ways and describes the two conflicting sides well. For example, the character Utterson describes Hyde’s appearance as This line stuck with me throughout the whole book due to the sheer power and strength of the quote. It is one of many quotes that compares the character of Mr. Hyde to the devil himself, implying to the reader that he is indeed the embodiment of pure evil. Jekyll and Hyde – good and evil – they are not capable of existing on their own. …show more content…
This in itself is answered and directly bought up by Jekyll in the book, with the quote: I believe that this quote explains that Dr. Jekyll feels that although Hyde is pure evil, he knows that there is also an evil side to Jekyll – he allowed Hyde to exist, fully well knowing that Hyde would be dangerous. Alongside the titular Hyde and Jekyll is Utterson – Jekyll’s best friend who is only trying to find the truth and bring righteous justice – compared to his colleagues, he is a lot less judgmental of bad actions; and will only choose to judge when he has answers. Throughout the story, Utterson is trying to find out the truth about Hyde – who he is, and where he came from, et cetera – as well as Jekyll, wanting to know information like why he entrusted his fortune to such an unknown and shady person such as Hyde – as shown in the
Jekyll and Hyde Good vs evil Stevenson presents the idea of duality through the differences between Dr Jekyll and mr Hyde. Throughout the novella, there is a repeated antithesis as the good of Jekyll is compared to the “detestabillity” of Hyde. Jekyll has a highly respectable front and is known for a having a good reputation, however Hyde is infamous he known for being evil and is strongly disliked by all he meets. Hyde is described as “like Satan” and “devilish” empathising his pure evil and his dangerous and deplourable nature. Whereas Jekyll is often described as a respected man and is “well built”.
His alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde, is pure evil and Dr. Jekyll deceives himself by pointing the heinous crimes committed by himself to Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll conceals himself behind Mr. Hyde “like a thick cloak” (46), coaxing himself into believing that in reality he is not actually doing any harm and that it is all of Mr. Hyde’s doings to which he has no control over. Stevenson could have chosen various
The repression of homicidal desires, as shown by Dr.Jekyll, forges a plight for himself when he creates a distinctive criminal persona, such as Mr.Hyde. As Hyde’s immoral deeds of Jekyll’s desires continue, Jekyll is persistent of that these deeds where not of his own, but Hyde’s, “It was Hyde after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty… he would even make haste where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde” and also that, “Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde”(46). As Jekyll stood unaccountable in his eyes for the despicable actions of Mr.Hyde, he would also do his best to undo the wrong done. When Dr.Jekyll began to repress his manic desire for death, Mr. Hyde, Jekyll’s persona was made to become his criminal
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll attempts to split himself into two people, Edward Hyde and Henry Jekyll. He achieves this difference by creating a concoction out of a crystalline salt and a “blood-red liquor, which was highly pungent to the sense of smell and seemed to me to contain phosphorus and some volatile ether” (Stevenson 104). But as expected, his plan didn’t work out. Jekyll stated, “Man is not truly one, but truly two, I say two because the state of my own knowledge does pass beyond that point” (111). In his scientific studies, Jekyll has come to the conclusion that a man cannot be entirely good or evil, but must be both.
In this book we can see that Dr. Jekyll has come to realize how boring his life has become respectfully he realizes that his darker life is being consumed by two things his conscience and social appearances, he ask “what if”? to the fateful “what If I release the dark side and see what will happen, all in a scientifically controlled way”, the answer that comes with that question is rather exciting but also self-destructing. The evil in the book has been successfully conveyed throughout the novella, Hyde’s plays a big role in being evil it shows us that we as humans have a bit of Hyde in ourselves whether we know it or not it there waiting to get out at any chance it has. Although this book is somewhat strange but interesting it shows the study of the human mind this is all about good and evil and Victorian
He writes a letter to confess what evil he does when “he was Hyde.” Moreover, he does not want to talk about more about Hyde’s malignant behavior on the testament, it also explains as Jekyll he does not want to mention Hyde too much. However, actually Hyde is the other type of himself. As Jekyll, he is a nice person, he try to remedy Hyde’s mistake, but as the time goes on, Jekyll finds that he can not control Hyde anymore. It is one aspect to support both good and evil can reflect in one person.
When the story opens, a story is being told about how Hyde trampled a young girl. Rather than stay on the scene, he retreats. It is Jekyll who provides the family with a check in order to keep them silent about the tragedy. Mutual friends of Jekyll’s, Mr. Utterson and Dr. Lanyon, are suspicious of the possible individual who could be terrorizing London, and they begin to investigate on their own. Jekyll wanted to separate his good side from his evil impulses creating a potion that would allow him to do that physically.
Within the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, there stands a strange case of good versus evil. However, this story has no great villain or even a valiant hero, it has only a man fighting with his vices and dark urges and desires, which grow darker, more morbid and perverted at the novel goes on. Then, as a means to free himself of such darkness and “evil,” the man creates an antidote or rather cocktail of drugs to help him in such matter. Only problem being, the cocktail separates his psyche in two and with the two sides released from each other. The darkness the bad is allowed to grow and lash out unattended and unblocked.
Good and evil isn’t anything new in our present generation, The Victorian Era is no exception. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s mystery novella, Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde, archetypes are to depict good and evil. The Author uses nature to set the mood.. Mr. Utterson was walking to Jekyll’s House [on] a fine dry night with frost in the air.
“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (3). Mr. Hyde ran over a young girl late into the night without feeling any guilt. Robert Louis Stevenson shows the archetypal theme of good and evil exists in all people in the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. Good and evil exist in all people and we struggle with these two forces. This is shown through Jekyll because he is good with a little bad in him, this is also shown through Hyde, who is evil with some good, and it is lastly shown with the lab because it brings good and evil into Jekyll’s life.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” because the story takes place in Victorian England we see that the characters have no room for expression of emotions or violence. Everything they do is secret, so the more Dr Jekyll is repressed, the more he wants to be Mr Hyde. The original characteristics of Henry Jekyll are reflected as “...life of effort, virtue, and control” (pg. 172) because, most of his life his vice activities were maintained a secret. According to Jekyll, when evil is separated into one body, one will not know right from wrong because there is no conscious in a being of complete evil which was Hyde for
Irresponsible Use of Knowledge & Consequences Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein and Robert Stevenson 's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two horrific tales of science gone terribly wrong, it emphasizes the saying, with great power comes great responsibility. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tells the story of Dr. Jekyll who, while searching for a way to divide his good self from his bad impulses, creates a potion using science that transforms himself into a man without a conscience. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a bright young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. In the texts, authors Robert Stevenson and Mary Shelley use multiple literary elements to emphasize that knowledge
Overall, Stevenson’s presentation of the duality of man is conveyed by the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde because towards the end of the novel. Jekyll begins to realise that the schism which once caused them to despise one another, help them understand each other situation. Jekyll even begins to ‘pity’ Hyde toward the end of novel, praising his ‘love for life’ by calling it ‘wonderful’, as his creator he consequently acknowledges the condescending attitudes towards Hyde, unfairly for his appearance, however rightfully so for his actions. Moreover, like Darwin’s theory, Hyde could never be accepted into society, often being characterised as a ‘brute’. Additionally, Jekyll’s actions would be condemned by the Victorian readers, as he was
So, perhaps Jekyll’s experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without his reputation as Jekyll being tarnished at all. Jekyll and Hyde are not the only examples of duality in this novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms as both a foggy, dreary and ‘nightmarish’ place, and a well kept, bustling center of commerce. Indeed, just as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society.
Jekyll and Frankenstein bring out monsters that cause catastrophe in their own worlds. Both Dr Jekyll and Frankenstein explore the catastrophic results of overreaching. Shelly portrays the effects a negative environment can have on The Monster whilst Stevenson sates all humans must endure the battle of duality between good and evil. Jekyll and Victor’s intentions are well intended but are lost into the abyss of their prior motivations. The Monster proved that he had compassion whereas Hyde demonstrated pure evil.