The human personality and psyche is constantly evolving from its primitive ancestry, being used in literature to interplay the philosophical ideas of opposing moral concepts, and being one of the reasons behind the loss of innocence. Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 science fiction/Gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, follows the lawyer Gabriel John Utterson investigating strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, his nefarious doppelgänger, Edward Hyde. Through the incorporation of a character with a fluctuating personality, Stevenson provides the opportunity for different representations on the idea of the human personality. The idea of repression provoked by society’s ethical and lawful demands is represented
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The representation of the idea of repression caused by submitting to the laws and expectations set up by society as causing detrimental emotional damage. This is seen through the construction of Jekyll’s emotive language when he describes the events that led to his split personality. Noticing his changing personas during solitude and in public, Jekyll comments “Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views [were] set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.” Jekyll suggests that failing to conform to society 's expectations would cause him to become the subject of ridicule by those around him. Jekyll, and likely others, must repress any form or sign of deviance to ensure his social status. However, by doing so, he must endure an agonising sense of shame, as seen from his usage of the word ‘morbid’. In a contemporary, western society, people are given more freedom to establish their own personalities and the existence of different personalities are generally accepted by society. While repressing his irregularities from society causes emotional grief, the release of this repressed emotion causes Jekyll to have feelings of ecstasy. This is constructed through characterisation and emotional language when Jekyll reveals his feelings towards Hyde’s malevolent …show more content…
This is constructed through descriptive and emotive language during Enfield’s first account Hyde. After walking through a deserted street, Enfield observes Hyde and a young girl about to cross paths. Horrified at the unprovoked atrocity he witnesses, Enfield is left momentarily stunned, saying that Hyde “trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground.” The use of the word ‘calmly’ to describe the girl’s torment shows Hyde’s nonchalance attitude towards his immoral and violent actions. Implied to be left seriously injured, emotionally scarred, and unable to defend for herself, the girl’s seemingly innocent nature is tarnished by this random act of unwarranted and unjustified abuse. This loss of innocence is further seen in the recount of another of Hyde’s murderous tendencies and is constructed through descriptive and emotive language. Discovering another murder of an innocent individual, Utterson goes to investigate that case and soon finds out that it is the work of Hyde. Utterson asks for the maid’s recount of the events before she fainted from witnessing the gruesome murder of her master. She states “with ape-like fury, [Hyde] was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.” This further elucidates Hyde’s vicious and
The representation of the idea of repression caused by submitting to the laws and expectations set up by society as causing detrimental emotional damage. This is seen through the construction of Jekyll’s emotive language when he describes the events that led to his split personality. Noticing his changing personas during solitude and in public, Jekyll comments “Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views [were] set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.” Jekyll suggests that failing to conform to society 's expectations would cause him to become the subject of ridicule by those around him. Jekyll, and likely others, must repress any form or sign of deviance to ensure his social status. However, by doing so, he must endure an agonising sense of shame, as seen from his usage of the word ‘morbid’. In a contemporary, western society, people are given more freedom to establish their own personalities and the existence of different personalities are generally accepted by society. While repressing his irregularities from society causes emotional grief, the release of this repressed emotion causes Jekyll to have feelings of ecstasy. This is constructed through characterisation and emotional language when Jekyll reveals his feelings towards Hyde’s malevolent …show more content…
This is constructed through descriptive and emotive language during Enfield’s first account Hyde. After walking through a deserted street, Enfield observes Hyde and a young girl about to cross paths. Horrified at the unprovoked atrocity he witnesses, Enfield is left momentarily stunned, saying that Hyde “trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground.” The use of the word ‘calmly’ to describe the girl’s torment shows Hyde’s nonchalance attitude towards his immoral and violent actions. Implied to be left seriously injured, emotionally scarred, and unable to defend for herself, the girl’s seemingly innocent nature is tarnished by this random act of unwarranted and unjustified abuse. This loss of innocence is further seen in the recount of another of Hyde’s murderous tendencies and is constructed through descriptive and emotive language. Discovering another murder of an innocent individual, Utterson goes to investigate that case and soon finds out that it is the work of Hyde. Utterson asks for the maid’s recount of the events before she fainted from witnessing the gruesome murder of her master. She states “with ape-like fury, [Hyde] was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.” This further elucidates Hyde’s vicious and