As humans, people tend to look for a cure or a way to escape to enjoy everyday pleasures or create something new. Both Robert Stevenson and Mary Shelley write about this in their novels. Their works, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein, portray these issues and show how their characters go through with the issue. Their novels also show the archetype the fall, when a character starts at a higher state of being and then quickly fall to a lower state of being. In Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in Shelley’s Frankenstein, Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein show the archetype of the fall by creating monsters through scientific means and their quest for god-like power that physically and mentally makes
…show more content…
Henry Jekyll creates the solution he needs to separate the evil and good in him on an “accursed night” and “with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion” (Stevenson 78), naming his new self Hyde. Hyde allows Jekyll to be evil and be free from consequences. This potion successfully separates the good and evil in Jekyll, fulfilling his ambition. Dr. Jekyll “places himself in God’s role” and rather than asking God for help, he experiments to “separate his human self from his evil self” (Fletcher). While Jekyll did successfully separate these two entities, he places himself in a situation where he can not handle the power that he uses because of his human self. The power to separate himself into two beings foreshadows him losing control of his new self. When Jekyll first turns into Hyde, he “was conscious of no repugnance, rather than a leap of welcome. This , too, was myself. It seemed natural and human” (Stevenson 79). When he sees himself, he feels a sense of accomplishment because he finally finds his true, evil self. It seems natural to him because he convinces himself that he must be like this to be happy and free of worry of his evil desires. Jekyll “acknowledges that he was aware of the potential dangers of experimenting on himself, but, nevertheless proceeded …show more content…
Once the potion controls him even when he tries to stop himself, Hyde “mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow” (Stevenson 84). When Hyde becomes more and more evil, Jekyll cannot control Hyde and his reckless actions. Hyde murders innocent people and enjoys it, but Jekyll does not. Because Jekyll does not want to kill these people, Jekyll tries “desperately to suppress and contain his evil side”, but it does not work and leads to the “result of Hyde’s return in murder” (Barsuglia 10). Jekyll tries to hide and stop changing into Hyde, hoping that nothing bad occurs if he does. Even though Jekyll tries, he still cannot control Hyde, causing a loss of balance in his two lives and the death of more people. Jekyll, when turning back to normal, scares himself and “sought with tears and prayers to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with which my memory swarmed against me” (Stevenson 85). When all the guilt and memories of murder enter Jekyll’s mind, he seeks for God’s help, even though he never asks for it in the beginning of this experiment. Hyde then slowly takes over Jekyll, showing that as a human, he cannot control the evil self in him. Soon, Jekyll withdraws “from the world… because he has no choice, his personality is devoured by Hyde” (Cornes). As
Henry Jekyll creates the solution he needs to separate the evil and good in him on an “accursed night” and “with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion” (Stevenson 78), naming his new self Hyde. Hyde allows Jekyll to be evil and be free from consequences. This potion successfully separates the good and evil in Jekyll, fulfilling his ambition. Dr. Jekyll “places himself in God’s role” and rather than asking God for help, he experiments to “separate his human self from his evil self” (Fletcher). While Jekyll did successfully separate these two entities, he places himself in a situation where he can not handle the power that he uses because of his human self. The power to separate himself into two beings foreshadows him losing control of his new self. When Jekyll first turns into Hyde, he “was conscious of no repugnance, rather than a leap of welcome. This , too, was myself. It seemed natural and human” (Stevenson 79). When he sees himself, he feels a sense of accomplishment because he finally finds his true, evil self. It seems natural to him because he convinces himself that he must be like this to be happy and free of worry of his evil desires. Jekyll “acknowledges that he was aware of the potential dangers of experimenting on himself, but, nevertheless proceeded …show more content…
Once the potion controls him even when he tries to stop himself, Hyde “mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow” (Stevenson 84). When Hyde becomes more and more evil, Jekyll cannot control Hyde and his reckless actions. Hyde murders innocent people and enjoys it, but Jekyll does not. Because Jekyll does not want to kill these people, Jekyll tries “desperately to suppress and contain his evil side”, but it does not work and leads to the “result of Hyde’s return in murder” (Barsuglia 10). Jekyll tries to hide and stop changing into Hyde, hoping that nothing bad occurs if he does. Even though Jekyll tries, he still cannot control Hyde, causing a loss of balance in his two lives and the death of more people. Jekyll, when turning back to normal, scares himself and “sought with tears and prayers to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with which my memory swarmed against me” (Stevenson 85). When all the guilt and memories of murder enter Jekyll’s mind, he seeks for God’s help, even though he never asks for it in the beginning of this experiment. Hyde then slowly takes over Jekyll, showing that as a human, he cannot control the evil self in him. Soon, Jekyll withdraws “from the world… because he has no choice, his personality is devoured by Hyde” (Cornes). As