He wrote that both sides of a person 's reasoning function separately, and that both are at all times completely in earnest (77). In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he attempts to convey an idea of what these dual natures would look like if they could be separated. Naturally, such polar opposite regimes cannot cohabit the same body without a great deal of conflict. After presuming human dichotomy, Dr. Jekyll 's mission was to separate these two natures.…
If not for the medically inspired separation of the two parts of Dr. Jekyll’s whole, this novella by Robert Louis Stevenson might only be the sad tale of a man who is forced, by society and societal morals, to be a man he never wanted to be. Much like Mary Shelley’s monster of Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde is a by-product of society, but, in this case, he is also a by-product of the suppression of self, frequently based on moral and religious beliefs. Mr. Hyde is a reflection of the inner self we sometimes hide and he reveals the reasons that inner self is frequently concealed. At times he is only one part of the influential and respected doctor, but at other times, he seems to be the only remaining survivor of the psychological pair.…
Overall, we saw that throughout the story, Hyde’s steadily increasing power resulted in the downfall of Henry Jekyll’s both physical and mental state as well as his ability to be self fulfilled through his evil self. Robert Louis Stevenson taught us, with “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” that although it is crucial to listen to our conscience, we mustn’t let it overcome our moral instincts, no matter how fulfilling it may…
The overall quotation is a characterisation of the multiple dualities present within the Victorian era and even within Stevenson. The contextual time period was always dual in nature, where the concepts and ideas introduced by modern science were constantly battling with the traditional religious foundations of society. This duality of morality vs science can be generalised into the concept of the objective vs the subjective. Stevenson intrinsically incorporates these dualities within the novel, as it explores the concepts of morality, science, the objective and the subjective. The article, “Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and the Double Brain” by Anne Stiles revolves around the scientific aspects of the novel and…
In every single person there is some good and there is some evil. There is the same amount of each in everyone but the way the person handles their feelings shows whether the person lets the evil or the good take over. In the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson the theme of a person having good and evil and that the person struggles with these two forces is very evident. The evil is evident in Mr. Hyde when he commits 2 different murders on an old man and when he killed Dr. Jekyll and ran over a child in his car. Dr Jekyll represents the good when he controls not turning into Hyde and also shows his hatred towards Hyde when people bring up Hyde.…
Victorian Era In the Victorian time period one's actions would reveal the way people judged them. Even now actions still show how people view others. In Robert Lewis Stevensons mystery novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Victorian Era influences Jekyll and Utterson's actions. Jekyll was forced to live a perfectly moral life.…
Jekyll recognizes he is struggling in his fight between what he knows is right, and his immoral desires. To relieve his stress, Jekyll creates a concoction that isolates what he is supposed to do his desires by transforming him into an individual known as Mr. Hyde. To justify this choice, his case statement claims “… all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil” (Stevenson, 1711). Initially, Jekyll has total control over his new form, Mr. Hyde, transforming at his own will. As the frequency of becoming Hyde increases, so does Jekyll’s sinister nature until he is taking on the ugly form regularly.…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were mentally ill by Victorian standards, an exploration into the Victorian mindset on mental health issues can begin. Although modern society still holds a stigma against mental health, as well, professionals in the field have determined that many mental illnesses are out of an individual’s control, caused by chemical imbalances, trauma, genetics, etc. During the Victorian Era, this understanding had not yet been reached. Instead, Victorians thought that individuals had a strong degree of control over their mental states, as “each individual can perfect and utilize his natural gifts; by rigorously training them in the first instance, and then by exercising them only in the manner most cited to expand and elevate, while restraining them from all that would limit or debase” (Carpenter 540). This makes a great deal of sense, given how much importance Victorian society placed in self-reliance.…
The Victorian era is a time of promise and change under Queen Victoria’s rule. During this time of change, there were numerous advancements in both science and social aspects. When Robert Louis Stevenson published Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Victorians saw a glimpse of these advancements and behaviors. Dr. Jekyll, a promising doctor, believes he is making medical strides and therefore, improving the world with his medicine. However, the deeper readers get into the story, they begin to see that Dr. Jekyll is tormented by his discovery and the “assistant” that helps him discover it.…
Because of this social codes, people were not even allowed to think too badly of others without correcting themselves and preventing themselves from further talking about their true feelings. The freedom of speech that we as Americans take for granted was restricted for many people at the time that Jekyll and Hyde took place. For example, the quote “I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will; unless it were that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon, at what he called my scientific heresies. O, I know he’s a good fellow- you needn’t frown-an excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of him” (3.20) shows how Dr.Jekyll tries to convey his true feelings about Dr.Lanyon to Mr.Utterson and ends up having to hide them because his actions went against Victorian social codes. This affects Dr.Jekyll negatively because it forces people to have to live false lives in which they have to hide their true feelings about others, and it shows how these social codes have trained people to treat freedom of expression as something that should be heavily restricted.…
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it revolves around the point that there are two sides to a person. There is the kind and rational side, which is represented as Dr. Jekyll, and the hateful and indulgent side, which is represented by Mr. Hyde. In the novel, the Dr.’s Hyde side made him do things that any person would regret doing. “Both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering”(Chapter ten, paragraph one). Everybody, at some point in their lives, have indulged in their Hyde side, and my life is no exception.…
“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” a gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1886, is a glimpse back in time to the Victorian era. The novella highlights the Victorian morality and the Victorian model of life. The key features of Victorian morality include a set of moral values pillared in sexual restraints, low tolerance policies on crimes and a strict social code of conduct. Dr. Jekyll is a respected member living in the Victorian society, who abides to all the rules and regulations. Mr. Hyde is his own repressed and animalistic personality, awakened through his wild science experiment, to dissociate the good and evil personalities with the help of a potion.…
Hyde’s appearance created a rotten identity, while Jekyll remained high in his society. In addition, as Jekyll balances his two identities, he struggles controlling his temptations. “For the building are so close together about the court, that it is hard to say where one ends and the other begins.” (Stevenson 11) Jekyll is in control of both Hyde and his own temptations but Hyde can fulfill them without feeling guilty. There is that desire to fulfill temptations that are against the…
Thoughts of the Collective Psychology presents several explanations for instances of indecision and the iconic angelic and fiendish voices inside the mind. The concept of dualism and fragmentation of the mind has existed since Aristotle and Plato, but Robert Louis Stevenson captured the quintessential belief behind dualism in his novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mr. Jekyll explores the duality of a human mind through theoretical experiments which eventually produce two antagonistic personalities, yet he guesses “that man will be ultimately known for a mere policy of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens” (Stevenson 43). However, Jekyll’s experiments only provided two aspects of humanity, the kind, earnest appearance…
It is no secret that everyone is not who they say they are, whether that be with hobbies, likes or dislikes or what they want to do when they grow up. All people have another side, some are less interesting then the one they show to the world while others have a deep, dark, hidden side that when released can be damaging. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a an example of how having another side, is life changing. This story is about the tragic happenings of a human who needs to keep his emotional needs and desires hidden. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have started many conversations since it first came out in 1866.…