Science Fiction and Science Fiction in Jekyll and Hyde
There are elements in the story of Jekyll and Hyde that make it appear to be both science fiction and fiction about science. The novella is based on an occurrence that stems from science, however is not probable in the world, and therefore it must be looked at as science fiction. The ability for a drug to morph someone into a completely different person is otherworldly, and must be thought of as an element of science. The story is told in third person- creating an outside narrator, although we see the figure of the lonely scientist in Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll not only mentally furthers himself from society, but at times (when he becomes Mr. Hyde) is completely absent from society; “Henry …show more content…
On one hand we have a genre, “Science Fiction”, and in that genre there are very specific components that go into a story; can something be science fiction if it doesn’t incorporate all elements? “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” explores the risks of manipulating science, and therefore makes science something this novella revolves around. However, if the science element was erased and replaced with something fantastical, like magic, the story could be told. The science is important, but it is not the foundation for the story. The foundation rather lies in the theme of “good vs. evil”. The purpose of the story is to exhibit good compared to evil, and vice versa; “I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde. A moment before I had been safe of all men 's respect, wealthy, beloved—the cloth laying for me in the dining-room at home; and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted, houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows” (97). The change from Jekyll to Hyde occurs because of science; the reveal at the end that they are both indeed the same person is quite shocking. However it …show more content…
I think rather it is important to view the novella on a SF spectrum itself; the timeline of the story beginning rooted in science, and then slowly gravitating towards something more otherworldly than science itself. Dr. Jekyll’s final account gives the reader insight into how out of control the once “scientific” experiment became, “After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours; and then I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active good-will with the lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint; and then as in its turn faintness subsided, I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts” (97). In the end Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s transformations were brought on by purely thoughts alone; therefore the transformations became rooted into something beyond science- hence why it’s important to view this text as both science fiction, and science
There are elements in the story of Jekyll and Hyde that make it appear to be both science fiction and fiction about science. The novella is based on an occurrence that stems from science, however is not probable in the world, and therefore it must be looked at as science fiction. The ability for a drug to morph someone into a completely different person is otherworldly, and must be thought of as an element of science. The story is told in third person- creating an outside narrator, although we see the figure of the lonely scientist in Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll not only mentally furthers himself from society, but at times (when he becomes Mr. Hyde) is completely absent from society; “Henry …show more content…
On one hand we have a genre, “Science Fiction”, and in that genre there are very specific components that go into a story; can something be science fiction if it doesn’t incorporate all elements? “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” explores the risks of manipulating science, and therefore makes science something this novella revolves around. However, if the science element was erased and replaced with something fantastical, like magic, the story could be told. The science is important, but it is not the foundation for the story. The foundation rather lies in the theme of “good vs. evil”. The purpose of the story is to exhibit good compared to evil, and vice versa; “I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde. A moment before I had been safe of all men 's respect, wealthy, beloved—the cloth laying for me in the dining-room at home; and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted, houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows” (97). The change from Jekyll to Hyde occurs because of science; the reveal at the end that they are both indeed the same person is quite shocking. However it …show more content…
I think rather it is important to view the novella on a SF spectrum itself; the timeline of the story beginning rooted in science, and then slowly gravitating towards something more otherworldly than science itself. Dr. Jekyll’s final account gives the reader insight into how out of control the once “scientific” experiment became, “After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours; and then I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active good-will with the lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint; and then as in its turn faintness subsided, I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts” (97). In the end Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s transformations were brought on by purely thoughts alone; therefore the transformations became rooted into something beyond science- hence why it’s important to view this text as both science fiction, and science