It's not just that the novella is short enough by itself, but the story of that famous two-sided personality takes up only the last quarter of the text. Is there anyone alive today for whom this comes as a spoiler? It is almost impossible for us in this era when superheroes with secret identities, multiple personality disorder, personality-altering drugs, and transforming powers are cultural tokens to realize what a shocker the concept must have been in the Victorian era when this tale was coined.
And of course this story itself has become part of common reference, whenever we talk about changeable characters as being Jekylls and Hydes. There's an interesting difference though between Stevenson's original idea and the passed-down concept of the two-faced character. There was also a belief that evil only exited in sick individuals. The themes of the novel are good verses evil and duality, this symbolises the society of the time.
An example of this is Jack the Ripper; he was a serial killer who never got caught. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is about repressed desires and what happens when we deny our bad side. It looks at a doctor called Dr Jekyll who feels restricted in society so he takes a potion to relieve pressure however this reveals his bad side and releases the beast within him. Some elements of this novel seem coincidental. For example when Utterson Stevenson uses effective descriptive techniques; he builds up a calm, relaxed picture, and then shocks us with sudden violence.
An example of this is in "the Carew murder case" chapter, first we are given a description of the maid then we are given a description of the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. Stevenson uses archaic, old fashioned language. An example is when it says "troglodytic" this means trolls. The book is relevant today because in the same way that Jekyll is addicted to Hyde, people in modern society are addicted to alcohol and cigarettes to relieve pressure.
The message in this book is if we ignore our evil side it will return with more vengeance which you wouldn't be able to control. I think this book links in very well with Victorian society. Get Access. Good Essays. Read More. Powerful Essays. Better Essays. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Jekyll as a Victim of His Times. Hyde was revealed to him in a dream. The Strange Case of Dr. Hyde deals with a Dr. Henry Jekyll who is widely respected, successful, and possesses a brilliant intellect but is only too aware of the duplicity of the life that he leads, and of the evil that resides within him.
Jekyll covertly provides utterance to the evil in his soul by various unspeakable acts, but is afraid of doing so openly because of the fear of social criticism. In the course of his experiments, he succeeds in producing a concoction that enables him to free this evil in him from the control of his good self, thus giving rise to Edward Hyde. Edward Hyde is pure evil and amoral. Not only is his psyche different from Dr. Jekyll but also his body is grotesque and deformed. Thus, Dr.
Jekyll thinks that he can receive the pleasure that both parts of his being crave without each being encumbered by the demands of the other. However, Mr. Hyde evokes feelings of dread and abhorrence in Dr. Jekyll to his doom. A religion that is dualistic admits not only that the universe comprises good and evil, or light and darkness, but also that though these are eternally opposed they are coeternal, coexistent, and equipotent.
Here, the good and the evil are often derived from the same source or from one another, much like the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Mahabharata. Zoroastrianism is often cited as an example of a dualistic religion where the concentration of all that is good is around Ahura Mazda, and all that is evil around Ahra Mainyu.
These two forces are at constant war and only at the end will good finally vanquish evil. Interestingly, Christianity, the religion Stevenson was born into, rejects dualism and preaches a monistic origin to the universe from one, infinite, and self-existing spiritual being who freely created everything. However, the dualism of the human soul and the body which it animates was made clearer and is emphasized by the church.
In the same vein, Christianity holds that evil is the necessary limitation of finite created beings and is a consequence of creation of beings possessed by free will. As an imperfection inherent in the manufacturing process of individuals, evil is tolerated by God. In the novel, Stevenson creates a hero in Dr. Jekyll, who aware of the evil in his own being, and sick of the duplicity in his life, succeeds by way of his experiments on himself in freeing the pure evil part of his being as Mr.
Hyde, so that each can indulge in a life unfettered by the demands of the other. As Dr. Here, good and evil are not related but are two independent entities, individuals even, different in mental and physical attributes and constantly at war with each other. Evil now does not require the existence of good to justify itself but it exists simply as itself, depicted as being the more powerful, the more enjoyable of the two, and in the end ultimately it is the one that leads to Dr.
Jekyll's downfall and death. This is because Dr. Jekyll in the last phases of his lucidity recognizes the danger that Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as an Effective Representation of Evil. Considering The Strange Case of Dr.
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