Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde example essay topic

Dr. Jekyll is a respected if somewhat reclusive London doctor who has, through the course of years of experimentation, managed to create a solution which brings to the fore his evil alter-ego. Unlike many gothic literary villains, Hyde is not imbued with superhuman strength or exceptional gifts of any kind. In fact he is of a smaller and less imposing stature than most men. What he does possess however is a complete lack of compunction with regards to others. Hyde for example ruthlessly runs down a small child who gets in his way. As is the case with Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll creates something that he can't control and which eventually destroys its creator.

The inhumanity that the fictional Hyde displays can be seen in the non-factious world on a daily basis. As such, there is a realism to the story which is missing from many horror stories past and present. The fact that such a short and captivating work exists in an attractively packaged edition makes this one classic that will be a joy to read for all. Marietta 1 Michele Marietta Phil 2 Dr. Nick 16 August 2000 Jekyll and Hyde: The Authentic Self Throughout Western literature, writers have created characters who act as perfect foils to each other with dramatically observable differences.

Each pairing has a stronger and weaker in the combination, and usually one outlives the other. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the pairing exists in one body, and yet the struggle is heightened because both aspects of the identity are equal in strength. Ultimately, Stevenson emphasizes it is Jekyll who holds the power of life or death over Hyde. Hyde's "love of life is wonderful", but Hyde is also aware of Jekyll's "power to cut him off by suicide (Stevenson 101)". It is the awareness of each for the other which confirms that neither can exist alone.

According to Albert Camus in his Essay "The Myth of Sisyphus,"the sight of human pride is unequaled (Bowie 47)". It is Jekyll's pride in his secret existence of sensuality and "love of life" which postpones the self-destructive tendency. However, as soon as Hyde begins to appear without Jekyll's physical act of drinking the elixir, Jekyll can no longer allow the "brute that slept within" to emerge on his own (Stevenson 102". Both Jekyll and Hyde are ultimately aware of each other, and interact through necessity. To each, the other's freedom must be checked in order to stay "alive", and yet Jekyll finally spies freedom, but only through suicide. In the end, it is Hyde who triumphs, as it is in his guise that the body is discovered.

Hyde is Jekyll without restraint, and the man Jekyll wants to be in the light of day. Jekyll's close friend and attorney Utterson regards Hyde with "disgust, loathing and fear", and yet cannot put a name on the precise reason for the vehemence of his feelings (Stevenson 18)". Utterson considers Hyde may have a hold on Jekyll in the form of "the ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace (Stevenson 20)". Yet there is nothing concealed between Jekyll and Hyde. It is "memory alone... tis to be considered... as the source of personal identity Marietta 2 (Bowie 351)". Jekyll records that " [his] two natures had memory in common (Stevenson 90)".

The disgust Utterson feels may actually stem from the ability he has, when looking at Hyde's face, to see the countenance of his friend Jekyll, and subconsciously make the connection between the two even before he witnesses the material transformation. In "Sisyphus", Camus declares "a man defines himself by his make believe as well as by his sincere impulses (Bowie 46)". Hyde gives an "impression of deformity without any namable malformation (Stevenson 18)". Weariness, according to Camus, "awakens consciousness and provokes what follows (Bowie 46)". Once Hyde has been released, Jekyll discovers that he cannot control when he emerges. Eventually, Jekyll repeatedly sleeps and awakens as Hyde.

Here, Jekyll's consciousness of himself becomes obsolete as soon as he realizes he is Hyde. He is not conscious of the transformation taking place, only that it has, and as Hyde, consciousness is replaced by pure sensation. It is the act of losing himself in the sensuality of being Hyde that Jekyll disappears, and it is this disappearance that Jekyll fears will trigger the end of "communication" between his two Selves. It is only when Hyde writes to Doctor Lanyon in the guise of Jekyll that he thinks beyond his sensual self, and that "need and distress... forced [him] to communicate (Bowie 315)". Jekyll discovers the elixir, but in definite terms confesses that "the drug had no discriminating actions; it was neither diabolical nor divine (Stevenson 84)". It is the man who lets loose the primordial self, and not the concoction.

Regardless of the physical manifestations of the release of Jekyll's other authentic self, the elixir also brings about a spiritual transformation. Camus states, "where lucidity dominates, the scale of values becomes useless (Bowie 48)". Hyde is younger, quicker, and possesses a sensuality and sexuality which frightens observers at the same time it titillates Jekyll. He gloats in the "liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures" he experiences as Hyde (Stevenson 91)". In the end, during his most intense struggles of which Self to show the world, Jekyll weighs his options and admits that to "cast his lot with jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde was to die to a thousand Marietta 3 interests and aspirations, and to become at a blow and forever, despised and friendless (Stevenson 91)".

His final decision to outwardly remain Jekyll is resolved by the knowledge that "while Jekyll would suffer smart ingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost (Stevenson 91)". At the onset of Jekyll's "illness", Utterson struggles with even allowing Hyde a face, let alone an identity. He is only a shadow that "glide [s] stealthily through sleeping houses... and at every street corner, crushes a child and leaves her screaming (Stevenson 14)". Jerome Chary n, in his critique "Who Is Hyde?" asserts that, "Hyde is too forceful a character, too complex, to be imprisoned inside a crude case of split personalities (105)". Jekyll tries to fit Hyde into a complete definition of his "other self" and feels sure his life will be simplified should "the separation of these two elements [good and evil] be... housed in separate identities (Stevenson 80)".

Additionally, there is intent in Utterson's scrutinizing of Hyde's face, as if the scrutiny will help solve the abnormality of Jekyll's erratic behavior. Utterson reads Jekyll's will, which leaves all to Hyde, and while convinced that "the respected physician Doctor Jekyll should choose Mr. Hyde as the sole heir to his estate... was madness... upon placing the will in the safe, felt puzzlement turn to fear that disgrace was instead the motivator (Mighall 189)". Again as the observer, Utterson places the blame of the situation on Hyde, and resigns his old friend Jekyll to the abyss. In addition to Utterson's concern at Hyde's "impression of deformity", Jekyll's other close friend Dr. Lanyon is likewise fascinated by Hyde's face and body, taking a physician's interest in the "unspeakable aspect of the man (Mighall 190)".

Stevenson's concentration on Hyde's deformities emphasizes the "observable differences" between Jekyll and Hyde, and thus increases the shock Lanyon eventually receives. Lanyon's real-life medical contemporaries investigation the "Jack the Ripper" murders in London of 1888 concluded that "the wild beast... is slumbering in us all. It is not necessary always to invoke insanity to explain its awakening (Mighall 194)". Perhaps Jekyll is at his sanest as Hyde? Lanyon eventually witnesses the transformation of "degenerate into doctor", and never recovers. For Lanyon, it is the witnessing of the "abnormal, the degenerate and the hysterical within the body of the respectable bourgeois, Marietta 4 who has impeccable origins, life, fortune and status" which kills him (Mighall 192)".

Ultimately, it is Hyde who is found when the laboratory door is forced, and while it is Jekyll who possesses the courage to commit suicide, it is Hyde who outlives Jekyll. The battle between Jekyll's "two selves" has played out, and both would consider themselves victor (Mighall 190)". investigates to the strange link that the misanthropic man Edward Hyde has to his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll. This investigation begins as a matter of curiousity and concern despite Jekyll's assurances that Hyde is nothing to worry about. That changes when Hyde is seen committing a savage murder of a respected Member of Parliament. As Utterson assists in the investigation of the crime, Jekyll becomes more and more reclusive and sombre as Utterson comes to believe that the doctor is abetting Mr. Hyde. Eventually, Jekyll isolates himself in his laboratory gripped with an emotional burden that no one can comprehend.

Another friend of Utterson, Lanyon, is suddenly dying of a horrific emotional shock of which Jekyll seems to be connected. Eventually, Jekyll's butler comes to Utterson to ask for his help to deal with a stranger who has somehow entered the locked lab and killed Jekyll. Together, they discover that it is Hyde in the lab and they break in only to find the man dead from suicide and Jekyll nowhere to be found. Eventually, Utterson reads letters from each of his now dead friends.

The first one from Lanyon reveals that he witnessed first hand that Hyde is no other than Jekyll who is physically transformed into the other identity by means of a potion of Jekyll's design. The other letter is a confession from Jekyll who tells his story about how he came up with the theory that each man has two aspects, good and evil, within him... Acting on this theory, he created a potion that could change a human into an embodied ment of his dark side, who he called Edward Hyde. He soon began to undergo this change regularly and indulge in all the forbidden antisocial pleasures that Jekyll would never do.

However, the Hyde aspect himself began to grow stronger and beyond Jekyll's ability to control it. After Hyde's murder, Jekyll decided to stop taking the potion, but eventually the addiction to his Hyde form proved too strong to resist and he took the potion again. Eventually, Jekyll began changing into Hyde without the potion and the counter remedy began to lose its effectiveness until he could only stay ask Jekyll while the potion was in his system. Eventually, he ran out of the unique components to the potion, leaving him as Hyde permanently until he commited suicide as Utterson and the butler entered the lab. Dr. Jekyll: This is the elderly gentleman at the center of the story who struggles with the dual nature of his personality. Although very kind and friendly to his friends, Dr. Jekyll has a dark side which he chooses to express in the person of Mr. Hyde.

Although he valiantly tries to keep Mr. Hyde bottled up inside, eventually the dark side of his personality wins out, threatening his well-being and even his life. Mr. Hyde: This is the small man who commits the heinous acts of brutality and murder throughout the story. Mr. Hyde is created when Dr. Jekyll drinks a special chemical solution, subsequently turning himself into this other creature. Mr. Hyde is hated by everyone he meets, even at first glance. Although they can't name it, those around him sense something profoundly evil about his demeanor. Mr. Utterson: This man is the main protagonist of the story.

Utterson is a lawyer but also a personal friend to nearly all of the other characters, and helps crack the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story is told from his perspective and the reader soon realizes that he's a fair, honest, good-natured man. Utterson is described as possessing a rugged countenance, yet somehow being lovable. Mr. Enfield: Enfield is the friend of Utterson who goes on weekly Sunday afternoon walks through town. On one such walk Enfield tells Utterson about Mr. Hyde and the strange house he has the key to. Dr. Lanyon: Lanyon is the friendly, elderly doctor who helps Utterson solve the case when he describes the letter given to him by Jekyll.

Lanyon is the one who witnesses Jekyll's startling transformation to Hyde. Poole: This man is Dr. Jekyll's long-time butler and friend of the family. Poole's main role is to help Utterson break into Jekyll's laboratory near the end of the story when he suspect's foul play. He is described as a "well dressed, elderly servant". Sir Danvers: He is the parliament member who is so ruthlessly slaughtered by Mr. Hyde while the maid watches in horror from the upstairs window. This murder causes Hyde to go into hiding for several months.

Theme Analysis The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a classic mystery story and quite captivating to audiences of all ages on the drama aspects alone. In fact Stevenson first wrote the story (after recalling a dream he had) with only the intentions of writing such an entertaining tale. Yet at the suggestion of his wife, he decided to revamp the mystery to comment on the dual nature of man and of society in general. The hypocrisy of Victorian values is one such indictment of society Stevenson makes. All around England, Stevenson saw that although on the outside most noblemen seemed to be fine and upstanding citizens, inside they hid dark secrets. Many critics even suspect that Jekyll and Hyde was a self-admission by Stevenson of his own dark nature.

Although often Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems to be a light-hearted tale of mystery and intrigue, Stevenson takes great pains to show that the evil Mr. Hyde is very deadly. There is certainly nothing comical about the trampling of the little girl on the street corner or the brutal slaying of the M.P. Jekyll's dark side even causes death indirectly. Dr. Lanyon quickly keels over after witnessing the transformation from the good Jekyll to the evil Hyde. Here, Stevenson ventures to say that whenever anyone has the ability to see the evil side of man in its purest form, he will most certainly die of morbid fascination. At first Satan's net of evil seems fun and jocund.

Dr. Jekyll admits this to Utterson in his letter, saying, "It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine". Stevenson, using the dialogue of Jekyll, goes on to say that all people are a composite of both good and evil. He asserts, .".. all human beings... are commingled out of good and evil". Here, Stevenson is leaving the narrow scope of his fictional tale, and indeed indicting all of society.

Yet Stevenson's story doesn't have a happy ending. Indeed Satan's dominance over the body of Dr. Jekyll eventually takes its toll. Jekyll is able to admit that after a few months of experimenting with Hyde, eventually the little man's demands became increasingly extreme, seeking more and more power. Soon Jekyll has no control over Hyde, who appears by himself whenever Jekyll dozes off to sleep.

He admits, "I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse". Finally Hyde causes Jekyll to commit the ultimate act of self-destruction: suicide. In short, Stevenson is trying to say that if one gives evil an inch, it will take a mile.