Preview

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
723 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Jekyll does deserve his final miserable fate because he commits several selfish deeds to the point where he brings his miserable fate upon himself. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses Jekyll to represent how man prioritizes by putting himself over others. Throughout the book, Jekyll's two different sides are used to show that man is consistently selfish and will usually think of himself before others. Even though Jekyll has a good side and an evil side, both sides of him are selfish. Jekyll originally takes the potion for selfish reasons, Jekyll uses Hyde to conquer his own evil temptations, and in the end Jekyll gives into Hyde and completely gives up. Jekyll originally taking the potion can be conveyed as a selfish act because he mainly took the potion to benefit himself. Jekyll said he took the potion so he could become recognized for his good deeds, even though he was well respected by his peers he wanted more recognition from the public, he wanted to be famous for his deeds and become well known among the public. Jekyll says, "…fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellowmen...And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more commonly grave countenance before the public." (Page 103). Jekyll wanted to be acknowledged for his good deeds because having the satisfaction of doing something good wasn't enough for him. He took the potion in the first place to become famous rather than to help others, making it a selfish act. Jekyll is tempted to do bad things and he uses Hyde to overcome his temptations. Jekyll gets his satisfaction of doing bad deeds by becoming Hyde. Jekyll says "If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way" (Page 105). He

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Dr. Jekyll is a man with a deeply divided sense of private self and public self. He is a doctor and a long-time good friend he is also a scholar. Mr. Hyde thinks about "himself as a fifty years old a large tall man without facial hair". He believes that Dr. Jekyll is devoted to charities and to his religion.…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At this point in the story, Dr. Jekyll has not completely accepted Edward Hyde as being a part of him. He recognizes that Edward Hyde is “pure evil” but needs further proof that so much evil can be part of a person that is good. The story describes his transformation after drinking the potion as mental, physical, and spiritual. The spiritual part is very interesting because Dr. Jekyll in part always thought he was a fraud and even though he did walk the line of good he expected he was not truly good. I think Hyde was a manifestation of his thoughts of impurity because deep down he believed to have a good soul he must never have impure thoughts. I think this was his true…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson is a late-Victorian novel. It tells a story about a London lawyer Mr. Utterson investigates the unusual relation between his old friend Dr. Jekyll and the wicked murderer Edward Hyde. The message that author tries to convey throughout the novel is controversial and revealing. In fact, in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson makes effective use of imagery, characterization and several points of view to emphasize his contention that a dual nature exists in every human being and that both good and evil sides should be recognized and kept in balance.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stevenson says,”Yes, I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was this to be explained? I asked myself; and then, with another bound of terror-how was it to be remedied?” (Stevenson 72). Jekyll could not control his transformation and was worried he would transform at a bad time and it created stress within him and his only thought was wondering how these transformations could be kept under control. Stevensons also said, “The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And certainly the hate that now divided them was equal on each side” (Stevenson 81). Jekyll and Hyde hated each other. Hyde was growing stronger and taking over Jekyll. Although Jekyll tried to stop it, instead he let it consume him. The creative author also writes, “The hatred of Hyde for Jekyll was of a different order. His terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide” (Stevenson 82). This quote is talking about Jekyll in the novel and how he gained stress and anxiety from not being able to control his transformations caused him to commit suicide to stop the stress and tension. When an old friend of Jekyll's named Lanyon found out that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person, he became so overwhelmed with stress that he died of shock. Lanyon in Stevenson's novel said, “My life has shaken to its roots; sleep has left me;the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night; and I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die, and yet I shall die incredulous” (Stevenson 63). The shock and tension from finding out new news after knowing Jekyll for so long was too much to take in and Lanyon later died in the novel. In the end of the novel Jekyll and Lanyon both die of overwhelming stress that overtakes them and controls…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hyde is closely associated with darkness in both his personality and setting, Dr. Jekyll is mostly associated with light. In Jekyll’s physical appearance, he is the opposite of Hyde. Hyde is described as a hunched over dark figure, while Dr. Jekyll is said to stand tall and give off positive vibes, as well as not have an ugly face. Because Hyde’s physical appearance is associated with darkness, Dr. Jekyll’s physical appearance must be considered as light because the opposite of dark is light. Notice how it was stated earlier that Dr. Jekyll is mostly associated with light. He is not always associated with light because in Jekyll, Mr. Hyde exists; hence bad exists inside of Dr. Jekyll along with good. Nabokov points out this mixture of good and bad in Jekyll repeatedly in his essay. The three following quotes from his essay, “Is Jekyll good? No, he is a composite being of good and bad, a preparation consisting of a ninety-nine percent solution of Jekyllite and one percent Hyde.”(10), “Jekyll’s morals are poor from the Victorian point of view. He is a hypocritical creature carefully concealing his little sins. He is vindictive, never forgiving Dr. Lanyon with whom he disagrees in scientific matters. He is foolhardy. Hyde is mingled with him, within him.”(10), and “Jekyll is not really transformed into Hyde, but projects a concentrate of pure evil that becomes Hyde, who is smaller than Jekyll, a big man, to indicate the larger amount of good that Jekyll…

    • 2140 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The doctor scoff down the strange concoction. Suddenly pangs of uneasiness and pain rush through the doctor body stringing him along. A change of deformity had occurred. The doctor was no longer his usual, genteel self. He was of a small stature and dwarfish and a frightening malice seen when in the creature presence. This is one of Henry Jekyll’s shocking discoveries. “Man is not truly one but two”( Stevenson) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde explores the theme of the the duality of man. As well as The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, It explores the dual nature of everything. “ Violent delights have violent ends” ( Shakespeare Ⅱ vi 9). Dr. Jekyll is indulgent with his evil side which creates a violent end for him. Because of this…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The victorian era commanded Dr. Jekyll to repress his inner persona, in both his public and private life's. Leaving Dr. Jekyll with a choice, to repress himself and be respected as a professional, or to let himself flourish and be seen as unrespectable and a bit maniacal. By creating Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll believes that he has solved his problem of inner repression cause by the culture forced upon him. While in reality, by constructing Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll is inevitably driving himself to insanity, and developing case of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Both leading to Dr. Jekyll's impending…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The characters of Jekyll and Hyde show Stevenson’s theory about the duality of man’s personality. Jekyll is good, respected character “Born to a large fortune” and “fond of respect of the wise and good among my fellow men... with every guarantee of and honourable and distinguished future”.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hyde was his bad side and his pure side, which everyone came to know, wasn’t what Jekyll really wanted. He wanted to let Hyde out and to do so he had to take drugs, like Sonny did. Jekyll’s surface was a proper man but his true identity was what lied beneath him and what he allowed to surface when he conjured up his potion. Letting out this carnage side made Jekyll feel alive, with no remorse of what he was doing. The aliveness he felt was the disregard of his culture and their rules, and this is where he found himself happy. The disobeying Hyde was Jekyll’s true identity and how he really wanted to feel. Have you ever one day been faced with the opportunity to break cultures rules and done it? Did you feel exhilarated? Ones identity will never change. When they figure out what the true inner person is that, whether its a naughty person or a great person is what surfaces when the person is alone or set with a straining situation. The Jekyll side is what culture wanted to see, but the true identity of Jekyll was the disobeying side of…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is a respected man, but out of his intentions to stay good comes an intense evil. He wanted to keep his good name, yet find a way to unleash his evil side. When Mr. Hyde is created it is with good intensions, but soon the evil becomes overwhelming and begins to control Mr. Jekyll. He only shows one person, Mr. Lanyon, his fatal second side. Lanyon says, “My life is shaken to its roots; sleep has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night; and I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I shall die incredulous. As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears of penitence, I can not, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror” (Stevenson, 45-46). Mr. Lanyon is shocked, so shocked that the discovery puts him into his own grave. Once more, with only good intentions, Mr. Jekyll has allowed yet another fatality. Dr. Jekyll wants to put an end to these spasmodic murders, but the only way to save everyone else’s lives is to end his own. Mr. Poole says to Mr. Utterson after finding Dr. Jekyll dead," No, sir, that thing in the mask was never Dr. Jekyll--God knows what it was, but it was never Dr. Jekyll; and it is the belief of my heart that there was murder done"(34) the murder that is mentioned is that of evil. In reality Jekyll had killed himself to get rid of Hyde, but it was the pure evil that grew in Hyde that had almost forced him to kill himself for the wellbeing of everyone. William Shakespeare uses the duality of good and evil throughout his play, Romeo and Juliet. Out of what should had been a beautiful love came only death and destruction. It is said, "These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, / Which as they kiss consume"(Shakespeare, II iv 9-11). Out of love and triumph comes death. The duality of…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Jekyll and Hyde

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the Victorian society, many things were unacceptable or looked down upon. Because of this rigid societal upbringing, it was difficult for Dr. Jekyll to act on all of his wants and needs. Most people living in the Victorian age must have had some sort of other secret life because of the strict boundaries of how to think and how to act. Hyde expressed the freer, more natural man that Jekyll could never show publicly. He had to maintain a professional, well mannered persona for the society he lived in.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jekyll and Hyde

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Not everyone is perfect. We all have weaknesses and character flaws. Some people drink too much; others smoking or spending too much money. Many people lead a seemingly moral and righteous life, but have secret, dark thoughts or desires. Mr. Hyde has all these flaws and he flaunted them openly. Actually, when you examine his character on a deeper level, the “respectable” Dr. Jekyll is actually and deeply flawed and immoral character. Mr. Hyde is just another part of him, his immoral subconscious, who, because he is given free reign, does the immoral things that Dr. Jekyll couldn’t do because of his reputation. The greatest flaw that Dr. Jekyll has starts with the incident in his laboratory. He experiments with chemicals and discovers another side of himself. Stevenson characterizes Dr. Jekyll as a desperate man dependent on his symbolic drug to escape the moral confines of Victorian society.…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To truly appreciate the greatness of the short psychological thriller and science fiction novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one must approach this 19th century novel with new eyes, unfettered by the recent film versions of the tale, and of the common cultural knowledge of what transpires over the novel's last few pages. Even people who have never read the book or seen a film version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ‘know what happens' at the climax and ‘know' the truth or spoiler ending, that the two protagonists or adversaries are the same man, both warring for one body. Even people whom have watched Looney Toon cartoons and seen other parodies of Stevenson have become aware of the novel's cultural significance—to say someone has a Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde personality means they are of a divided self, one good and one bad half both in character.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jekyll desire to be accepted in society transforms into a wanting to dissect and separate the evil from himself and add that evil into another persona of his being; a desire that has been repressed for a long time. Dr. Jekyll’s reasoning for another being of himself to exist was because of the morbid sense of shame that he felt for the desires that lie deep within him (103). Dr. Jekyll did not want others to know of the thoughts that he had on the other side of his personality. He knew of the good and ill that was divided in him and couldn’t help it any longer than to let the ill of his spirit break free (104). Dr. Jekyll had the knowledge of the good and evil that resides in every person’s soul; no longer could he allow the desire of his other half eat away at the good that was left. Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde was the only way that his desires of fulfilling the evil within him could be satisfied. Through the separate and secret creation of Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego, he still had the ability to fit into society like every other person. Mr. Hyde takes away the unacceptable behaviors that society frowns upon. A strive for perfection is sustained in these…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll has an aching curiosity to discover the vulgar and divergent side to life that he’s never been able to experience before. With prolonged amounts of time spent pondering about the measures needed to be taken to attain what he wants, Henry Jekyll creates a plan and gathers quantities of chemicals and salts that he believes will transform him into a different being; a sinister being that could commit the sins that he had always been disciplined to avoid but inwardly always wanted to do himself. After consuming his concoction of chemicals, Dr. Jekyll alters into what we soon become very well accustomed to, Mr. Hyde. With a new evil being to escape into, Jekyll experiences things he couldn’t before, but is also guilty for the crimes that Hyde commits as well. Jekyll and Hyde, although the same person in principle, are two very different people with altered personalities, looks, motives, and actions.…

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays