Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Dr. Jekyll

Powerful Essays
1742 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dr. Jekyll
9 September 2011
Dr. Jekyll: Good or Evil
André Gide once said “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Dr. Jekyll is not a moral, decent man and helpless victim as portrayed, but a true hypocrite. The novel focuses on the supposed conflict between the forces of Good and Evil within the human soul. Dr. Jekyll theorizes that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each competing for dominance (Stevenson,48-49). Despite their dramatic opposition, Dr. Jekyll’s deceitful nature, his amazement at the results of the potion, his addiction to the potion, his ignorance of signs that he was losing control and, his final acceptance of the evil makes him just as vile as Mr. Hyde. While it is true that Dr.Jekyll largely appears as moral and decent person, active in charity work and enjoying a reputation as a courteous and good-natured man, he in fact is a deceitful man. Although Dr. Jekyll creates his potion on the belief of separating and purifying the Good and Evil elements within his own soul, he succeeds in only purifying the dark side, Mr. Hyde. If the human soul is truly half good and evil, as Dr. Jekyll theorized, there should have automatically been a purification of both good and evil with his soul. Without the manifestation of an angelic counterpart, it demonstrates Dr. Jekyll’s intent to deceive the public to his darker, more violent nature. If the righteous side of the human soul was to be purified with the creation of his potion, there must first be some sort of foundation for the forces of good to arise. In Dr. Jekyll’s situation, there was never a modicum of virtue or honor in his soul for the potion to purify. In his letter to Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll quotes, “Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and with an almost sense of shame” (Stevenson,.48). Like many other common men, Dr. Jekyll had a past filled with many regrets. As other men, Dr. Jekyll wanted to avoid the consequences and temptation of his past sins and impersonate a more virtuous nature. As result of his deceitful living, there was never a reason for Good to rise within Dr. Jekyll’s soul, allowing only evil to manifest. After exhaustive research on the divided human soul, Dr. Jekyll believed he found a chemical solution that might serve his purpose. Buying a great amount of ingredients, he drank the potion with the knowledge he was risking his life, but was blinded by the confidence of a great discovery. After enduring terrible pain, Dr. Jekyll quoted, “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine” (Stevenson, 50). Upon looking into a mirror after his first transformation, Dr. Jekyll-turned-Mr. Hyde was not afraid of his evil side; instead, he experienced “a leap of welcome.” Accepting his results quickly, Dr. Jekyll demonstrated he was not afraid of the pure Evil now arisen from his soul. This should have been Dr. Jekyll’s first warning that something was terribly wrong with his experiment and his own soul. However, he quotes, “. . . Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most shared in the most sensitive apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the pleasures and adventures of Hyde” (Stevenson, 55). Dr. Jekyll only thought he was becoming too old to act upon his sincere nature, and Mr. Hyde was a younger man, the perfect solution to achieve his darkest wishes. Transforming himself into Hyde became a welcoming experience for Dr. Jekyll’s buried evil desires. With his new found power, Dr. Jekyll was now free to pursue his dark pleasures as he wished. If Dr. Jekyll was truly a virtuous man as he portrayed in public, he would have been disgusted by his new form and discontinue further use of the potion. But instead, the potion allowed a gateway to be opened for him to do the pure evil he long desired and marveled. Because of his sinful desires, Dr. Jekyll allowed Mr. Hyde to grow stronger and stronger, and led to the ultimate eclipsing of Dr. Jekyll. It was not only his creation of the potion that made Dr. Jekyll vile and monstrous, but rather his sudden addiction. It was not until after several months of taking the potion that Dr. Jekyll found cause of concern for his addiction. While asleep one night, he unknowingly transformed into Mr. Hyde without the help of the potion and awoke in the body of his darker half. This incident convinced Dr. Jekyll that he must stop with his transformations or risk becoming trapped in Mr. Hyde’s form forever. But when Dr. Jekyll initially intended giving up his evil ways and live a life of virtue, he did not remain true to his determination. The doctor quotes, “I made this choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I neither gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes of Edward Hyde, which still lay ready in my cabinet” (Stevenson,.46). Dr. Jekyll only managed to set himself up for ultimate failure. This shows that Dr. Jekyll never truly wanted to let go of his new evil power. After only two short months, Dr. Jekyll quotes, “. . . I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught” (Stevenson,56). After a feeble attempt to return to his old life, Dr. Jekyll could not resist the temptations of Evil. Dr. Jekyll did not put enough, if any, willpower into giving up his new found strength, despite knowing the evil he had created. Dr. Jekyll had sunken too far into a pit of evil born of his own creation.
Many signs indicated the Evil was going extremely out of control within Dr Jekyll’s soul. Even with these warning signs constantly shown to him, Dr. Jekyll remained ignorant of the danger. Even with the shocking incident that happened in his sleep, Dr. Jekyll continued to comment his crimes, knowing the dangers of the ever growing evil in his soul. The doctor quotes “. . . I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse” (Stevenson,55). When it became obvious that he was losing control over his own soul, Dr. Jekyll still managed to enjoy his sinful desires. Dr. Jekyll’s first pleasure upon becoming Mr. Hyde seems that, no matter how horrible the crimes Mr. Hyde commits, Dr. Jekyll never feels guilty enough to restrain himself from making the transformation again as soon as he feels the urge. The doctor quotes “Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty” (Stevenson, 53). But Dr. Jekyll’s statements are just a ridiculous effort at self-justification, for it was Dr. Jekyll, who brings Mr. Hyde into creation and allowed him to remain, clearly know he expresses pure evil. Mr. Jekyll bears responsibility for Mr. Hyde’s actions. Indeed, his willingness to convince himself otherwise suggests the darker side of himself has the upper hand, even when he is Dr. Jekyll and not Mr. Hyde. Even with the surprising crimes of his darker side, and his attempt to justify himself, Dr. Jekyll truly does not want stop, despite knowing how destructive and powerful Mr. Hyde is becoming. It was not until the murder of Sir Carew, a member of the English Parliament, did Dr. Jekyll realize the extent of his own capacity for evil. “Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow. . .” (Stevenson, 56). Until this point Dr. Jekyll viewed his dark side for nothing more than an opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of the dark side. The mindlessly vicious nature of this darker side comes clear with this violent crime. Dr. Jekyll becomes extremely violent at random, with no apparent motive, and with little concern for his own safety, as his willingness to beat a man to death in the middle of a public street demonstrates. After this dramatic realization, Dr. Jekyll abruptly went into a decline and was forced into seclusion.
Dr. Jekyll finally surrenders and accepts the evil he had creates in his last, desperate hours, when his own twisted soul grows beyond control. While in his seclusion, Dr. Jekyll realizes there is no salvation for him, and quotes “It is useless, and the time awfully fails me . . . no one has ever suffered such torments . . . but a certain callousness of soul, a certain acquiescence of despair; and my punishment might have gone on for years, but for the last calamity which has now fallen, and which has severed me from my own face and nature” (Stevenson, pg.61). With no hope of salvation, Dr. Jekyll anticipates the fast approach of the moment when he will become Mr. Hyde permanently without fear. In his final moments, Dr. Jekyll quotes, “... I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end” (Stevenson, 62).
Dr. Jekyll theorized a conflict between the forces of Good and Evil within every human soul, that “man is not truly one, but truly two” (Stevenson, 48-49) and creates a potion on the belief of separating and purifying the Good and Evil elements within his own soul, but only succeeds in only purifying the dark side, Mr. Hyde. Through his deceitful nature, his amazement at the results of the potion, his addiction to the potion, his ignorance of signs that he was losing control and, his final acceptance of the evil makes Dr. Jekyll a true hypocrite.

Work Cited
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Katherine Linehan. New York: Norton, 2003. Print.

Cited: Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Katherine Linehan. New York: Norton, 2003. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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
  • Good Essays

    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is perhaps the purest example in English literature of the use of the double convention to represent the duality of human nature. That Dr. Jekyll represents the conventional and socially acceptable personality and Mr. Hyde the uninhibited and criminal self is the most obvious aspect of Stevenson’s story. The final chapter, which presents Jekyll’s full statement of the case, makes this theme explicit. In this chapter, Jekyll fully explains, though he does not use the Freudian terminology, that what he has achieved is a split between the id and the superego.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Louis Stevenson has been coined the title of a literary genius for his work, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Put shortly Jekyll and Hyde, is a story about a man investigating the secrets of a second man, who is in fact two different men living two different personas. Though the story is indeed short enough to read within a few passing hours, it is long enough to force the reader to question their own duality. Is man truly one? Or is each man composed of two separate halves, the good, and the evil? It is undeniable that the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is strange indeed. However, it is also a work of art filled with impossible sciences.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he uses setting and characterization to emphasize the idea that a person will act a way if they are expected to. In his novel, the character of Dr. Jekyll alludes to the mostly good people. Mr. Hyde, however, specifically shows the bad people in society. For these two characters, the constantly changing gothic setting of this novel and the different extremes between light and dark represent their characterizations.…

    • 2140 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson leaves the reader to ponder whether not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person or two different people. The book describes several commonalities and differences between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The differences and commonalities are not just found in the physical description of the characters but also in their personalities and their actions. It is my opinion that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact one person with two separate personalities.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good 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

    Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is clearly a story about good and evil and the consequences of giving wholly into one’s evil side. Dr. Jekyll experiments with this duality in human nature when he creates the persona of Mr. Hyde. When Jekyll states, “man is not truly one, but truly two,” (1709) he is referring to these two parts that make up the human conscience. Stevenson is not saying that each person has two individuals inside of them, but rather that there is always a constant struggle between good and evil present: “in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling” (1710). What Jekyll discovers is how to separate the two in order for him to live a double life with no repercussions for his actions. He is quick to discover, however, that if you give in even a little to your evil side, you become power-hungry for more until it completely takes over all that is left of the good.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to the pressure of society’s high standards, Jekyll wishes others to perceive him as a man he is not. In chapter 10, Jekyll writes “[m]any a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame” (Stevenson 59). Jekyll professes the high standards he lived by and how he successfully convinced others that he looked down on immoral people. However, by the end of his life, Jekyll realizes he is not at fault for his evil urges. Jekyll remarks “[it] was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty” (Stevenson 64). Jekyll comes to the conclusion that his moral qualities outweighed Hyde’s evil actions. Jekyll firmly believes that he upheld his personal standards and the society’s proficient standards. Jekyll’s repression of Hyde led to his death; however, Jekyll remarks that his respectable side…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most importantly, Dr. Jekyll struggles to conquer his addiction that shows his evil side. Specifically, In Dr. Jekyll’s full statement of his case, he explains what he feels while murdering his victim; “With a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow” (49). In this, Stevenson creates a gruesome image of Mr. Hyde’s point of view of the murder. This imagery clearly shows evil conquering his good side. Therefore,…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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

    devil. This shows up a lot in this story. This is like your consciousness and how sometimes you want to be on the devil's side and do wrong and the other time how you want to do right and be on the angel’s side. “Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end. (Chapter 10).” A theory as to why Dr. Jekyll made Mr. Hyde was to ensure him that he could do worse and not get into any trouble at all. When Jekyll made Hyde he really didn’t expect him to get out of hand, but he did and he didn’t know how to handle it, the only way out was to kill…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Repressed desires will be satisfied in some way shape or form. An outlet will be found, and deeper darker forces will arise. Dr. Jekyll’s deeper darker forces come forth after years of his persona not acceptable in the eyes of others being repressed because of the pain that desires cause. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the repression of Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego eats away at him; for the repression of this other being can no longer be caged. Through the repression and absolution of his deepest desires, Dr. Jekyll’s desire for unattainable perfection in the eyes of his peers, dissection of good and evil within himself, and acceptance into society without worry of his darker side being found out…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jekyll's Experiments

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through writing this novel, the reader can infer that Stevenson has a broad understanding that concerns the essence of human nature. Stevenson shows that even the people you may least suspect can have an evil or dark part of themselves. Some may hide it very well, but no one is completely trustworthy. Stevenson does a miraculous job portraying this idea through Jekyll and Hyde when the reader sees how much Jekyll’s friends trusted him. Once Jekyll’s friends find out the true identity and the story behind Jekyll and Hyde, the reader now understands that not everyone is truthful or…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 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
  • Good Essays

    Dr Jekyll

    • 1174 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Other critics link The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to a particular concern of the post-Darwinian world of the late nineteenth century: the fear that British society had become too civilized, too cultured. British men, it was feared, had become effete and no longer able to lead the British Empire. This fear that British men were not “manly” enough had the potential to destabilize England’s sense of leadership and cultural superiority. After all, the British defended their subjugation of other nations (particularly the “darker” peoples of Africa, India, and Asia) by insisting that the British were more highly evolved and more moral than other races and ethnicities. Hyde, who is darker, stronger, and more primitive than the effeminate Jekyll, might represent either a devolution of the human species or an interpolation of the primitive other within the confined and controlled world of British men. In either case, the logic of what is today called social Darwinism can be shown to underpin the racial and gender anxieties of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hyde is an other whose very presence threatens the safe and secure world of these men. Other critics link The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to a particular concern of the post-Darwinian world of the late nineteenth century: the fear that British society had become too civilized, too cultured. British men, it was feared, had become effete and no longer able to lead the British Empire. This fear that British men were not “manly” enough had the potential to destabilize England’s sense of leadership and cultural superiority. After all, the British defended their subjugation of other nations (particularly the “darker” peoples of Africa, India, and Asia) by insisting that the British were more highly evolved and more moral than other races and ethnicities. Hyde, who is darker, stronger, and more primitive than the effeminate Jekyll, might represent either a devolution of the human species or…

    • 1174 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays