Theme Of Madness In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

The theme of ‘madness’ is demonstrated in the both The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by R. L . Stevenson and The Tell-tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Both authors utilise the gothic genre to show the impact of madness to their central character. Stevenson explores the theme of madness through the conflicts between good and bad within humanity, in which Mr Hyde is used as a symbol of the consequences when humans let go of their morality to evil desires. While in Tell-tale Heart, the notion of madness is evident in the persona’s narrative voice that conveys the mad mental state of the character that drives him to murder the old man and admit to the evil deed. Madness is conveyed differently in both texts but similarly with madness sparked
It is Mr Hyde’s appearance that creates madness in the society; Mr Utterson describes him, as “There was something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so dislike and scarce know why”. Mr Utterson repetition of ‘something’ emphasise he cannot pin point the exact reason for his dislike toward Mr Hyde. Hyde’s madness is shown through his deformed physical appearance, which results the society to confusion. In the daylight without the aid of a potion Dr Jekyll turns into Mr Hyde, this shows the slow domination of the evil side. Mr Hyde hides himself away in a hotel and call upon the help of Dr Lanyon, who observes the transformation of Mr Hyde to Jekyll. Dr Lanyon describes the transformation “A cry followed; he reeled, stagger, clutched at table and held on… I had sprung to my feet and leaper back against the wall” this vivid description of both the transformation and the sheer shock and fear felt by Dr Lanyon shows the existence of Mr Hyde has caused to the society to result in madness as it is against the norms of society. In comparison, madness in the Tell-tale Heart does not affect the society but is only visible in the persona’s mind. Following the deed, the police arrived because of an alarm alerted by the neighbours from a suspicious shriek. Guilty of the deeds, the persona decides to act and convince the police he is innocent. Then the persona suddenly hears a repetitive low “beating” sound, which slowly increases. “I gasped for breath- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly-more vehemently; but the noise steadily increate. I arose and argued”. Here, the tense imagery through the use of the frequent use of adjectives “gasped”, “talked”, “arose”, “argued” is used to mirror the turmoil within the persona’ head. Adding to the persona’s madness, the officers “chattered pleasantly” and