How does Robert Louis Stevenson explore the duality of human nature in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Essay

Robert Louis Stevenson incorporated the ideology of the threefoldity of hu gentle gentlemans gentlemans gentleman reputation into his blue(a) thriller novelette The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This does not emerge fully until the start chapter. The text not to ganglingy de-familiarizes the forkedity of homophile nature as its central theme still forces us to rarity the properties of this duality and to con spotr separately of the novellas chapters as we weigh up the various theories. Jekyll asserts that man is not truly adept, precisely truly d pestiferous, implying that everyone has two split to their personality, Good and Bad instead of reasonable yourself and he imagines the homosexual soul as the battleground for an angel and a fi ending, some(prenominal) opposing forces each struggling for mastery. The novella tackles a lot variant theories that circulated at the condemnation.When the novella was published, there was uproar that it suggested we amaze two leaves to our personalities. This theory went against m whatsoever influential strait-laced religious beliefs. Robert Louis Stevensons believed that wad had a dual personality and this is echoed in the novella. The inspiration for the novella could stir come from umpteen different people and events, some notably a dream that Stevenson had repeatedly as a child relevant event astir(predicate) Deacon Brody who was a cabinet maker by day and murderer by night. Also during his judgment of conviction in the Samoan Island a man named Dr Hyde greatly insulted his friends, from that could overhear and most probably did give bear to the Jekyll and Hyde mentions.Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, and you crowd out take in the divisions between scientific and religious views reflected in the level from his childhood. His m early(a), world very religious, had him baptised whereas his father did not approve of his writing and thought he s hould have a more than(prenominal) scientific quondam(prenominal)-time. This is reflected into the novella, with the more experimental Dr Jekyll, which eventu in ally leads to his app bent death. In credit line, you have Dr Hastie Lanyon, a more stringent and old-style scientist who at one point dismisses Jekylls experiments as, scientific balderdash, this all the way set ups the heterosexual to the point view that would have been sh ared with Victorian golf club towards experimental science. It had huge implications namely that immortal was not the blueer authority and Science had influence with the creation of everything which at the time many people were terrified of gods wrath and the consequences if they were found repairing with science whereas today we are more scared of what we create than the consequences of religion.This proposal was re-enforced when Darwin published his book Theory of Evolution, to the general public in which a large amount of people saw it as an attack on religion, plain by stating that God did not create the world in seven days and that all animals, including mankind beings, were all descended from something more primitive that its current form this would have caused fear as people were scared that we could evolve to a point wed turn into characters much(prenominal) as Dracula, Frankenstein or even characters such as the ape- homogeneous Hyde. numerous also believed that science had come out of its comfort zone and was meddling in things that only God had control everywhere. This is what Stevenson does in the novella using the Jekyll and Hyde characters.This would have given the story, when it was published, the edge as many people saw the supernatural and science as quite an intimidating matter and it was astray feared, and suggesting that people had two aspects. Subsequently, during the time of the g everyplacenment issue in 1888, in London there were numerous murders of prostitutes by the notorious serial ki ller, Jack the Ripper. Several people had thought that the story of Jekyll and Hyde had inspired Jack the Ripper to practise the killings. Nevertheless, while this was never proven it had been implanted in the minds of many Victorians, to deal closely Jekyll and Hyde and the duality of homosexual nature. There was, discussion about Jack the Ripper being highly educated, that of a doctor worry Jekyll, or professor or even royalty.Victorian ordination at the time of the novellas publication had a very large class divide, with the fastness class honourable gentry and the poor, poverty releaseden spurn classes. Robert Louis Stevenson juxtaposes these extremes in his novella, emphasising the vast difference between the classes using the honourable Dr Jekyll and his repressed darker side that is Mr Hyde, which ensures the reader sees the contrast between Jekylls rich, ethical and kindness against Hydes in bonnyice, seemingly poor and deplorable behaviour. The novella is hang i n the vice-ridden city of London aptly draw within the novella as being, dingy, distained and blistered, these adjectives headstone a picture of an area in dis-repute and set a tone which is echoed through the character Hyde throughout the novella which was a very different place to the prosperous modern, Edinburgh, where Robert Louis Stevenson was brought up. There was a very true(a) sense of a north, south divide.The south was riddled with crime, a true dark ages setting portrayed through Mr Hydes abode in Londons infamous Soho, whereas the upper class, good side of Dr. Jekyll lives in an influential square described as having florid charms, and thoroughfare with an air of invitation, these adjectives not only imply that the street in itself are good but also personify the street by implying it invites customers to shop there with its decor or charms. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde delve into the Victorians fascinated fear of the supernatural, highlighting the vast differences between religion, science and philosophy at the time.Most notably is this shown by the disagreements between Dr Jekyll and Dr Lanyon, at one Lanyon protests Jekylls experimenting would have estranged Damon and Pythias, who were mythological Greek followers of Pythagoras. This shows Dr Lanyon, care so many at the time, as scared and completely against mixing science and religion, whereas Dr Jekyll shows himself to be more experimental, like philosophers at the time such as Darwin and Sir John Herschel who believed in evolutionism the idea that everything has descended from something, most notably humans from apes. At the time Great Britain was a world leader, a pioneer for all things scientific however serene very religious and like any great nation it had secret vices and utilisations that were hidden away to the rest of the world, like how Hyde is hidden away in Jekyll.Jekyll displays a dual natured personality even before he starts to meddle with Hyde, but his potion he creates, which he hoped would separate and bless each element, succeeds only in bringing the dark side into being-Hyde emerges, but he has no mellisonant counterpart. If man is half angel and half fiend, then it makes you wonder what happens to the angel at the end of the novella. Jekyll succeeds in liberating his darker side, freeing it from the bonds of conscience, yet as Jekyll he never liberates himself from this darkness. Jekyll cannot participate in unrepeatable pleasures delinquent to his high standing in hunting lodge, therefore, concocts a potion which allows him to mentally and naturally split his good and evil personalities on eclipse allowing Jekyll, to remain a reputable socialite, however, also basking the Soho pleasures such as visiting popular brothels which were abundant during the Victorian period however it wouldve been social suicide to visit as Jekyll due to his upper class and tumesce educated veneer.However, this soon spirals out of control and the cost of Jekylls c uriosity turned out to be a deadly reversal of dominance. When Jekyll becomes Hyde, he says he feels younger, lighter and happier in corpse, which implies that despite Jekyll tapped into this more evil side of his human nature, he is enjoying the new found freedom, this allows him to do what he wants. However, especially when Hyde has been ignored and made a recluse within the shadow of Jekyll, we can see this physically emphasized when Hydes described as being small and stumpy, lashes out, and murders Sir Danvers Carew. Jekyll believes that his potion gives him complete control over the transformations between his good and evil side.Throughout the novella Hyde is described as being disgusting and the act you meet him, people unconsciously take an instant dislike to him. When Mr Enfield collared Hyde, Enfield apparently, turned sick and white with the entrust to kill him showing how hypocritical Victorians were as they were rejecting and repressing their own evil side. This is th e side of Jekyll which he himself wants to be rid of. However, he ends up being a slave and underdog to his evil side, which is Hyde. Additionally, we are led to believe that Jekyll kills himself to be rid of Hyde forever.Jekylls potion is made solely to rid Jekyll of his evil side. However, it is increasingly noticeable that the more time that Jekyll uses the potion, his hold over Hyde weakens to a point where I fell asleep Jekyll, but awoke Hyde, This shows that Jekyll has lost all control, and it gives a view to what is to come. The loss of control over Hyde implies that Jekyll has never been pure, and has ceaselessly had his evil side, Hyde within him which is echoed by two well- cognise philosophers. The social contract theorists, doubting Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, came from fundamentally different viewpoints. Hobbes believed that all man is born evil, whereas Locke said man are born flawed but good deep down, which is portrayed throughout the novella.This is shown clearl y when the physical traits of Hyde are described as, short and stumpy, however as Hyde gains control over Jekyll, Hyde becomes as tall and as well built as Jekyll, implying that the powers of good and evil are now not as thrown in one direction. Another more recent psychologist named Sigmund Freud believed that we were made up of three parts the id, ego and the super-ego. The id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends the ego is the organised, realistic part and the super-ego plays the critical and moralising role. He also believed that it is the rules of society and laws that stop everyone from going around killing each other. It seems that Hyde consists of only the id this emphasizes the ideology that Hyde simply represents the primitive and animal-like qualities of Jekyll and that Jekyll stay the critical organised part of his makeup.The bulk of the crime was committed by and amongst the lower classes, leaving the upper classes seemingly innocent, however we know from Jek ylls feelings that he desperately wanted to be able to enjoy the pleasures of the lower classes much like Stevenson himself, and this is what leads him to create the potion, and turn into Hyde. There is also an air of cynicism about Jekyll as he wanted to, in effect, use Hyde for his dirty deeds, Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of a breathe upon a mirror, clearly showing that Jekyll has planned for this and has the full intentions of using Hyde not as was originally thought or desired for medical and theological experiments but for more sinister. As a result of Hydes imprisonment in Jekyll, at every possible chance Hyde seizes control over Jekyll in methodicalness to release some of the anger that has been kept in for years.At one point, the powers of Hyde seemed to have grown in the sickliness of Jekyll, which shows that the consistent changing between Jekyll and Hyde made Jekyll, succumb to illness. This made Jekyll weak, allowing Hyde a clearer modulation when he too k over Jekyll this uses dramatic or even tragic irony to convey its message. This leads us to believe that people reach the point where you either chose your good or bad side. Throughout the novella there are many crimes that Hyde commits, most notably the murder of Sir Danvers Carew and the assault, of the young girl walking on the side path in the evening, which when coupled with the idea that they were committed by Jekylls evil or bad side, they simply bolster Hobbes theory that all men are born evil.However, it also ironically agrees with Lockes theory that all men are born good but with flaws, as for Jekyll to allow Hyde control, he must drink a potion to separate the good and the bad which shows that Jekyll clearly isnt bad but has flaws, as Locke says. Both crimes involve violence directed against innocents in particular. The accompaniment that Hyde ruthlessly murders these harmless beings, who have seemingly done nothing to provoke him and even less to deserve death, empha sizes the extreme immorality of Jekylls dark side unleashed. Hydes brand of evil constitutes not just a lapse from good but an outright attack on it.Throughout the novella the lyric used to describe the main characters, especially Jekyll and Hyde are consistent with what theyre meant to symbolise. For example, Hyde, is referred as being, ape-like, a parable and hideous, an adjective both echo the idea that Hyde is Jekylls animal like, and primitive side, by comparing Hyde to an ape this also emphasizes the Victorian idea of duality of human nature where the evil part has the more disgusting and unattractive traits, whereas the good part of you has the more paying attentionable and like-able features. According to the remarks made by observers, Hyde appears repulsively ugly and deformed, small, shrunken, and hairy these adjectives symbolize his moral hideousness and warped ethics. The conjunctive between such ugliness and Hydes wickedness might have been seen as more than symbolic . Many people believed in the science of physiognomy, which was, that someone could identify a criminal by physical appearance.His pilosity may indicate that he is not so much an evil side of Jekyll as the configuration of Jekylls instincts, the animalistic core beneath Jekylls polished exterior, another point is where Stevenson gives the door Hyde enters, human qualities such as calling it, sinister, which is an example of personification. The door is also mentioned later on in the novella where its referred to, two doors from one corner, seemingly an oxymoron where the door can be interpreted as two physical tempts to the Jekyll residence which Hyde uses, but also the mental entrance to Jekylls good side and Hydes bad side placed next to each other to symbolize the two halves of Jekylls human nature.The simple name Hyde which consists of a single syllable is a good way to name the character, and theyre many ways where this is evident, one of those is Jekyll, consists of two syll ables so Hyde, implying that Hyde, is hidden or hides within Jekyll however it could also symbolize half of what Jekyll is, Jekylls bad side. You can also think the idea of Hyde being half of Jekyll by the archetypal sighting of Hyde in the novella, where hes described as being small, even half of Jekylls size, symbolizing the evil side which has been out-weighed by the virtuousness of Jekyll. Stevenson meant for Jekylls name to be pronounced as if it were French-Je KILL. Je in French means I I kill subtly emphasizing Jekylls evil side. Unlike how Hyde is described within the novella, Jekyll is given more providence and a much more of a pleasant character consistently described as being an honourable man and good doctor by his friends. During the Victorian times if you were a doctor, like Jekyll then you would need to conduct yourself in an honourable way and be a role exercise to the lower classes and fellow peers.From the beginning of the novella Jekyll is mentioned as having a signature very well known and often printed, indicating that Jekyll had a large community presence. During Victorian times, doctors were highly respected and considered to be among the most adroit people of their time, with a great deal of responsibility, you could also plug into this to why Jekyll wanted to move music forward by means of a personality splitting potion. At certain points in the novella, idiotic fallacy is used- most notably when Sir Danvers Carew is murdered, where the sky is peaceful at the time, this reflects the maid at the windows pure serenity and relaxed mood, however this changes rapidly when Poole fetches Utterson, and the weather changes to heavy rain, this implies that the weather is used to reflect the moods of the different characters.Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde both represent two very different ends of the social spectrum and Dr Jekyll are definitely the accepted end of it and throughout the novella the social classes that were prominent in Victorian ti mes and at the time of the novellas publication are echoed through Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll whos always seen to be a respectable man, and always dressed in enclothe which fit unlike Hydes, representing Hydes physical features as much small than Jekylls. Whereas the Hyde character consistently inhabits clothes that are too small for him, emphasizing the idea that Hyde represented Jekylls poor side that relies on Jekylls clothing.Clothing to the lower classes wouldve been expensive and therefore would have been reach down after it had stopped fitting, and rarely wouldve been thrown away due to its value, an idiom which best describes the bit between Jekyll and Hydes, rich and poor balance would be the mans treasure is another mans rubbish, clearly highlighting the necessity for the lower classes to grasp at any on the whole material they could whereas the higher, more richer classes would have the luxury, of throwing things away quite like when Jekyll simply gives up his clothes f or Hyde.There are numerous other characters in the novella which all have their small roles to play and all add to the mystery of the Jekyll and Hyde connection. However, unlike Jekyll and Hyde theyre not split into two distinct characters to show it. One of those characters would be, Poole who is Jekylls loyal butler, who at one point fears for Jekylls life so much he runs to Uttersons for help. This could show good human nature as he is departing to go, against his orders to leave him in his cabinet despite what he hears or sees, to essentially save Jekylls life. However this could be miss-construed as he fears that if Jekyll dies then his pay, and stable residence with Jekyll will cease. Another character who displays hints of a more twisted human nature is the law sergeant who investigates the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. We are told that when he hears of the murder, his fondness lighted up with professional ambition, the irony that the sergeant has more feelings for his own early and that he could get a promotion whereas he doesnt care as much that a Member of Parliament was brutally bludgeoned, to death by Hyde. In the sergeant and Pooles cases, you can see two very different sides to human nature, similar to the Hyde and Jekylls differences.Another character which shows a more sinister side but still relative to todays human nature is Hydes housekeeper who when hearing of the news that he killed someone presses the police for information, most likely for gossip. Hydes housekeeper answered the door to the police and She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy, which implies that she was more than happy to implicate her employer suggesting that even during Victorian times people were as we are today gossip motivated. Yet another character in the novella is Mr Utterson, who in his own account reveals himself to be lean, tenacious, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. Despite this Utterson shows himself to be a very nosey person, consistently aski ng Jekyll for dilate about his will, even by-passing Jekyll and asking Lanyon.This could be taken in two ways either Utterson simply wants to know why Jekyll has such a strange will, or as we are lead to believe Utterson genuinely cares for Jekyll and wants to help in any way he can. These two views of his character both showing good and seemingly bad human nature. However you can also subsume Dr Lanyon with Mr Utterson as they both have an unfounded hatred and un-scientific eye for the supernatural which is shown clearly in the novella as it progresses Both are unable to notice and link the disappearances and re-appearance of Jekyll and Hyde, until Lanyon witnesses the process and dies soon after, His death represents the more general victory of supernaturalism over materialism in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.Then you have Utterson who doesnt see the truth right up until the end when he receives the letter from Jekyll explaining the serial of events. Throughout the novella, Mr Utters on is a frequent character who helps to lead the plot, displaying the behaviour and attitude, towards the truth much like Victorian people at the time despite the fact he though Jekyll was hiding Hyde and being blackmailed, hed kinda not admit it. Even when he suspects Jekyll of criminal activities such as blackmail or the sheltering of the murderer Hyde, he prefers to ignore what he has learned, or what he thinks he has learned, rather than bring ruin upon his good friend.Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, raised in a very religious way could be one of the reasons that he chose to write this novella, as a way of rebelling like many at the time when it came to the super natural and religion. However, we can link his religious upbringing to one of the characters Gabriel Utterson, Gabriel is one of the main angels in the religion and often referred to in the bible with God, so despite the rebelling against his religion, Stevenson still insert snippets from his past into the plot lin e. Lastly the link between Utterson and Lanyon, they both embody the lack of friendship and unwillingness to cling to anything to do with the supernatural much like the Victorians who preferred what they knew, which was religion and not what this would have been during publication, a mutual exclusiveness story.Another very prominent theme displayed in the novella is the presence of silence like the Victorians at the time of publication two kinds of silence in the novel indicate two different notions about the interaction of the rational and the irrational. The characters refusals to discuss the sordid situations indicate an attribute of the Victorian society in which they live. This society prizes decorum and reputation above all and prefers to repress or even recant the truth, certainly if that truth threatens to upset the conventionally ordered society in place. Faced with the irrational, Victorian society and its population prefer neither to acknowledge its presence nor to gr ant it the legitimacy of a name. Involuntary silences, on the other hand, imply something about language itself Language is by nature rational and logical and many characters display this silence throughout the novella for example Enfield and Utterson cut off their discussion of Hyde in the first chapter out of distaste for gossip Utterson refuses to share his suspicions about Jekyll throughout his investigation of his friends predicament.Moreover, neither Jekyll in his final confession nor the third-person narrator in the rest of the novella ever provides any details of Hydes behaviour or secret vices. Maybe the silence is kept out of the mutual respect for each others respect however it is more likely that during Victorian times, everyone knew what everyone else was doing although never revealed their knowledge due to the age old idiom Knowledge is power, allowing a crime such as black mail to thrive, which it did during Victorian times and why would a reputable man want to be see n in such circumstances, it could destroy their reputation quite like when Utterson suspects Jekyll of being black mailed.Quite like the Victorians at the time we are really gossip crazy, and we all love to have information about other people to use at our advantage, much like the Victorians we dont like our family secrets and self-pride to be damaged no matter what social class we belong to, both the Victorians and ourselves didnt like to air their dirty laundry, implying that if something could damage the honour, pride or reputation of the family or person then it simply would be kept secret seemingly to cling to themselves like Jekyll does with Hyde.Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is medium length and that is why it is categorised as being a novella, because it isnt long enough to be called a novel, nor short enough to be called a short story. All but the last two chapters are written in third person the penultimate chapter, Dr Lanyons narrative is written in first person, from Dr Lanyons point of view, in a package to Mr Utterson. Again, in the last chapter, with Dr Jekyll explains the long series of events in a mixture of third, and first person, when talking about himself, Dr Jekyll, (third when talking about Mr Hydes actions). The novella has two endings emphasizing the idea of dual natured personalities, and two different sides too our personalities for the first time when Utterson and Poole, the butler, find Hyde in Jekylls cabinet, and secondly, when Utterson finally reads Jekylls letter at the end of the novella which explains the series of events.At points in the last chapter, even Dr Jekyll becomes confused as to who he is, which emphasizes the idea that Hyde could be victorious over. The book, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, starts with a long narrative from Mr Enfield a key character in the plot line. The narrative concerns Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield who informs him of the night were he witnessed a stumbling damned Juggernaut, character who w as as mad as a bagpipe, a metaphor insinuating Hyde, whom they were talking about was careless and oblivious to the pain he caused. Also they mention, door which becomes more important as the story goes on proving to be of use to Hyde and Jekyll as a physical and theological escape to each others acts. It is at this point that due to both of the mens disapproval of gossiping, that they stop the conversation, and continue their walk. The novella consists of a long relation started at the beginning and ends with a summary of Dr Jekylls point of view. Jekyll mainly explains their story and that he will transform into Hyde again, soon and will not be able to stop it.The idea of Jekyll and Hyde is for the reader to think about the two different sides to human nature, and how things can possibly go wrong when you lose all control over the evil side of your personality, as inevitably happens in the novella. I think that Stevenson, who was plagued throughout his life by illness, wrote thi s story to share his own experiences, and views in a controversial religious and scientific situation at the time of publication. Throughout Stevensons life he battled with respiratory problems, consistently touching from city to city, and even to different countries most notably the Samoan islands and I believe that this is just one of the demons in his life, or part of his own evil human nature that led him to write this story.No one philosopher can be linked directly to the story since the text grapples at parts of Lockes and Hobbes theories. A possible moral of this interesting story is that which many Christians recite daily, (yet another religious link to the story) Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, and that one needs to be in control of their darker side of human nature, and to stop this evil from growing larger as happens in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or perhaps, the moral is that we cannot control evil once unleashed.