dr. jerkyll
Mr.Stevenson’s idea is that every man has a dual personality. This separate self, unlike its master, has “appealing vitality, and terrible power of growth and increase...a notion as novel as it is terrific.’ (Lang) This story is “a marvelous explorarion into the recesses of human nature...its impressiveness as aparable is equal to its fascination as a work of art.” (Noble) Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are symbols of the constant struggle between good and evil, within one person. Robert Louis Stevenson portrayed dramatically the torturous life of a schizophrenic, set in the very repressive Victorian era. This was a time when mental illness, if it was even recognized as illness, was kept hidden in basements or attics and denied. One person who is a pillar of the community and well respected can become mean spirited and even evil, then return to the kind person he was.So Utterson takes on the role of seeker in the “game” of Hide and Seek trying to uncover the mystery of Mr. Hyde and his strange ways. Hyde is described as “murderous, husky, pale and dwarfish, deformed.” (Stevenson) His seeking may have provoked the ending with the spirits. Yet Jekyll is described as a “smooth-f
Works cited from Norton Critical Edition: Conformity, moral pretension and evasion were the hallmarks of Victorian society. They lived in a time of much higher standards of conduct- too high for feeling human beings. Walter Houghton explains that people deliberately ignored what was unpleasant and pretended it didn’t exist. Charles King talks of the beast within, the part of the self which is evil or devoted to amoral seelf indulgence. “...Hyde represents the human potential for violence, both in his casual attacks on strangers and in his destructive personal relationships....that the capacity to become Hyde could be lurking in anyone.” (King) Addiction is a theme too. “Jekyll tells his lawyer that he enjoys the release the drug gives him, but in the end he cannot control the transformations.” (King)
Some topics in this essay:
Jekyll Hyde,
Stevenson Poe,
Norman Kerr,
Louis Stevenson,
Thompson Page,
Page MrStevenson’s,
Dr Nicholson,
Charles King,
Dr Jekyll,
Hide Seek,
thompson page,
marc thompson,
marc thompson page,
robert louis,
constant struggle evil,
recesses human,
critical edition,
heritage dictionary,
american heritage,
norton critical edition,
“a marvelous,
robert louis stevenson,
london fog,
american heritage dictionary,
constant struggle,
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Approximate Word count = 1436
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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