1) ”My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn” (19).…
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.…
In the book Frankenstein, the Monster adopted a crime and hate filled life mainly because of his interactions with humans. This is a reflection of Mary Shelley's views on human nature. While Mary Shelley was writing the book, she believed that humans are mutable, and that what they become is based off of events that occur in their lives, and decisions they make during their lifetime, and the Monster is a perfect example of this; he starts out innocent, but the abandonment from Victor Frankenstein, and the harsh treatment from people turned the Monster into an angry being.…
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…
Authors’ desire to convey the meanings of their texts are influenced by the era in which they live. However, the themes about human nature will remain timeless and universal as they examine and critically inquire into the follies of greed, ambition and moral corruption. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein illustrates the innate and insatiable appetite for knowledge and the according descent to blindness and self-loathing. In a similar fashion, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner touches on Shelley’s notions of the danger of human enterprise and the uncontrollable impetus of scientific evolution. The two texts, despite having a century in between, similarly exemplify the consequences of playing God, and entice the audience to evaluate what it truly means to be a human being. Both texts vividly demonstrate that the essence of humanity lies not in the desire to achieve a sense of well-being but in the persistent willingness to allow the darker side of human nature to take a hold of one self.…
Frankenstein is an outcast because he shuts out and loses all of his family and friends as the creature is so hideous he is alienated by everyone including his creator. Both of them have an obsession with revenge on the other that increases more and more throughout the novel. Frankenstein and the creature become so similar by the end of the novel one could say that they may be the same person because of their thirst and craving for revenge and the misery of the other, how they would do anything to get their revenge on the other, and furthermore how they hurt other people trying to find and deliver their…
If you create something should you be able to kill it? The notion of playing god like Victor did with the creatures in Frankenstein is comparative to the same issue the courts have with abortion laws. Various angles of abortion can be quite overwhelming as well as who makes the final decision. Many governments have struggled to strike what they believe to be a balance between the rights of pregnant women and the rights of fetuses. Before life is started, generally, an individual has thought about whether or not they want to create life. All life is created whether it is the creatures in Frankenstein or development of a fetus. Once life has been created choosing to end that life can cause many issues. The struggle of choosing between life and death could be avoided by an individual evaluating the results of creating a life before starting the process.…
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.…
The overall premise of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one that is familiar to many. In this novella, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the contrasting qualities of good and evil and also shows that there is indeed some gray area between the two. The main subject of the text is Dr. Jekyll, a well-to-do doctor in London attempts to purge himself of what he considers is his evil half. He does this by developing a special formula that transforms himself into an unrecognizable creature. Both his mind and body are foreign to himself and the rest of society. Eventually, since he derives so much pleasure out of being someone else, Jekyll begins abusing this medicine. Stevenson portrays Jekyll as a drug abuser and addict in this novella. He does this to further illuminate that there really is no true line between good and evil, but more of a blur.…
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…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the two main characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, are conflicting of each other from beginning to end. At the commencement of the novella, when Mr. Hyde is first introduced, he is described as being the epitome of evil, yet Dr. Jekyll is portrayed as being somewhat of a saint. As the gothic novella progresses, Mr. Hyde seems to rule over Dr. Jekyll as he becomes stronger and more powerful and Jekyll becomes weaker and more decrepit, especially when Edward is seen murdering Sir Danvers. At the end of the novel, Dr. Jekyll still remains the saint by his reputation, but he reveals that everyone, including him, has an evil side. Before the end, Mr. Hyde controls and roams the streets whenever he wants, disrupting those around him in an evil…
When monsters are thought of a very distinct picture comes to mind. An ugly creature that is out for blood, born into a life where causing misery is his driving force. Do these features really define what a monster is; works of literature like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Shakespeare’s Othello tell quite a different story. Monsters are not born but made just as people are not born evil but can sometimes end up there. Othello and the Monster start of as good men looking to be part of society but were pushed out because of what others perceived them to be. This caused them to mentally and physically isolate themselves from everyone allowing hatred to take over. Iago and Frankenstein also helped to instill thoughts and emotions in these characters that ultimately changed their path from good to evil. Both the characters of Othello and the Monster transform into monstrous beings due to their desire to be accepted, isolation, and relationship with their antagonists.…
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.…
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.…
Throughout The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there is an almost constant mention of the strange figure called Mr. Hyde. Steven Padnick puts it plainly when he states “There is no Mr. Hyde” (Padnick). Though Doctor Henry Jekyll talks about and describes Mr. Hyde as another, separate person, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll are one in the same. Hyde is a representation of humans’ darkest emotions and desires, and, like a costume that can be donned and disrobed, this is depicted through Dr. Jekyll himself, unbeknownst to Mr. Utterson and the readers. Humans are capable of feeling extremely strong emotions that are often accompanied by equally strong desires to act on those emotions. These strong feelings are frequently repressed because of societies’ values, as well as because it is…