Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay

The historied Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and has re master(prenominal)ed popular ever since its offspring in 1886. Robert was born in 1850 and was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was brought up a calvalist, however followed the gypsy life style. He married Mrs. Fanny Osbourne in 1880 and supported Priest Dameor who c ard for the lepers.Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a rich bosh of the duality of mankind and how we atomic number 18 in unattackableheartedness creatures created for obedient, however in either(a) of us in that location is the percolated to do bad. The righteous of the layer is an old biblical one that many Christians enumerate daily in prayerLead us not into temptation, save deliver us from wretched. This might be one of the reasons Stevenson wrote this nurse Jekyll lives a double life of propriety and shame, imprisoned by the moral demands of niminy-piminy gild, and so did Stevenson. He as tumefy was surrounded by upright, religious and rigid citizens. He was even pressured into studying law at Edinburgh University.This book was written as a plague layer. We cut this because of the vistas and plot. Stevenson wrote the book at the eon of many murders in the east of capital of the United Kingdom and the complete ignoring of sociable set and heartless whole kit committed by Mr Hyde ar to upliftedy in synch with Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. Mr Hyde represents the circumstantial opposite of what dainty gentlemen should act and the savageness of his actions is what do the book so scary back then.The fib takes place in London during the nineteenth century. The substitution mood of the novel is one of brain-teaser and d represent. Stevenson creates shadower settings to create a mood of anticipation and mystery. E.g. He was aw ar of an odd, well-fixed. Mr Hyde that comes kayoed in the stern, foggy night, which subsequently makes the referee suspect principally sinister intentions and automatically informs the contri thator that on that point is an expected value of trouble and some function threatening, as the dark brings ominous expressionings and terror to the orderer.Stevenson changes the weather from uninterrupted night to more(prenominal) dark and foggy so that it is almost impossible to analyze clearly, therefore emphasising the situation by the fog, there is something out of sight and surreptitious lurking some which makes the lector life anxious. withal, he makes the caliber more evil looking in the dark e.g. In the darkness of the night he gave an intuitive feeling deformity without any namable malformation. This makes the reader picture a horrific creature that makes them feel defenceless and exposed.Stevenson describes the fog being broken up as a haggard shaft. This weakens the palpate of destructiveness and violence. Also the quote swirling wreaths gives the sense of death as wreaths is what is placed on-top of a coffin. Fina lly Stevenson describes the gloomy avenues as mournful re- invasion of darkness which gives the sense of decompose and obscurity. All these quotes in addition make the reader feel uneasy and apprehensive.The quotes It intoxicatems she was romantically given and London from all around very silent gives an eerie burden and provides a somewhat peaceful response. These quotes atomic number 18 in addition examples of emotive language, because they give the reader an emotional response.A certain sinister block and tramps slouched argon two examples of tropical language which gives the reader a little picture of what is in the setting. The quote tramps slouched gives us an sharp-worded image of what reality was really like for the poor, making the reader feel uncomfortable as well as sympathetic.As addition to Stevenson using figurative and emotive language, he also uses a con berth of meatrable range of verbs like ragged and dingy which helps the reader to get a detailed pict ure of the risk and filthiness in which they lived through and through, and adjectives like ragged children cluster, which illustrates the fear and torment which even children went through.The quotes low utter of London and city in a incubus, all give off the impression that the passs of London at the time were grimy, dangerous, dingy and simply frighten places to live. Also the word growl, an example of personification, gives a sense that there is a savage, ruthless and a ferocious monster prowling active London. Finally the metaphor, light of some impertinent conflagration, gives a role hell which makes the reader feel uncomfortable.Even though there are many quotes referring to the struggles of Victorian society, there are on the other hand some(prenominal) quotes which describe the other side of Victorian society which was entirely different. For example, bachelor house, close by the fire and gratefully to bed, all give off a cosy, warm, safe and welcoming impression. So yet again we have another seam of the rich, warm, safe Victorian residence to the poor, insecure and chiefly tough Victorian slums. This shows that if you were rich you could use the mightiness whatever way you like, however if you were poor, you were trapped in a world of poerty and in a sense of revulsion. in that respect are three primary(prenominal) characters in the novel, Dr Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde and Mr Utterson.Dr. Henry Jekyll is a orotund halfway- aged doctor and throughout the novel he is physically draw as both everyplaceblown and handsome. He is also extremely blind drunk and by all who him, he is described as well respected and proper. For example, Stevenson describes Jekyll as a entertainer and a person k nowadaysn for charities which gives the impression that Jekyll is a warm, pleasant, middle class gentleman.In the book, his voice is unaccompanied compreh decease in the concluding chapter (Henry Jekylls full story of the case), only after being de scribed through the lens of Utterson, Lanyon, Poole and Enfield.The doctors belief that within each Human- being exists two countering forces, life-threatening and evil, fly the coops to his experiments to render to separate the two. This however, was not done merely for scientific reasons, but also because he enjoyed escaping the confines of the beneficial guise of Dr. Jekyll. The quote which illustrates this is The transformation was succeeded by a sense of joy. This also suggests that multitude didnt know what was right and what was wrong and would do and want questions later.Also in the book he is described as less distinguished for religion, which suggests he too questioned Christianity like many other people of his time. For example, Darwin challenged religion as he came up with the scheme that we evolved from monkeys which would mean the world wasnt make is 7 days. Edward Hyde is a small, deformed, marked-up youthfulness man (much younger than Dr Jekyll) that is de void of an apparent profession. Also the quote deformed illustrates that some Victorians disliked and spurned disabled people. Stevenson describes Hyde as callous and violent and a murderous mixture of timidly and boldness, which gives the impression Hyde is a fierce, ruthless, brutal monster.Despite the many descriptions of the aversion that Edward Hyde invokes (by Lanyon, Utterson and Enfield), we are never told in detail barely why or what features are so disgusting to observers, which emphasises the fact the novel was made in the time where phrenology (judging somebody by their appearance) was the key to knowing if someone was substantially or evil.Hyde is also ofttimes compared to animals e.g. speak, implying that he is not a fully evolved Human- Being. other factor which suggests he is compared to animals is the fact he only menaces society at night e.g. trampling a girl in the street and murdering Sir Danvers Carew, which relates him to rodents and other nocturnal anima ls. Finally the quote the man seems hardly clement, illustrates the fact Hyde is not a whole and has something deficient. Good.Mr Utterson is the narrator of the book and is described as tall and loveable. He is a middle- aged lawyer plus someone that all the characters confide in throughout the novel.As an old friend of Jekyll, he recognises the changes and strange occurrences that centre around both Jekyll and Hyde. Stevenson describes Utterson as a reliable and Modest man which suggests he is perhaps the most circumspect and respected character in the book therefore, it is signifi after partt that we view the crimes of Hyde through his observant frame. However, when Utterson discovers Hydes body in a red cabinet, instead of reporting it to the police he precedes in reading a letter communicate to him, which suggests he is more interested in his social status than solving the mystery.The quotes his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of a good nature and hi s friends were those of his own blood or those who he had seen the longest, illustrates the fact he is insular, biased and narrow-minded. cognise this makes the reader question if the story is told accurately and truthfully.The thing I noticed to the highest degree this novel is that all the women are either victims or wetnurses. E.g. the girl who got trampled on, the maid who witnessed the murder of Sir Danvers Carew and the house maid. This suggests that the middle class Victorian society were very sexist. However, if a Victorian was to read a modern day horror story, they would in all probability come up with the same conclusion, as the absolute majority of victims in right aways horror stories are women.The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is typical of the horror literary genre as it has many factors in which we would expect to see in a horror story today. For example, the story is principal(prenominal)ly set at night, there are victims and most importantly the evi l character is penalise at the end of the novel.Mr Utterson is the narrator of the book and we are told the story through his eyes and told as though its true. This contributes to the element of scruple as we only know what Utterson knows. Suspense is also built up as Stevenson writes as if there is a closing explanation as to whom the mystery figure is but doesnt let on and instead lets the suspense build. He occasionally allows a small cadence of information out respectable to whet the appetites and concord up an atmosphere of mystery and confusion. For example, at the end of chapter five (Incident of the letter), Utterson asserts Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer. Not only does this make you wonder who the murderer is, but it also makes the reader want to read on. This atmosphere, one of controlled suspense, gradual building up of a sense of horror and destruction is achieved through a slow accumulation of unemotional detail, as this leaves the reader wondering what the characters are like and what they might do.I reckon horror stories today do muted follow a similar pattern, in the fact people who do bad deeds are usually punished, they are packed with suspense and often include someone trying to solve the mystery or catch the villain or monster, which in our case is Mr Utterson. However, the major difference in more radical-made examples of the genre is the tendency to locate the inconclusive squarely within the normal, preferably than presenting it as a threatening creature, such as Mr Hyde and Frankenstein, all made by individuals.Alfred Hitchcock had in fact changed this direction of the horror genre in 1960 with Psycho the movie not only presented its most frightening moment, the shower murder, it also suggested that horror resides in everyday life rather than in alternative worlds of the supernatural or the gothic. Finally, the recent so called slice and dice films, such as Halloween, and living dead movies such as the night of the li ving dead are demonstrations of how contemporary limited effects technology whoremaster depict more and more gruesome and imaginative dismemberment and mutilation usually at the expense of character, plot and root word. Even though these are all films, we behind still see how there is a greater bank for horror stories which are related to everyday occurrences or objects.In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson illustrates the annihilative effects of meddling with beau ideals public and how our negative and evil desires and urges can overtake our current selves until we lose touch of who we once represented. Furthermore, Dr Jekylls desire and habituation to temporarily alter his existence results last in his deadly demise.Jekyll and Hyde demonstrates how innocent curiosity some the darker sides of our nature can soon get out of hand and how evil is compulsive and how evil can so easily take control of the good. Stevenson has employ Jekyll and Hyde to show that e veryone has good and evil inside them. He portrays this very well by using the setting to portray good and evil e.g. dingy street and a grand residence. He also makes a very important point which is relevant today as it was in the nineteenth century. This is that bottled antisocialable behaviour can lead to sudden violent outpourings, such as seen in Hydes murder of Sir Danvers Carew.In Victorian society no one questioned God so the idea of something happening which isnt controlled by God would be unusual. Also electricity had only just been invented so people were quite wary about the things science could do.I think the main theme in the book is duality and how London is give into good and evil, rich and poor, scientific fact and experimenting new ideas. The final point I wish to key out is how they kept secrets. On the outside people were warm and inviting, however inside, people kept intimate secrets, such as dealing with drugs, alcohol and prostitution. I believe this was prob ably due to the fact there wasnt much pleasure in this type of life.There are many morals included in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde however there are two main morals which stand out, one tasteful fore moral and a more complex moral. The straight forward moral is that if you do bad deeds you will be punished and also how addiction can lead to violence and how violence can lead to murder. The more complex moral, however is about the appeal of being Mr Hyde. Because Mr Hyde is described and talked about so much, he is probably the most interesting and raise character in the book, which turns the straight forward moral on its head and makes Hyde the most large-hearted character in the novel.I believe the relevance of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has changed considerably over the last hundred years. The main difference is that the Victorians saw this book religiously, however now when we read this book we think its about personal weakness and how addiction can lead to evil. A Victorian also would nt see the relevance of drugs and alcohol in this book, nor would they understand the relevance of addiction and what effect it has.Some may say that as worlds, we wear masks. Not real masks, but masks that cover up our true personality presentation our good side around our friends and our bad side around our family. These are great examples of mans fight in duality our good side is always competing against our evil side, resulting in our duality, our fight over good verses evil. In this story, Doctor Jekyll is a regular scientist with the same feelings as every other human being Mr. Hyde is a manifestation of Doctor Jekylls evil side and as a result, he is able to commit murder without any guilt. In the end, the evil manifestation won, taking completely over the Doctors body. The fight between good and evil is overFinally, I believe the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about how Dr Jekyll struggles to decide either to do the right thing and be a good citizen, or to do th e thing Dr Jekyll desires the most and to be Mr. Hyde which he knows is wrong.