Good vs Evil in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Research Paper Example

Good vs Evil in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this book, there exist a battle between good and evil in the main characters; here we are bound to ask ourselves what is superior between good and evil? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are easily seen as an allegory of the evil and good that exist in men. The book depicts about our struggle with these two sides of the human personality Since Mr. Hyde seems to be taking over, one could claim with no reasonable dought that evil is stronger than good. Nevertheless, Mr. Hyde end up dead at the end of the story this strongly shows the weakness and the failure of evil, so we have to ask ourselves whether good can be separated from evil. Great people are involved in bad things this is the fact of live, yet this does not make them evil (Stevenson pp 28-75). Using the central characters and the key theme of the duplicity of mankind Louis Stevenson strategically clears the air on the broad theme of good and evil in the book. By use of the character of Dr. Jekyll, the author explains ‘good’. Mr. Utterson who is a lawyer based in London also an old friend of Dr. Jekyll; he has the quality of being loyal to his friends and also concerned about Henry Dr. Jekyll. With this loyalty, he asks him about his pal Mr. Hyde whom he had left his luggage in his will (Cresser N.P). "You know I never approved of it," said the doctor. Mr. Utterson believes that the doctor bed them by lies possession to a man whom he meet but rather than being annoyed. Dr. Jekyll he shows concern like a true loyal friend would have, from Mr. Utterson view he explain and also offer an honest and fair narrative role though this can be ironical for it is directly intertwined to his profession of a lawyer (Dury pp 2-4). Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are depicted as an examination of the duality of human nature. This is expressing in the revelation that, Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll only transformed into a personification of Dr. Jekyll characteristics. In the pursuit if his scientific experiments and validating his work, Dr. Jekyll claims “man is not truly one, but truly two” therefore according to Dr. Jekyll’s opinion, every soul contains elements of both good and evil but is evil inside of him. As a highly respected member of the society and also an honorable Victorian gentleman, Dr. Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. To satisfy and also separate the two parts he has to work to come up with a way to alienate it from his soul free his evil characteristic (Linehan pp 46). Dr. Jekyll can be considered as a complete composite because he has a mixture of good and bad though Jekyll is not really transformed into Mr. Hyde. He always projects a concentrate of pure evil that becomes Mr. Hyde. Nevertheless rather than equalizing and separating these forces of good and evil, Dr. Jekyll’s side only allows his purely evils side to achieve strength. Surely Dr. Jekyll is a true combination of good and evil while Mr. Hyde is only a pure evil. There remains no pure way of strengthening or separating Dr. Jekyll’s pure goodness. Actually this cannot be done without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Mr. Hyde to be increasingly strong. These results to him take over entirely, and this perhaps may results in entire destruction of all pure goodness Dr. Jekyll have ever had in his life (Cresser N.P). Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll are not the only provided examples of good and evil the London city is also made in contrasting terms, it is made to appear as a well kept, bustling center of commerce and both foggy, dreary, nightmarish place. Just as men have positive and negative qualities so, does the society. Theorist also have emphasized that though Stevenson makes a conclusion that man is not in fact, a purely dual being, but in his heart there is a primitive being, who is tamed and civilized by the laws that rule and protect the society. The author portray Mr. Hyde in animalistic terms where he uses the words "short, hairy and like a troglodyte with gnarled hands and a horrific face". Contrary, Dr. Jekyll is described in the very gentlemanly terms where Stevenson says that he is tall, refined, polite and also honorable with long elegant fingers and a handsome appearance (Dury pp 2-4). The theme of communication breakdown in the book is shown where characters demonstrate an inability to express themselves, choose to withhold important information. Giving the scenario in the first chapter where Mr. Enfield claims he does not want to share the name of a man who in the aim of avoiding gossip trampled a young girl. Due to the feeling that if the two discussed the topic in much more details would be more inappropriate for the parties involved, Mr. Hyde and Mr. Utterson ended up the conversation abruptly. Connectively, Mr. Utterson withholds relevant vital information from the police following sit Danvers Carew’s murder. He does this by choosing to keep Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll’s relationship as a secret. The silent and the secrets vividly confines of the moral nature of the Victorian era, (Borinskikh pp 31-35). Everybody who ever meet Mr. Hyde felt a sense of horror though also no one would have exactly described the face that makes him seem so evil. Great details about the nature of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are passed on in written form rather than in a speech. In a letter written to Utterson, Lanyon instructs Mr. Utterson not to read the contents until death or disappearance of Jekyll. Alternatively, Dr. Jekyll also writes a letter of his confession to Mr. Utterson rather than sharing his secrets in person to the public. The reader of the novel is left not knowing what other evil action actions Mr. Hyde took. This makes the reader to wonders at the level of his brutality, violence and moral depravity. Perhaps, lack of language or communication between characters is related to Mr. Hyde who clearly shows that supernatural occurrences in the book push the world beyond logical form of speech (Cresser pp 3-6). Powerful violent scenes are contained in the life of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here, the victim is innocent where the culprit is Mr. Hyde. In the first chapter if the book we learn that Mr. Hyde literally trampled a young along the street early in the morning. We are also let to know that Mr. Hyde unprovoked mercilessly beat sir Danvers Carew to death. But even worse than the committing of the said murder, at the conclusion of the novel Mr. Hyde thoroughly enjoyed being violent. He felt a rush of excitement and satisfaction Stevenson clearly shows the real depravity and evils of Mr. Hyde though his imagery of senseless violence against innocent victims (Stevenson pp 28-75). Stevenson suggest that to those who promote and commit senseless violence, punishment will come this is by showing that since Mr. Hyde’s final victim when he commits suicide before Mr. Utterson and Poole break into his cabinet they are both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this scenario, it is safe to say that neither of them is innocent. Actually Mr. Hyde is guilty of many crimes that he had previously committed. While Jekyll is guilty as he created Mr. Hyde and also always let him run free and also inhabits the same body as the man. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde walked a fine and comfortable line between reality and the supernatural. Mr. Utterson who is a logical and rational man who also considers himself as an upright and honorable citizen in Victorian England, however, the author makes the conclusion to be highly supernatural in that he does not mesh with nature. Characters exist actually by developing the rational and reasoned characters makes the final conclusion effect and the discovery of Dr. Jekyll’s horrific work more powerful. Through the presentation of unbelievable details of Dr. Jekyll’s experiments via the highly rational minds of Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson, the two logical men help express an attribute of Mr. Hyde’s horror. This is though being an artist and scientists can not be allowed to see the details which includ4e the particular features of Mr. Hyde face (Borinskikh pp 31-35). By giving a daily life description, the contradicting London life is brought in the picture where unspecified vague but ominous allusions to pleasures and dreadful vices somewhere behind the scenes on their hand there is a reality on the other nightmare world. The revelation of Dr. Jekyll’s work is too much to bear. This is shown where Lanyon dies from the shock he suffered when he was observing Mr. Hyde transform back into Dr. Jekyll. It is impossible and also hard to meld respectable life and morality with Dr. Jekyll’s work since the two can never go hand in hand. In the novel rationality proves to be greater (Dury pp 2-4). Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is made to face different directions of good and evil spectrum as Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield take a Sunday stroll. They compare Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde say, “for my man, and the fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man, and the person that drew the cheque is the top of priorities, celebrated too and much worse is that its one of your fellows who do what they call good blackmail I suppose an honest man paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth”. In this direct quote, Mr. Hyde was the fellow being talked of who nobody could have to do with while Dr. Jekyll was the very pink of priorities which are opposite to each other. Although the accusation of black Dr. Jekyll who was of every mark of capacity and kindness, (Gahlinger, pp 41). Through his revelation to the audience that Mr. Hyde brutally murdered Danvers Carew in a public street, we are made to know that Mr. Hyde was indeed evil. According to the maid who witnessed the murder describing the experience to the detectives before the incident, “Never had she felt had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world”. She said she felt that way as she stood there watching Carew politely greet Mr. Hyde, but this all went away as Mr. Hyde beat Carew to death. “At the horror of these sights and sounds, the maid fainted”. Shortly after Mr. Hyde disappearance, Jekyll came out of his seclusion and returned to being the entertaining, considerate and charitable man everyone knew him to be (Linehan pp 46). The novel depicts Mr. Hyde as an evil influence on Dr. Jekyll’s life, after the mush opposing personalities of these characters had been made to exist, the reader is let to know that good (Dr. Jekyll) had put a good fight with to the desire to transform into evil( Mr. Hyde). The character development of Hyde and Dr. Jekyll is a universal understanding of what good and evil in the society looks like through the actions they took. According to the author, Dr. Jekyll is good caring and also an intelligent doctor who saves lives. On the contrary, Mr. Hyde is evil violent and a disfigured murder when these two characters are made to battle for control and existence in the body they are forced to life in it is what is considered a matter of good Vs evil (Cresser N.P). Work cited Borinskikh L. I. The Problem of character in literature. Tchelyabinsk State University. Pp. 31–32. 1990c. Print Cresser R. Where Jekyll parties with Hyde Edinburgh. 1998 N.P, retrieved on28 Feb. 2013 from Read More