Gothic Romance: Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Term Paper Example

Gothic Romance There are numerous genres in the writing community, one of the most popular ones being that of gothic romance. The books that are allotted under this have the elements of horror, romanticism as well as fiction in them; the plot is usually placed in a medieval setting. This style of literature was initially introduced during the eighteenth century and was soon followed by the release of many widely successful books in the following years such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Despite – or because of – there being a lack of the books concluding with a happy ending and the complexity displayed by the characters, they are greatly loved by the readers to this day. The villainous creatures that these authors have fashioned have sulky demeanors and yet are still appreciated by the masses because it is in their wickedness that they show their humanity which appeals to the emotions as well as the imaginations of the readers. The world is full of bad and good people, both of whom choose a particular path to cross depending on their personal reasons and experiences. Despite their involvement with the immoral, they are people who always having the option of redeeming themselves. Back then, there was the belief regarding how what one was from the inside was what one looked from the outside. A villain had an unfavorable personality so his character often had deformed bodies, making it apparent to the reader that this one physically impaired person deserved what he got because of his unpleasant persona. In Shelley’s book Frankenstein, for example, the creature is the result of an experiment gone wrong that had been performed by Victor Frankenstein. Upon accidentally discovering how to bring life to dead tissues during one of his stunts in his laboratory, the man comes up with an idea of building his own human and dedicates all his time and skills to the task. It has now been discovered that ‘animal tissues are endowed with an intrinsic electricity that is involved in fundamental physiological processes such as nerve conduction and muscle contraction’ (Piccolino 1). He assumes the mammoth responsibility of creating a new life from his own hands through unnatural means and forgetting ‘that the distance between God and the least defective of his creatures [was] still infinite’, expects a beautiful creature (Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences 150). His presumption of acting god does not serve him well and his hopes are squashed. He generates the different parts for the body piece by piece. Slowly, he creates a being whose body is ‘pieced together out of the fabric of race, class, gender and sexuality’ (Halberstam 3). It is believed ‘that living forms may pass from one into another, that the present species are no doubt the result of former transformations’ but this does not fit in with the context of the creature’s birth (Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences 150). Frankenstein has been successful in his experiment but it does not seem as if he has won the prize. The whole process is quite a difficult and exhausting job but the result is heartbreaking, not the excellence that he wanted. The thing that he has created in all his folly is over eight feet tall, which is clearly not the average height of a normal human being. The creature is also disfigured, he has yellow eyes and ‘his yellow skin scarcely cover(s) the work of muscles and arteries beneath’ (Shelley 58). Thus, the blemished villain – his figure through no fault of his own – of the story is born. During the olden times, it was easy to distinguish a person depending on his looks. There are certain physical traits assigned that automatically put one under the category of wicked persons or otherwise. The good people with morals are often handsome and rich with a supportive family, the evil are not. However, this was before the writers started creating villains that looked like normal persons, their figure did not scream out about their bad intents, but their actions sometimes did. The body was not evil, ‘”the soul is the prison of the body”’ (Halberstam 2). However, the body and soul do end up merging with time; form into one being and leave an imprint on the skin. What is inside the heart is displayed on the face. Of course, it is only natural for a person to be partially good and have a few undesirable thoughts as well. It is only human nature to have some faults; after all, no one is perfect. However, one is kept grounded by the society and its rules. One may feel the urge to do something that is not approved of by the society but one controls one’s feelings because the main instinct is to try to fit with the people around. Even though people say to remain true to oneself, it is an advice best ignored if only to a little extent because just letting oneself completely let lose in the public would only lead to being judged by the others which is not what anyone wants. People would rather create fake personalities to be accepted by the society than be the way they are and risk receiving scornful looks. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the case of such a person. Both the names are of the same individual, they are just different sides of the same man. One is Dr Jekyll who is an average being, doing average things. He is considered to be a respectable and honorable man by the society but he is conscious of the bad thoughts that lurk at the back of his and wants to get rid of them. By creating and swallowing a potion – this man is also a brilliant scientist – he manages to separate the bad and good in his mind. His other half, Mr Hyde, is not as nice. Once the potion is in the body, Dr Jekyll transforms from ‘a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps’ into a shorter, cruel version of himself (Stevenson 23). By ‘giving him giving him literally a different size, age, appearance and expression, Stevenson made him that “monstrous” possibility that we could all be someone quite “other” and that we cannot rely on the control of the will’ (Gish). He has used science and the power of his mind to create a barrier between the thoughts in his mind. Again, there is another character that goes against the nature of events and has to face the consequences for it, he soon loses the control of his personality to the one which was originally induced by the drink but later takes over his body at will. This person with a seemingly perfectly normal life suffers from the dissociative identity disorder, also commonly known as split personality. This is a mental condition, ‘one form of hysteria, a pathology of consciousness’, due to which the sufferer thinks of himself as more than one being (Gish). The ‘total modifications of the personality [are] divided into two successive or simultaneous persons’ that he brings forward depending on the different occasions and the emotions that he feels at particular times (Gish). In this case, Dr Jekyll is what is called a good person whereas Mr Hyde is the opposite. The creation of such a character brings a depth to the idea behind villains being mean and out to get other people. Over here, it is Dr Jekyll himself who gave an identity to his other self that he had repressed in his unconscious mind since so long. According to the Freudian theory, it is because his thoughts were not given an outlet and talked out that the suppressed feelings could not remain in any longer and burst out like a huge explosion, destroying everything in the surroundings. It is ironic and sad how Mr Hyde’s actions affect the life of Dr Jekyll, who is the one and same person. This is an example of how there is a blurred line between monsters and humans. The monster exists inside the human, they are one and same. Dr Jekyll cannot help what he is; it is an inborn condition that he did nothing to cultivate except interfere with himself using a creation of his own in hopes of curing himself. All the wrongs that Mr Hyde commits are his faults and yet they are not because the real him is not conscious at that time. Human beings and monsters are thought to be worlds apart even though both share many characteristics, one of them being that of wanting a family. The creature that is given birth to in Frankenstein’s workshop may not look like much of a human but he thinks and feels like one. However, his master does not accept him because of hideousness and how much he sticks out like a thumb. Instead of being proud for successfully having created another life out of those who were long gone and looking after the creation, Frankenstein is disgusted by how he looks. The creature is called by all sorts of derogatory terms but never given an actual name to go by. The man who is supposed to be his father figure refuses to acknowledge him. The monster takes care of himself, teaches himself to read and write so that he can communicate with others. He is in a tough spot where his master does not want him and he cannot face the world as they would not be accepting of him either. He needs company and he has no one so he reacts in a very humane manner by wanting to take revenge for all the wrong that was done against him. Later on, he makes a deal with Victor Frankenstein which would ensure the creature’s withdrawal from his life forever. The monster wants a female companion for himself, someone whom he can live with, have babies so he can make a family of his own who he would love as his own creator did not. In exchange for his family, the monster would leave what was left of Frankenstein’s alone. The scientist agrees to go through the process if only for the safety of the others but he gets cold feet at the last minute. The realization that making another piece of such a specimen would lead to mating which would eventually result in there actually being a rising population of a creation that he loathed. In his arrogance, he brought someone in the world who had been the reason behind many deaths including that of his family’s, the huge brute could come back with a family in tow who would be as misshapen as their father and start chaos in the city. Thus, he decides to destroy the creature’s unfinished mate. This is the eventual straw for the monster who goes into a rage; the possible love of his life has just been destroyed. The one chance that he had of having a normal life no longer remained due to the same person who had already ruined his life once before. In righteous anger, the creature kills his creator. This is the perfect example of how anyone – human or animal or monster – would go to extreme lengths just to protect their families. It shows how wars are now ‘waged on behalf of the existence of everyone’ (Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction 137). The face or form that any living creature takes shape does not matter, everyone feels certain emotions be they love or hate or curiosity or pride or the thirst for revenge. Gothic romances may be appreciated by the readers for various reasons but they also bring to light certain facts that people do not like to think about. The reactions that the above discussed characters get for the way they are gives an insight to how the human mind works. Frankenstein cannot accept what could be his greatest creation ever because of the way the creature looks. Indeed, aesthetics play a big role in the world today. Those who are good looking automatically become popular, their chances of achieving their dreams increase because the other people are more willing to accept them in the society because they act and look the part. Those who do not have the face are not paid much attention to even if they have some amazing talents. The creature is clearly intelligent for having learned to read and write on his own but Victor is far from proud of him. Then there is Dr Jekyll’s case which shows how man can be at war with himself. He knows what he wants is not what he should want but he is unable to control his impulses. He may get off the track and the people will not jump at giving a second chance. Even though people are getting broadminded regarding mental disorders, they still tend to see the patients having psychological problems as people who are not in their senses and must be degraded. Human beings, on a whole, are not painted in a positive light. Bibliography Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. Vintage, 1990. —. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Vintage, 1994. Gish, Nancy K. "Jekyll and Hyde: The Psychology of Dissociation." International Journal of Scottish Literature 2 (2007). Halberstam, Judith. Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters. Duke University Press Books, 1995. Piccolino, Marco. "Animal electricity and the birth of electrophysiology: The legacy of Luigi Galvani." History of Neuroscience 46.5 (1998): 381 - 407. Shelley, Mary W. Frankenstein. 1818. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. 1886. Read More