Analysis of Robert Louis Stevenson Short Novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Literature review Example

Robert Louis Stevenson's short novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is artful meditation on the duality of human nature. The novel succeeds at a number of levels in exploring the ongoing struggle between good and evil at the personal, the societal and further at the religious level. This paper will explore the different elements of this conflict; it will examine the personal quality of addiction suggested by the novel and then look at how the novel was both a critique of and entertainment for middle class Victorian society and finally it will touch on the elements of Christian allegory in the story. On a personal level the duality of good and evil in the story is well illustrated in the pattern of behavior observed in addiction. Daniel L. Wright makes a compelling argument for the demonstration of the patterns of addictive behavior in Dr Jekyll's compulsion to take the potion that transforms him. On a most fundamental level Wright sees Jekyll's denial of his compulsion as the classic sign of an addict. Addiction is characterized by an inability to recognize the loss of control that goes hand in hand with the attachment to the addicting substance.(Wright. p.1) As Wright points out Jekyll makes the fatuous remark to his friend Utterson that “ the moment I choose I can be rid of Mr Hyde” (Stevenson.p.40). This remark rings hollow in the face of Hyde's inability to control his urges until it becomes too late to do so. There is a cycle of addiction that is evident in the novel and which Wright insightfully demonstrates in the classic pattern of addiction described in the work of Patrick Carnes. Carnes identifies 4 stages to the addiction cycle: preoccupation, ritualization, compulsion and despair.(Wright. P.1) The preoccupation of Jekyll is clearly evident in the single minded way that he pursues his scientific pursuit. The ideas of arriving at some sense of a scientific answer to the age old question of the essential good and evil in men is not a rhetorical or even a philosophical pursuit for Jekyll; for him the pursuit is tangible in his scientific approach. The ambition to pursue such lines of inquiry might be laudable in in other circumstances but here it is allied to other behaviors that characterize it as an addiction. The pattern becomes a ritual as Jekyll continues to take the potion even when he knows full well that the result is always the transformation to the unsavory Mr Hyde. The road from ritual to compulsion is not a long one and Jekyll certainly falls down it. As Wright points out Lanyon is witness to the manner of Jekyll's consumption of the potion, “ he put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp”(Stevenson. p.116). As Lanyon observes there is no pause in his approach. At this point Jekyll is no longer in control of any part of his behavior. The final stage of Crane's cycle, despair is perhaps most typical of addictive behavior. Jekyll is shown to suffer great bouts of remorse and yet he cannot stop himself. He experiences a moment of self-abnegation to his friend Utterson and as Utterson observes “ he covered his face for a moment with his hands” (Stevenson. p.59). The remorse mingled with self-pity is now a stock representation of addiction and yet despite its commonplace representation is no less true a presentation of the problem. The pattern is familiar as is the loss of will associated with it. This duality based on a material dependence is an ubiquitous part of the modern view of duality often as a potentially treatable rift in the individual's mental health. Good and evil seen in this light is clear to the modern sensibility with its faith in themedical redemption of men who have gone astray. It is not clear if Stevenson's depiction is intended in this form apart from its accuracy in rendering the patterns which were as much a part of the 19th century as they are of the 21st. Stevenson was, however, aware of the societal constraints of his own particular society in 19th century Victorian Britain and there is in the novel a sense of challenging and catering to the mores of the time. In playing with the theme of duality in his novel Stevenson was clearly making a commentary about the values of his middle class Victorian audience. Stephen D. Arata makes an interestingly nuanced argument about the element of fear that Hyde's character raised in the Victorian middle class. Hyde is shown as rough and brutal in his manner but also in possession of refined taste as he demonstrates in his love of wine wine and other refinements: “ Hyde's palate for wine is discriminating, his plate is of silver, his "napery elegant." Art adorns his walls, while carpets "of many plies and agreeable in colour" cover his floors. This is not a savage's den but the retreat of a cultivated gentleman. Utterson supposes that Jekyll bought the art for Hyde (Stevenson . p.49), but Stevenson in a letter went out of his way to say that the lawyer is mistaken. The purchases were Hyde's alone.(7)” (Arata. p.1) Arata goes on to explain how this apparent dichotomy of brutality and refinement served to underline two of the perceived threats to middle class Victorian morality. Firstly there was the fear of the great mob of the underclass as it was perceived at the time. These were the uneducated working class with whom was associated in the fashion of the time more of a criminal tendency. On the other hand there was the fear of the rich bohemian gentry who because of great inherited fortune did not have to work in the way of the middle class. The leisure of this particular group was associated with vice as well.(Arata. p.1) Interestingly Stevenson uses an individual with typically middle class values of goodness and industriousness in Dr Jekyll to underscore his point in a subtle way and highlight the underlying hypocrisy of Victorian middle class values. Presenting to the world as the very image of middle class propriety Dr Jekyll is driven by the need to explore his other half. This is made most clearly evident in the almost paternalistic interest he takes in Hyde. Of course, he protects himself by protecting Hyde but there is a sense of father and son in the relationship that Arata does not fail to notice. Jekyll claims a parental link with Hyde in some way (Stevenson. p.89) and later as Arata points out Utterson comes to believe that Hyde is Jekyll's bastard son (Stevenson. p .37). There are layers of irony that may have not been entirely clear to his Victorian audience in criticizing the essential complacency of a strong moral code that ostensibly shelters every variety of vice But while Stevenson subtly critiques the values of his class he also caters to it. His novel allows an exploration of those areas that the audience had a great interest. Jekyll's exploration of his dark half provides a vicarious thrill to those in audience who could identify with Jekyll and observe his decline from a safe vantage point. This vicarious thrill is seen in the way that Enfield also takes thrill from the savaging of a young girl by Hyde allowing it to occur “ naturally enough” (Stevenson. p .31) and then not intervening in any way. Moving away from the societal implications of the story and to the higher level of its duality explored in its role as Christian allegory. The role of Christian allegory in Stevenson's novel cannot be understated as there is documented evidence of his ideas on the subject. Kevin Mills shines some light on Stevenson's thinking in examining an essay written by him at the time. In his essay “Crabbed Youth and Age” Stevenson makes reference to the changes of personality that come with age and in this work he cites the biblical example of St Paul. Mills indicated the complexity of the relationship well: A little later in the same essay, Stevenson seems to be more exercised by the greatness of differences within the self than by any putative continuity: "[W]e cannot even regard ourselves as a constant; in this flux of things, our identity itself seems in a perpetual variation; and not infrequently we find our own disguise the strangest in the masquerade" (VP 57). Here emerges a sense of change that defies the very idea of subjective continuity; a kind of auto-alienation is implied by which the self is turned into another, a disguised other, the strangest other of all. The complexity of such a description, which characterizes subjectivity as a masquerade in which the self is an all-but-unrecognizable stranger, a figure of auto-dissimulation, might be read as preparing the way for the manifold subjectivity and self-estrangement with which the reader of Jekyll and Hyde would be confronted some five years later (Mills. p.1 ) The division of self according to Stevenson had echoes in the story of St Paul in Romans 7. Mills illustrates the "astoundingly convoluted description of the battle between rival selves in Romans 7" (Mills. p.1 ) . There is a variation in this theme Stevenson's story from the dualistic dilemma outlined by St Paul. In St Paul's writings in Romans 7 as Mills points out there is a struggle to free the good man from the bad elements of himself Stevenson's story on the other hand, as artistic liberty, distilled the two halves in separate forms and then watched as the bad overwhelmed the good. Perhaps this was the reason for the great success of Stevenson's novel. The idea of duality of natures ran through Western civilizations way of of looking at the world. The struggle between the so called weakness of the flesh and the understanding of higher spiritual purpose was common place. The war with the devil was no doubt the message of countless sermons throughout society at Stevenson's time and in the generations before him. The audience brought this understanding with them and in Stevenson's story they were given a variation. Rather than stop at the prohibition against surrender to base instincts, Stevenson's story allowed the audience to witness the exploration of the free fall into evil through the misguided and perhaps well intentioned interests of its familiar middle class character, Dr Jekyll. In this way the adaptation of the Christian allegory achieved a unique purpose of allowing the full exploration of the dark inclinations and yet at the end of if all assuming their position of moral superiority to the fallen figure of Dr Jekyll. Stevenson's The Strange Tale of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde explored the duality of good and evil at many different levels. On a personal level that is familiar to the individualistic sensibility of today, Stevenson's work explored the the pattern of addiction that was clearly evident in Jekyll's behavior. In this sense it was the addiction that drove him toward his more base half. At a societal level Stevenson's story was a subtle criticism of his audience but at the same time it catered to their interest and thus in this way provided entertainment. Stevenson's story touched a deeper chord because it reached into the fundamental beliefs of its audience. The Christian allegory saw its echoes in writing of St Paul and his meditations on the warring parts of the human condition. But while Stevenson's story raised the ideas of allegory it provided its entertainment by exploring the the fall of man who follows his inclinations in a direction that few would dare. In this way the story achieved the effects of allegory but with the added advantage of sating the interests of an audience that was at war with its own sensuality. References Arata, Stephen D. "The Sedulous Ape: Atavism, Professionalism, and Stevenson's 'Jekyll and Hyde." Criticism 37.2 (1995): 233+. Questia. 5 June 2006 . Mills, Kevin. "The Stain on the Mirror: Pauline Reflections in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Christianity and Literature 53.3 (2004): 337+. Questia. 5 June 2006 . Rose, Brian A. Jekyll and Hyde Adapted: Dramatizations of Cultural Anxiety. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Questia. 5 June 2006 . Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Questia. 5 June 2006 . Wright, Daniel L. ""The Prisonhouse of My Disposition": A Study of the Psychology of Addiction in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.'." Studies in the Novel 26.3 (1994): 254+. Questia. 5 June 2006 . Read More

The ambition to pursue such lines of inquiry might be laudable in in other circumstances but here it is allied to other behaviors that characterize it as an addiction. The pattern becomes a ritual as Jekyll continues to take the potion even when he knows full well that the result is always the transformation to the unsavory Mr Hyde. The road from ritual to compulsion is not a long one and Jekyll certainly falls down it. As Wright points out Lanyon is witness to the manner of Jekyll's consumption of the potion, “ he put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp”(Stevenson. p.116).

As Lanyon observes there is no pause in his approach. At this point Jekyll is no longer in control of any part of his behavior. The final stage of Crane's cycle, despair is perhaps most typical of addictive behavior. Jekyll is shown to suffer great bouts of remorse and yet he cannot stop himself. He experiences a moment of self-abnegation to his friend Utterson and as Utterson observes “ he covered his face for a moment with his hands” (Stevenson. p.59). The remorse mingled with self-pity is now a stock representation of addiction and yet despite its commonplace representation is no less true a presentation of the problem.

The pattern is familiar as is the loss of will associated with it. This duality based on a material dependence is an ubiquitous part of the modern view of duality often as a potentially treatable rift in the individual's mental health. Good and evil seen in this light is clear to the modern sensibility with its faith in themedical redemption of men who have gone astray. It is not clear if Stevenson's depiction is intended in this form apart from its accuracy in rendering the patterns which were as much a part of the 19th century as they are of the 21st.

Stevenson was, however, aware of the societal constraints of his own particular society in 19th century Victorian Britain and there is in the novel a sense of challenging and catering to the mores of the time. In playing with the theme of duality in his novel Stevenson was clearly making a commentary about the values of his middle class Victorian audience. Stephen D. Arata makes an interestingly nuanced argument about the element of fear that Hyde's character raised in the Victorian middle class.

Hyde is shown as rough and brutal in his manner but also in possession of refined taste as he demonstrates in his love of wine wine and other refinements: “ Hyde's palate for wine is discriminating, his plate is of silver, his "napery elegant." Art adorns his walls, while carpets "of many plies and agreeable in colour" cover his floors. This is not a savage's den but the retreat of a cultivated gentleman. Utterson supposes that Jekyll bought the art for Hyde (Stevenson . p.49), but Stevenson in a letter went out of his way to say that the lawyer is mistaken.

The purchases were Hyde's alone.(7)” (Arata. p.1) Arata goes on to explain how this apparent dichotomy of brutality and refinement served to underline two of the perceived threats to middle class Victorian morality. Firstly there was the fear of the great mob of the underclass as it was perceived at the time. These were the uneducated working class with whom was associated in the fashion of the time more of a criminal tendency. On the other hand there was the fear of the rich bohemian gentry who because of great inherited fortune did not have to work in the way of the middle class.

The leisure of this particular group was associated with vice as well.(Arata. p.1) Interestingly Stevenson uses an individual with typically middle class values of goodness and industriousness in Dr Jekyll to underscore his point in a subtle way and highlight the underlying hypocrisy of Victorian middle class values. Presenting to the world as the very image of middle class propriety Dr Jekyll is driven by the need to explore his other half. This is made most clearly evident in the almost paternalistic interest he takes in Hyde.

Of course, he protects himself by protecting Hyde but there is a sense of father and son in the relationship that Arata does not fail to notice.

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