Contributions of the Violent Events to the Pattern - Essay Example

VIOLENT EVENTS

In the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde there are so many violent scenes such as the trampled girl. The scenes are very important for the novel since they are basis of its flow of story or events. The purpose of writing this paper is to discuss these violent scenes and explain the patterns I see coming up from the events. This paper also explains how the violent events contribute to the generally flow of the novel.

The novel focuses on a couple of violence against innocent and helpless inhabitants (Nabokov qtd. in Linehan). These are the little girl and the elderly man. This forms a big part of the novel and it contributes to the general flow of the story especially through the character Mr. Hyde. This also leaves us thinking whether or not violence is essential or defines the man’s nature. According to Mr. Hyde in this novel men should be violent and that’s why he is so violent. This is clearly depicted by the way he treats the little girl and the elderly man. His violent actions are part of the story and therefore clearly contribute to the flow of the novel.

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde defaces Dr. Jekyll’s favorite religious job. This is a violent action and proves that Mr. Hyde was so wicked. We see that this brings out the theme of religion in the novel which also contributes to the pattern and flow of the story. In addition, this brings out the idea of Mr. Hyde being referred to Satan. In Chapter 7, Mr. Utterson says, “God forgive us! God forgive us!” and Mr. Enfield responds to him by asking what they have done. This clearly brings the idea of good and evil in the novel. We know that they are supposed to be forgiven for doing something evil. Additionally, some of these evil things are violent and therefore this clearly shows that violence contributes to the flow of the novel by introducing the theme of religion.

The maid sees Mr. Hyde beating Carew to death. This is another violent action of Mr. Hyde that contributes to the pattern and flow of the story by introducing the theme of women and femininity. Mr. Hyde does not respect the female gender and does anything before them without fearing. He also destroys the little girl who was always very frightened. People come to help her from Mr. Hyde violence. This novel brings out female characters as weak and passive. For instance the little girl is portrayed as weak and the maid is a passive spectator. Their presence in the novel helps in bringing out the violent character of Mr. Hyde. Stevenson has not fulfilled gender equality in his novel. Women or female characters should also be given major roles in the novel like male characters. Another fact is that most characters are male. For gender equality, Stevenson would have used almost equal, if not equal, numbers of male and female characters. Also most female characters are just subject to violence. This gives the female gender an image of being very weak.

"Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground." This quote in chapter one shows that Mr. Hyde is a victim of violating innocent kids without any mercy. His violent actions contribute to the pattern of the novel through use of quotes. Quotes such as the mentioned one are used to show his evil actions. Quotes also help to bring the exact idea in the readers mind for instance if you read the above quote the image clearly clicks in your mind and you get what the author is expressing. In the novel quotes are not only used to express violence but also to express religion, curiosity, friendship and many other themes present.

Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s evil alter ego who involves himself in very many unpleasant actions and behaviors. He is violent and this contributes in helping the author come up with his appearance and character. For instance he is younger and more energetic. The author used this since Mr. Hyde was violent and most violent guys always have a lot of energy. He is also referred to as monkey severally in the novel giving the hint of inhumanity or bestiality. Therefore Mr. Hyde being violent gives the author and the reader easy way of figuring out his appearance and character which is obviously part of the flow of the novel. The actions and characters traits of a character in a novel should match. That is why Mr. Hyde is a subject to violent actions and his characters traits are portrayed as young, energetic and inhuman. If these two would contradict themselves then the novel would lose its flow and pattern.

The title Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has also been contributed by the violent actions done by Mr. Hyde. We later find out that these two characters are just one and the same. Mr. Hyde is the bad and evil side of Dr. Jekyll who is let loose through strange potions. The two men depicts the dual nature of men and hence the dual nature of the topic. Therefore violence has helped to clearly bring out the evil, terrible and criminal side of an individual which is shown through Mr. Hyde. Title matters a lot in an article or novel and therefore violence has played a very big role in this novel by contributing to the formation of its title.

Additionally the same idea can be used to explain trivia in the novel in that Jekyll and Hyde are simply used to refer to people with split personality. Some people have their bad and evil side and another side which looks good though can change under certain conditions or situations. This is clearly shown in the novel through the violent actions done in the Mr. Hyde and the other personality is Dr. Jekyll who changes under special portions.

In conclusion, my persuasive literary analysis clearly discusses the most violent events. The events are depicted as the young girl, Carew’s death and the ultimate demise of Jekyll/Hyde. Additionally, my persuasive literary analysis explains also the themes such as religion and femininity which are brought about by the violent events. It goes further and explains other contributions of the violent events to the pattern and general flow of the novel.

WORK CITED

Chesterton, Gilbert K. "The Real Stab of the Story." Rpt. In Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: an Authoritative Text New York: Norton (2003).

Nabokov, Vladimir. “A Phenomenon of Style.” 1980. Rpt. in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Norton Critical Edition, Katherine Linehan, Editor. W. W. Norton &Company, New York. 2003.

Wikisource contributors. “The Annotated Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Robert

LouisStevenson.Wikisource.https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annotated_Strange_Case_of_ Dr_Jekyll and_Mr_Hyde. 2017. Web. 24 Jul. 2017.