Dr jekyll and mr hyde tema

Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever had. Other theorists have argued that perhaps Stevenson concludes that man is not in fact a purely dual being, but is at his heart a primitive being, tamed and civilized by the laws of society. Stevenson does portray Hyde in highly animalistic terms - short, hairy, and like a troglodyte with gnarled hands and a horrific face. In contrast, Jekyll is described in the most gentlemanly terms - tall, refined, polite and honorable, with long elegant fingers and a handsome appearance. Thus, perhaps Jekyll's experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without considering the constraints of society and civilization. Jekyll and Hyde are not the only examples of duality in the novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms, as both a foggy, dreary, nightmarish place, and a well kept, bustling center of commerce.

Indeed, just as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society. Hyde contains powerfully violent scenes. In each instance, the culprit is Mr. Hyde, and the victim is an innocent. For example, in the first chapter we learn how Mr. Hyde literally trampled a young girl in the street at three in the morning, and later on we learn that Hyde, unprovoked, mercilessly beat Sir Danvers Carew to death. Even worse, we find at the conclusion of the novel that Hyde thoroughly enjoyed committing this violence, and afterwards felt a rush of excitement and satisfaction. Through this imagery of senseless violence against innocent victims, Stevenson expresses the true depravity and pure evil of Hyde. Interestingly, Hyde's final victims, when he commits suicide just before Utterson and Poole break into his cabinet, are both himself and Jekyll. In this final act, neither victim is innocent. Clearly, Hyde is guilty of a great many crimes, and Jekyll is guilty by proxy as he created Hyde, let him run free, and inhabits the same body as the man.

Perhaps in this conclusion, Stevenson is suggesting that to those who promote and commit senseless violence, punishment will come. Hyde contains very few references to women. In fact, those that are even mentioned are portrayed as weak and unassuming. Even in the descriptions of Hyde's morally depraved behavior, there is no mention of sexual encounters or illicit relationships. In rationalizing this omission, Nabokov reasons, "It has been suggested that Stevenson, 'working as he did under Victorian restrictions,' and not wishing to bring colours into the story alien to its monkish patterns, consciously refrained from placing a painted feminine mask upon the secret pleasure in which Jekyll indulged. Rather, Lanyon, Enfield, Utterson and Jekyll all appear to be bachelors who through each other's company seek intellectual stimulation and friendship. Some have reasoned that this lack of the female sex suggests, "Jekyll's secret adventures were homosexual practices so common in London behind the Victorian veil.

The first woman we hear about is the young girl running through a London street at three in the morning on her way to fetch a doctor. Hyde the Juggernaut tramples her without a second thought. The girl is immediately victimized and is portrayed as a helpless, passive creature who requires a great many people, Enfield included, to rescue her and avenge the crime. Next, we meet the maid who witnesses Sir Danvers Carew's murder. She is described quite passively, as she sits gazing out at the moonlight with a care in the world. Upon noticing Sir Danvers Carew whom she does not recognize from so far off , she watches the man and observes as he meets Hyde on the path. When Hyde begins to pummel the man, the maid loses all sensibility and faints away. Only hours later, at which point there is little hope of catching Hyde, the maid awakens and reports the crime. Quite similar to the little girl, this murder witness proves feeble and passive, and her emotional reaction to Hyde's violence causes a delay in the investigation.

The last woman we meet is one of Jekyll's servants. When Utterson and Poole make their final efforts to save Jekyll from Hyde, who they believe has invaded the house and at the least is holding Jekyll hostage, a female maid is one of the group of servants huddled together in one portion of the house. All are quite afraid, but it is a female servant who bursts into loud sobs, which endanger the entire mission, as Hyde might hear and either flee or prepare to meet his visitors, who were hoping to catch him off guard.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Themes | SparkNotes

Once again, this woman is portrayed as weak and helpless in the face of danger. In an introductory essay to the novel, Nabokov writes, "Excluding two or three vague servant maids, a conventional hag and a faceless little girl running for a doctor, the gentle sex has no part in the action. Throughout the novel, the characters demonstrate an inability to fully express themselves, or choose to withhold highly important information. For example, in the very first chapter, Enfield claims he does not want to share the name of the man who trampled the young girl in order to avoid gossip. However, after finally naming Hyde, he and Utterson end the conversation abruptly, as they feel discussing the topic any further would be inappropriate for all parties involved. Similarly, Utterson withholds relevant information from the police following Sir Danvers Carew's murder by choosing to keep Hyde and Jekyll's relationship secret. These silences reflect the confines of the moral nature of the Victorian era.

As earlier noted, the Victorian era placed a great deal of importance on outward appearances. In order to protect themselves and each other against the destruction of respectability, Enfield, Lanyon, Utterson and Jekyll worked to hide or keep secret any piece of information that might mar a reputation. In another manifestation of silence in the novel, no one who meets Hyde can describe exactly what it is about his appearance or face that makes him seem evil, but all agree that upon meeting or seeing him, they felt a sense of horror. Finally, much of the important details regarding the nature of Jekyll and Hyde are passed on in written form rather than in speech. In a letter written just before his death, Lanyon instructs Utterson not to read the contents until the death or disappearance of Jekyll. Similarly, Jekyll writes his final confession in a letter to Utterson, rather than sharing his secrets in person. Interestingly, none of these letters provide details into the unseen aspects of Hyde's life.

The reader never learns what other evil actions Hyde took, and is only left to wonder at the degree of his violence, brutality, and moral depravity. In Utterson's world, where all details of life and law are placed in official documents, language is regaled as a stronghold of rationality and logic. Therefore, perhaps the lack of language or communication between characters and related to Hyde demonstrates that the supernatural occurrences in the novel push the world beyond the logical, and therefore beyond speech. In composing Dr. Hyde , Stevenson walked a fine line between reality and the supernatural. Utterson, through whom the reader perceives the action, is a highly rational, logical man who considers himself to be an upright and honorable citizen of Victorian England. In contrast, the novel's conclusion is highly supernatural, and does not mesh with the grounded nature of the world in which the main characters live. In fact, by developing the very reasoned and rational characters, the effect of the final conclusion and the discovery of Jekyll's horrific work is even more powerful, in that the contrast is so great.

Undoubtedly, Stevenson met a great challenge in balancing these two worlds while successfully allowing the supernatural fantastical portion of the novel to be believable. Amazingly, in the short three days during which he wrote the novel, he met this challenge. In his introduction to the novel, Nabokov analyzes Stevenson's method in balancing the rational and the irrational, and thereby achieving a great artistic achievement. In his view, to make the fantastic details of Jekyll's work believable, Stevenson presents the otherwise unbelievable details of Jekyll's experiments through the highly rational minds of Utterson and Enfield. These two logical men "convey something to the reader of the horror of Hyde, but at the same time they, being neither artists nor scientists Furthermore, by describing daily life in great detail, Stevenson contrasts the everyday life of London gentlemen with, "unspecified, vague, but ominous allusions to pleasures and dreadful vices somewhere behind the scenes.

On the one side there is 'reality'; on the other, 'a nightmare world'. For the highly rational and socially respected characters, such as Dr. Lanyon , the revelation of Jekyll's work is too much to bear. In fact, Dr. Ultimately, while Stevenson clearly asserts human nature as possessing two aspects, he leaves open the question of what these aspects constitute. Stevenson enhances the richness of the novel by leaving us to look within ourselves to find the answers. Throughout the course of Dr. Hyde , many characters face the choice to either adhere to the socially-approved constructs of dignity and reason or succumb to the temptation of curiosity. This rigid moral code, which emphasizes the importance of a respectable public identity, personal repression, and preserving order, heightens the degree of temptation that an exploration of the unknown can invite. The notion of temptation itself even goes against Victorian sensibilities as it involves giving in to some form of internal desire.

In this scenario, Jekyll succumbs to two different temptations, one being a longing to act on his suppressed, morally-questionable thoughts and the other being his scientific curiosity. This outcome seems to suggest that while there are possibilities beyond the limited world-view that Victorian London embraces, pursuing those possibilities can be dangerous and destructive. Although their close adherence to Victorian values influences their behavior, Mr. Utterson and Dr. Utterson continually attempts to offer to others logical explanations for the strange circumstances surrounding Jekyll, but privately, he allows his imagination to take over. He has nightmares, for example, about what Hyde might do after Mr. Enfield tells him the story of Hyde and the little girl. Similarly, Dr. Lanyon strictly adheres to known, material sciences but lets his curiosity get the best of him when he stays to watch Hyde transform back into Jekyll, a choice which leads to his death.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Themes | LitCharts

These private submissions to the temptation of curiosity reveal that even those who appear to uphold Victorian ethics cannot fully resist the draw of the unknown. This concept is one that Stevenson ultimately creates for the reader as they make their way through the text. Stevenson ultimately seems to invite questions regarding the value of curiosity. For the characters in Dr. The prevalence of this value system is evident in the way that upright men such as Utterson and Enfield avoid gossip at all costs; they see gossip as a great destroyer of reputation. The importance of reputation in the novel also reflects the importance of appearances, facades, and surfaces, which often hide a sordid underside. Ace your assignments with our guide to Dr. Please wait while we process your payment. Send password reset email. Your password reset email should arrive shortly. Something went wrong If you don't see it, please check your spam folder.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Themes

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