Critical Essay on the story, "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
Written By: Simran D., Jasmin L., Luke N., and Saloni N.
“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is an incredible, classic novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Although the book may be difficult to read these days (it was originally published in the late 19th Century), it is still very suspenseful, exciting, and makes you want to continue reading. The main character, Dr. Jekyll, is associated with a rare mental disorder, often called "split personality", where the same person is at least two different personalities. In this novella, the two personalities in Dr. Jekyll are seemingly good and evil, with completely opposite levels of standards. Most of this story contains investigation that Mr. Utterson (a majority of the story is told by him) does of Mr. Hyde’s mysterious actions.
The story starts off with Mr. Utterson and his younger cousin Richard Enfield walking around on a Sunday morning. While they are walking, Richard recognizes a door and it reminds him about a time when he was walking at night from a party and he saw an old man and a young girl. It looked as if they were going to collide. When they hit each other at the corner, the girl fell. Instead of helping her out, the old man stepped over her leaving her screaming. The man was identified as Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde offered to give 100 pounds of money for the girl’s family. Then, he went in that same exact door that Utterson and Richard went looking at. That whole night, Utterson has nightmares of Mr. Hyde. He looks at Dr. Jekyll’s will about giving all his money and possessions to Mr. Hyde if he disappears for three months. It makes him very confused, so he decides to look more into the situation.
When Utterson asks Jekyll about Hyde, Jekyll shows some resistance to talk. For some strange reason, Utterson shows interest in knowing more about Hyde and wants to help him. The topic is soon forgotten about. A year later, things were pretty normal until a housemaid witnesses Mr. Hyde murder Danvers Carew with a cane. Mr. Utterson starts to investigate the case. Later on, Lanyon becomes extremely ill. He gives Utterson a letter to read after he dies. A few days later, the doctor passes away. A few nights later, Poole asks for Utterson’s help as he says that Dr. Jekyll has locked himself in his laboratory. As they reached the door, they hear Mr. Hyde’s voice. Thinking that Hyde was up to something they barge in to see his dead body in Dr. Jekyll’s oversized clothes. Inside, they find a letter. Finally, Utterson reads Lanyon’s letter and his finds out that Dr. Jekyll was Mr. Hyde. He had taken a drug to become two different people. Lanyon had died because he had seen Dr. Jekyll’s transformation to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson reads Dr. Jekyll’s letter later to know that he was trying to prove two sides of himself. One evil side, one good side. Realizing that Mr. Hyde couldn’t be controlled and that he couldn’t find the cure to stopping him, Dr. Jekyll chose to commit suicide.
Other than being a suspenseful story filled with many surprises in the plot, there are many themes that are used in the story. One of the major themes would be good versus evil. Dr. Jekyll, a scientist makes new discoveries, decides on proving that a person has two sides, one being evil and the other being good. Unfortunately, his alter ego, Mr Hyde, takes control causing him to do mischievous things. This theme relates to the story because Dr. Jekyll is the good and Mr. Hyde is the evil. Here, Dr. Jekyll goes against Mr.Hyde and fight until one has won. Another theme is the will to survive. Since Mr. Hyde takes over Dr. Jekyll's form, he can't control him or stop him. So, the basic goal for Dr. Jekyll is to try to stay alive. The last theme that is used in this story is totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is when the government takes control over people, like a dictatorship. As I have said before, Mr. Hyde uses Dr. Jekyll to do criminal things. To put totalitarianism in the story, think of Mr, Hyde as the dictator and Dr. Jekyll is the person that the dictator is ruling over. As a dictator, he is the absolute ruler with unrestricted control over the people.
This story is based off of a man named William Brodie. He was a businessman in Scotland during the 1700s. Brodie was a remarkable citizen by day, but a burglar and gambler by night, going by the name “Deacon Brodie”. He stole money from his clients, who were all fairly wealthy. He used this money to support his second wife, five children, both of his mistresses (neither knew that Brodie was seeing the other), and to fund his gambling habit. He and his henchmen were captured during an attempted robbery in 1786, after they tried to flee to the United States. He was then hanged for his crimes. The end was very surprising to me, Jekyll died and left a note explaining how he mutated into Mr. Hyde. Overall, it is a story about a man's tendency to give into those bad qualities because Jekyll eventually lost control over his transformation. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” was a really good book, and very well-written, as well. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspenseful stories.
The story starts off with Mr. Utterson and his younger cousin Richard Enfield walking around on a Sunday morning. While they are walking, Richard recognizes a door and it reminds him about a time when he was walking at night from a party and he saw an old man and a young girl. It looked as if they were going to collide. When they hit each other at the corner, the girl fell. Instead of helping her out, the old man stepped over her leaving her screaming. The man was identified as Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde offered to give 100 pounds of money for the girl’s family. Then, he went in that same exact door that Utterson and Richard went looking at. That whole night, Utterson has nightmares of Mr. Hyde. He looks at Dr. Jekyll’s will about giving all his money and possessions to Mr. Hyde if he disappears for three months. It makes him very confused, so he decides to look more into the situation.
When Utterson asks Jekyll about Hyde, Jekyll shows some resistance to talk. For some strange reason, Utterson shows interest in knowing more about Hyde and wants to help him. The topic is soon forgotten about. A year later, things were pretty normal until a housemaid witnesses Mr. Hyde murder Danvers Carew with a cane. Mr. Utterson starts to investigate the case. Later on, Lanyon becomes extremely ill. He gives Utterson a letter to read after he dies. A few days later, the doctor passes away. A few nights later, Poole asks for Utterson’s help as he says that Dr. Jekyll has locked himself in his laboratory. As they reached the door, they hear Mr. Hyde’s voice. Thinking that Hyde was up to something they barge in to see his dead body in Dr. Jekyll’s oversized clothes. Inside, they find a letter. Finally, Utterson reads Lanyon’s letter and his finds out that Dr. Jekyll was Mr. Hyde. He had taken a drug to become two different people. Lanyon had died because he had seen Dr. Jekyll’s transformation to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson reads Dr. Jekyll’s letter later to know that he was trying to prove two sides of himself. One evil side, one good side. Realizing that Mr. Hyde couldn’t be controlled and that he couldn’t find the cure to stopping him, Dr. Jekyll chose to commit suicide.
Other than being a suspenseful story filled with many surprises in the plot, there are many themes that are used in the story. One of the major themes would be good versus evil. Dr. Jekyll, a scientist makes new discoveries, decides on proving that a person has two sides, one being evil and the other being good. Unfortunately, his alter ego, Mr Hyde, takes control causing him to do mischievous things. This theme relates to the story because Dr. Jekyll is the good and Mr. Hyde is the evil. Here, Dr. Jekyll goes against Mr.Hyde and fight until one has won. Another theme is the will to survive. Since Mr. Hyde takes over Dr. Jekyll's form, he can't control him or stop him. So, the basic goal for Dr. Jekyll is to try to stay alive. The last theme that is used in this story is totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is when the government takes control over people, like a dictatorship. As I have said before, Mr. Hyde uses Dr. Jekyll to do criminal things. To put totalitarianism in the story, think of Mr, Hyde as the dictator and Dr. Jekyll is the person that the dictator is ruling over. As a dictator, he is the absolute ruler with unrestricted control over the people.
This story is based off of a man named William Brodie. He was a businessman in Scotland during the 1700s. Brodie was a remarkable citizen by day, but a burglar and gambler by night, going by the name “Deacon Brodie”. He stole money from his clients, who were all fairly wealthy. He used this money to support his second wife, five children, both of his mistresses (neither knew that Brodie was seeing the other), and to fund his gambling habit. He and his henchmen were captured during an attempted robbery in 1786, after they tried to flee to the United States. He was then hanged for his crimes. The end was very surprising to me, Jekyll died and left a note explaining how he mutated into Mr. Hyde. Overall, it is a story about a man's tendency to give into those bad qualities because Jekyll eventually lost control over his transformation. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” was a really good book, and very well-written, as well. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspenseful stories.
Image Sources:
~http://i31.tinypic.com/2enqpkw.jpg
~http://harryandcaresse.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde_harry-and-caresse_www-harryandcaresse-com-12.jpg
~http://i31.tinypic.com/2enqpkw.jpg
~http://harryandcaresse.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde_harry-and-caresse_www-harryandcaresse-com-12.jpg