Theme Of Addiction In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Superior Essays
The form of addiction presented in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde presents the reader with a theme of addiction to enhance the more straightforward good versus evil motif in the novella. Dr. Jekyll’s addiction presents a lure to the elixir which changes his previous Victorian gentleman status and seems to isolate him from this previous being. The alteration of him is explored throughout the story as the nature of Dr. Jekyll changes once Mr. Hyde begins to take control. The titles given in their social class is important to the hierarchy of the two halves of Dr. Jekyll as he and Mr. Hyde are further distanced other than mere personality and physicality. The morality of the addiction is also under suspect …show more content…
Hyde with the gentlemanly statured men of the novella like Mr. Utterson and the lesser extent, Dr. Jekyll. The addiction plagued by a man of stature is seen throughout this story and the true gentlemen nature of Mr. Utterson is seen in comparison to the declining health of the doctor. Mr. Utterson in the beginning narration is described that it “was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men” (Stevenson 1) showing some of his courteous traits while the addicted Dr. Jekyll is described by his change in public gentlemanly nature (and subsequently health declining) when seeing Utterson as “he did not rise up to meet his visitor, but held out a cold hand, and bade him welcome in a changed voice” (Stevenson 18). The reunion of these two characters and this point marks the beginning of what the reader sees of the coming addiction presented upon Dr. Jekyll. The two gentlemen can be compared with and soon the decline of Dr. Jekyll will be evident compared to the true gentleman. The consequences from the addiction to the elixir has Dr. Jekyll transforming into an ulterior self who represents a more primitive beast than the gentlemen of his former self. These traits are shown through the descriptions of Mr. Hyde who is described on multiple occasions as being seen as a “troglodyte” (Stevenson 10) and being described as having “the hand… corded and hairy” (Stevenson 51). The descriptions of Hyde being a primitive being shows the duality of the public gentlemen that Dr. Jekyll tries to embody and the private experiment let free that is Mr. Hyde. One more observation between these two is the change in not only evolutionary stature but in their social statures. Dr. Jekyll is seen through his title of doctor as being a man of education and substance while his alter-ego

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jekyll. Yet, as the procedure that Henry Jekyll followed is explained, the feeling of innocence against guilt is still present in his narrative. During the first test of Jekyll’s potion, the transformation to Hyde holds a heavy meaning in the good vs. evil thinking. After he drinks the potion, the text illustrates, “The most racking pangs succeeded: a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death,” (Stevenson 63). The change from Jekyll to Hyde symbolize the way that Jekyll made his soul impure, and it’s harsh, not just to the body, but to the mind to walk the path of villainy.…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the ingenious author, Robert Louis Stevenson, makes usage of shifts in the subject of the chapters and his differing methods of storytelling to draw parallels between the chapters “Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease” and “The Carew Murder Case.” Within the contents of chapter three,“ Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease”, Stevenson maintains a heavy focus on the friendship between Jekyll and Utterson as is clearly exhibited through Utterson heaving “[A]n irreversible sigh.” It is through this simple action that Stevenson show how far Utterson is willing to go for his friend, as it is through this that Utterson resolves to end his campaign against Hyde for the amenity of his colleague. On the contrary, chapter four,“The Carew Murder…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jekyll And Hyde Narcissism

    • 1569 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sparks a psychological revolution while exposing a remarkable illumination of Dissociative Identity Disorder-a mental aliment that stems from Dr. Jekyll’s years of repressing his dark desires. The more Dr. Jekyll tries…

    • 1569 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, by doing so, he must endure an agonising sense of shame, as seen from his usage of the word ‘morbid’. In a contemporary, western society, people are given more freedom to establish their own personalities and the existence of different personalities are generally accepted by society. While repressing his irregularities from society causes emotional grief, the release of this repressed emotion causes Jekyll to have feelings of ecstasy. This is constructed through characterisation and emotional language when Jekyll reveals his feelings towards Hyde’s malevolent…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it revolves around the point that there are two sides to a person. There is the kind and rational side, which is represented as Dr. Jekyll, and the hateful and indulgent side, which is represented by Mr. Hyde. In the novel, the Dr.’s Hyde side made him do things that any person would regret doing. “Both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering”(Chapter ten, paragraph one). Everybody, at some point in their lives, have indulged in their Hyde side, and my life is no exception.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Common Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Henry Jekyll is an old English doctor who leads a respectable life among his friends and patients. Edward Hyde is a villainous criminal, who is wanted for murder and whose countenance strikes horror into all who meet him. Shockingly, despite their incongruous qualities, Jekyll and Hyde are the same man. The events of Robert Louis Stevenson 's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are fictitiously uncommon.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this essay I will be looking at the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson in January 1886. In this novella a well-respected Dr Jekyll struggles with his dual nature and the undesirable reputation of his pleasures in an upper-class Victorian society. I will explore the ways that the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, presents different types of power and its effect over man. I will compare this text to themes of power in poems such as Medusa, My Last Duchess and Hitcher. The first poem Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy shows the cause an outburst of range as anger has power over any sense of morality that that person may have.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hyde’s appearance created a rotten identity, while Jekyll remained high in his society. In addition, as Jekyll balances his two identities, he struggles controlling his temptations. “For the building are so close together about the court, that it is hard to say where one ends and the other begins.” (Stevenson 11) Jekyll is in control of both Hyde and his own temptations but Hyde can fulfill them without feeling guilty. There is that desire to fulfill temptations that are against the…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Theme Of Friends” At the beginning of Robert Louis Stevenson book “the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” a strong sense of relationships is given based on the fact that all of the characters have known each other for a great deal of time, besides of course the strange Mr. Hyde who is new to these characters lives. The book opens with Mr. Utterson and gives a lengthy description about him. “ Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourses” (Stevenson 5). The author describes Mr. Utterson was a lawyer who is respected throughout the community but also describes him as someone who seems very cold and definitely…

    • 1315 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zack Curtis Dr. Swenson English 1212: British Literature II April 4, 2016 Split Reality Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, depicts the constant struggle between virtue and desire with a man by the name of Dr. Jekyll, and his counterpart, Mr. Hyde. The story of these two sides of the same coin shed light on the internal battle between right and wrong. While Dr. Jekyll represents the acceptable, lighter side of humanity, Hyde portrays the selfish side with no concern for any consequence of his actions. Dr. Jekyll is the crème of the crop for his time; he is tall, well-educated, respected, and a man of class. He lives a life of luxury in his nice house full of servants.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The comparison of contents and forms 3.4.1 The content and form in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde For Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it’s the master work of Stevenson in the genre of suspense fiction, so all the typical form and contents are played at their mightiest. The good setting of suspense and the precise mastery of narrative rhythm are both vividly presented in the author’s pen. By analyzing these features, we can learn the unique skills of writing stories and have a better understanding of human’s good and evil side. The whole story can be easily divided into four parts: the secret beginning of well-plotted suspense, the finding of Hyde, the estranged relationship between Utterson and Jekyll, and the uncover of the double-faced person’s veil.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Having the conscious split into two- the decent side that works hard and succeeds, this is the side that can hide it’s desires that go against what is acceptable in society; and the immoral side that wants to satisfy his desires. Stevenson explores the frights that every one of us have. As Dr. Jekyll observes ‘I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both’ (Stevenson). Dr. Jekyll is let free from his desires through Mr. Hyde, ‘my devil had been long caged, he came out roaring’…

    • 2086 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    American novelist Patricia Highsmith once wrote in her novel Strangers on a Train, “People, feelings, everything! Double! Two people in each person. There 's also a person exactly the opposite of you, like the unseen part of you, somewhere in the world, and he waits in ambush” (Highsmith.) Duality is simply defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary, as the quality or state of having two parts.…

    • 1954 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the story Mr. Utterson works relentlessly to help keep Jekyll’s reputation from being tainted by Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll also works very hard to keep his identity of Hyde away from discovery from any of the other characters so that he can maintain his well established reputation. Jekyll explains in his letter that with his first transformation into Hyde he felt youthful and happier in his new body (54). In repressing any desire that would have appeared morally wrong to others, thus tainting his reputation Jekyll found himself feeling very unhappy. Due to the judgement and backlash that Jekyll would have faced in revealing his perverse ways to others Jekyll is forced to find a way to let these desires out.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Hyde, physical health is clearly goes unattained, as he is described as having “left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay” (Stevenson 78). Altruism and integrity seem to be nowhere to be found in Mr. Hyde, either, for “tales came out of the man 's cruelty, at once so callous and violent; of his vile life, of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have surrounded his career” (Stevenson 55). When comparing Jekyll and Hyde to Mr. Utterson, Smiles, Baden-Powell, and Craik, it seems clear that neither of these men can lay claim to normalcy or…

    • 2473 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays