Discuss how Stevenson presents duality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Example for Free

Discuss how Stevenson presents dichotomy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde EssayIn this essay I will essay how Robert Louis Stevenson has presented duality in his novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.The novella is about a skillful valet, Dr Jekyll, and how, down the stairs the pressure of gritty society in Victorian England, experiments with potions to eventu all(prenominal)y come up with one and moreover(a) that would sophisticate him into Mr Hyde, a disreputable and malign man.Written in 1886, the novella was based round the pressure to be respectable that Robert Louis Stevenson himself felt in high society of the Victorian era. It was in ilk manner influenced by s give the bouncedals of the time such as Deacon Brodie. Brodie, who suffered from gambling debts, was a cabinet piddle awayr for people in the higher class. To try and give personal manner off his debts he would break into the cabinets that he had sold and steal the valuables inside. This fits into the story of Je kyll and Hyde since Jekyll is a nice, respectable serviceman who turns into an evil, lower class man, Hyde. on that point was too a growing awareness of chemistry and psychology at the time the novella was indite. Sigmund Freud, a famous chemist and psychologist, convinced people that duality did exist in humans that in one person in that respect could be both good and evil, such as in Jekyll and Hyde, who were the same person, with the help of a potion, only if Jekyll was good and Hyde evil.Since the novella was written in 1886 it was targeted at Victorian people. When it was beginning(a) published it sold around 40,000 copies, mainly to the higher classes of Victorian England. They would have attainn it as a twist on a horror book. The Victorians were into gothic books, except that they were always set in foreign countries and in the past. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde differs to these stories since it was set in capital of the United Kingdom and in the then present day. In 1888, seafarer the Ripper surfaced in the newspapers. This would not only have boosted the sales of Stevensons novella simply would have been connected to it. dickens the former and the last mentioned psyches are because of the rumour that went around England at the time that Jack the Ripper was person of velo urban center class and respectable by day but commit atrocious murders by night, akin the duality of Jekyll and Hyde.Duality appears throughout the novella, including the char proceeders. Mr Utterson is a fair playyer and good friend of henry Jekyll.of a rugged countenance, that was neer lighted by a smile cold, scantyThis description of Mr Utterson, from the frontmost page, portrays him to be a transverse man, with sharp features on his face, who doesnt get on with anybody and who would drink on his own. However almosthow loveable.This credit, again from the archetypal page, shows the duality of the book since Utterson is depict to be miserable and to that degree e trulybody loves him. This is enforced by the procedural angelical since this word implies that he is pretty easy to get on with and he isnt just liked by those who know and get on with him, instead he is loved. The excerpts convey that no matter what someones demeanour they can still be variety and common. This introduces the theme of duality for the reasons said above.I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.Being a lawyer, Mr Utterson is supposed to help others in any way he can, however, this metaphor is telling the commentator that no matter how much he could do for someone, Utterson doesnt really care about them. This portrays Robert Louis Stevensons idea of duality.least save his creditI shall be endorse before midnight, when we shall send for the jurisprudence.This paraphrase shows duality since Utterson himself said that he would let his brother go to the devil in his own way, yet here he is trying to save the reputation of one of his very good friends, Je kyll. To do this though, the good, honourable, respectable, law abiding lawyer does not send for the police as soon as he and Poole, Dr Jekylls butler, resonate the dead body of a certain Mr Edward Hyde lying on Jekylls cabinet floor. Instead, he goes home for two hours to read the letters that both Dr Lanyon, some other good friend of both Utterson and Jekyll, and Jekyll left for him to read on the disappearance or death of enthalpy Jekyll. It also shows duality in that Utterson is a lawyer, who should go to the police but doesnt.in case of disappearanceread the name Gabriel John Utterson.This quote shows duality because as Utterson finds, and reads, Jekylls Last leave and Testament, Utterson, to his own amazement, reads his name instead of Hydes. This shows duality since Utterson is down as the run short good friend of Dr Henry Jekyll, who would hold up disreputable and a big scandal if any one were to find out what he did.Dr Lanyon is another character in the novella, and a good friend of Jekyll and Utterson.This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red faced gentleman with a shock of hair prematurely white.This quote portrays Lanyon to be a friendly, upper class gentleman who has peck to drink. However, posterior on in the novella, Stevenson describes LanyonThe rosy man had grown pale his flesh had fallen out he was visibly balder and olderThis quote and the latter, reveals the duality between them since in the first quote he is described as cosmos healthy and in the second as beingness on his death bed. The reader would want to know what has happened in such a short time to make this change in Lanyon appear so suddenly because he saw Hyde mix the potion, take a drink, and turn to Jekyll in front of his very own eyes all of which is revealed in the second to last chapter Dr Lanyons Narrative. To get the potions to Hyde however, Jekyll had to get Lanyon to steal for him. The very idea of Jekyll wanting another respectable gentleman intermission in an d stealing the potions for him and Hyde would have been a very big scandal if Lanyon was caught, and Lanyon would go from respectable gentleman to disrespectable in a few hours.Stevensons novella is all about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinnersThis shows how Jekyll is popular among the upper class, among his friends, and rich enough to hold dinners. The adverb pleasant conveys to the audience that everyone Jekyll invited got on with each other and it reinforces the idea that Jekyll is rich since he can hold dinners and provide nice food.sat Dr Jekyll, looking deadly sick.This quote describes Jekyll sitting in his large cabinet room, after the death of sir Danvers Carew. It reveals how Jekyll is feeling remorse for knowing, or as the reader later finds out, for being Mr Hyde who was identified as the murderer of Carew. It portrays how Jekyll regrets his actions and managees, to get away from the pressures of high society life in Victorian England.8th o f January Utterson had dined at the doctorsOn the 12th, and again on the 14th, the door was keep out against the lawyer.This reference conveys to the audience the duality in the novella, since four days after Utterson had seen Jekyll, and dined with him and Dr Lanyon, he was being denied access to Jekylls tin. This shows the duality since Jekyll was so ill that he couldnt stand up to greet Utterson when Utterson went to see him, before being fine and healthy enough to hold a dinner party and then not allowing anyone into his offer to see him all of a sudden without anybody knowing why.innate(p) in 18__ to a large parcelThis quote portrays how Henry Jekyll recognises how he was born into a rich family. The adjectives large and fortune suggests he was born into a highly prize family, something that was of high importance in Victorian England. It shows how he didnt have to create hard for the position in society that he was in, only keep up his appearances with others of his cla ss.worst of my faults was a certain gaiety of disposition, such as made the happiness of manyThis reference shows that Jekyll felt specie wasnt everything. He felt that where it made most men content, it didnt make him happy. It conveys to the reader how he wants to be happy, although where he is in life and society wasnt making his wishes come true. We learn later in the novella how this wish brings him to start mixing formulas that would eventually turn him into Mr Hyde.found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to canalise my head highThe quote above portrays how, although Jekyll wants to be happy, he believes the only way would be one that was irreputable. However, he does not wish to lose his place in the upper class of society and he does not wish to lose his friends, both of which would happen if he did what he desired to do to become happier. This therefore is what led Jekyll to create the potion, as well as the written version of events, for Utterson to read, in Henry Jekylls full statement of the case where Dr Jekyll writes his version, and the truth of what happened in the last months of his life.Hence it came about that I conceal my pleasuresThis reveals how Jekyll had been hiding secrets since before creating the mixture that would turn him to Hyde, hiding what it was that was making him happy. The verb concealed tells the reader that Jekyll was being very careful about his pleasures. It conveys the importance of nobody finding out about Jekylls secret more than if Stevenson had written the verb hid instead.already committed to a profound duplicity of life.This conveys one of the themes in the novella, the theme of duplicity, and how it is not only in the settings and the characters but that the characters knew about it. We know this because of the adjective duplicity portraying to the reader how Jekyll has two lives, however different they are.morbid sense of shame.This quote reveals how although Jekyll wanted to be happy, he is asha med of how his life has off out. The alliteration of the s sound in sense and shame enforces the idea, in the readers mind, that he is ashamed of being Mr Hyde, of what he has done and is still doing as Mr Hyde and that both of these irreputable things are making him happy.not truly one, but truly two.This does not reveal duality within the story, sooner in the themes of the novella. It indicates the views of Dr Jekyll that in one man, there is both good and evil, one of the themes. Jekyll describes how good and evil are different parts of the soul, and that good conquers evil in a raging war within the soul, and that is what makes a man good.flushed as I was with hope and triumph, to venture in my new shapeAs this quote conveys, Stevenson has written about how someone can be addicted to drugs. It shows that even someone of high stature can become addicted, in this case Dr Jekyll. Jekyll is addicted to how he can do what he wants as Mr Hyde, without losing any of his own stature, r ather than do the respectable things he would have to do as himself to be happy. It reveals duality in the accompaniment that a respectable gentleman such as Jekyll can be addicted to the painful pangs and nausea the mixture makes him feel, whilst turning into Hyde.Edward Hyde is often portrayed animal-like.like a monkey jumped up from among the chemicals.This quote makes the reader imagine a monkey like creature jumping up upon hearing Poole, Jekylls butler, coming towards Jekylls cabinet. It creates the get a line of Hyde being small, dumpy, and hairy and as having very long arms, whilst showing duality since Hyde is a man not a monkey.The other snarled aloud into a savage laughIn this quote the adjective snarled gives the image of Hyde as a savage beast, again being portrayed as some sort of animal. It also conveys how Hyde is an evil person, since someone who is portrayed as being a savage cannot be any good, and this would have been the view of people in Victorian England. S tevenson has used language to paint a picture of what Hyde might look like in the readers mind.so abominable that it brought out the sweat on me like running.This reference, again, allows the reader to imagine what Hyde looks like. It conveys how the other characters react to Hyde, that they all feel an air of deformity whenever they see him or speak to him, and that he looks so ugly, so mean that they feel uneasy around him. in all of the latter three quotes show duality since Hyde is portrayed as being a small and ugly man with the impression of being deformed somewhere on his body. He is also conveyed as a mean, evil person via the descriptive language used by Stevenson. This is in job to Jekyll, since Jekyll is a respected gentleman and doctor of chemistry, who is regularly invited to dinner parties hosted by other well respected people in society. He is also taller, thinner and older than Hyde.All of the characters who meet Hyde in the novella seem to act in the same way towa rds him. This conveys to the reader just how unlikeable Hyde is. This is important to the story because it shows how everybody thinks him an evil man. It helps show the duality between Jekyll and Hyde.However, it isnt just the characters that show duality within Stevensons Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It is also revealed in the settings the weather and the buildings and also in the narrative structure.The doorneither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouchedThis quote portrays the quality of the door that Hyde uses to enter Dr Jekylls house and grounds. This is in contrast to the front of Jekylls housewhich wore a great air of wealth and comfortThis portrays an image of what Jekylls house looks like from the front a grand house whose owner is wealthy and of a high social class.The latter quote also shows duality with Hydes house in Soho.showed him a dingy channelThis quote portrays what kind of area Hydes house is in. In the Victorian era, Soho was poverty stricke n and full of prostitution, although there is no index number that Hyde was into prostitution and gambling (other than Jekyll turning into Hyde because doing respectable things did not make him happy). It shows the difference between Jekylls big, respectable house in a respectable of London and Hydes dingy flat on a polluted street in the centre of London.An ivory faced and silvery haired womanThis quote describes the Soho house landlady (or Hydes landlady). When the reader reads this they expect she is a nice friendly woman. HoweverShe had a smooth face, smoothed by hypocracyshows duality in contrast with the quote before. It shows how a nice old lady may look nice but in fact can be evil, someone who doesnt like herself. I say evil because later in the chapter The Carew Murder Case she is excited and delighted by the idea of Hyde being in anesthetise with the police.Hydes house in Soho is, to Uttersons surprise, well furnished.furnished with luxury and good tasteThis conveys du ality with how the house looks on the outside. With Soho being a dodgy area in Victorian England, and the street being described as dingy, the reader first imagines a poor, poverty filled room, not a luxury, well furnished house.London is also shown in a dual nature.down a by street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small and what is called quiet.This quote shows duality in how although a street is in a busy area of London, off a busy main street it is actually very quiet (it would be expected to be busy if its off a main street).Stevenson has even include duality in the weather.cool and a little damp, and full with premature twilight,still bright with sunset.This quote conveys duality to the reader since Jekylls courtyard is described at the beginning of the quote that it is cold and looks as though it is around the time frame of dusk. However, the later half of the quote explains, it is in fact still sunny (nearing sunset) and so in theory Jekylls courtyard should be qu ite light.A muddiness rolled over the city early part of the night was cloudless.This reveals duality because it shows how the night was cloudless, until the fog came in. the adjective rolled gives the impression that the fog came swiftly, rather than slowly.About nine in the morning number of degrees and hues of twilight dark like the back end of eveningThis quote conveys to the reader that whatever time of day it is in Soho, it still looks like its dark, like it is night. This quote shows the duality of the weather by giving the time of day and describing what it looked like. The fog described is more likely to be smog from the factories, since the novella is set in the Victorian times. However, it does cast an supernatural effect on the image conjured in the readers mind, would have made them think something sinister was about to happen.There are many locked doors in Stevensons novella. This symbolises how secretive the story is, Utterson hypothetically being stopped solving th e mystery story of Jekyll and Hyde, by doors not able to be opened until another section of the mystery is found, and the actual looked doors that Jekyll shuts himself up behind.The narrative structure also shows duality since in the first seven chapters the narrative is ordinal person.resumed the lawyer.This shows the third person narrative structure of The Last Night. However, the last two chapters are written in first person, Dr Lanyons Narrative is written by Lanyon from his point of view and tells of what he knows about Jekyll and Hyde, and explains the cause of his death. The last chapter is also in first person, however this is from the perspective of Dr Jekyll himself, who explains everything that had happened.I rose from my placeThese show duality because the first seven chapters, although written in third person, are all about Utterson and what he does to try and course the mystery between Jekyll and Hyde. They also show Uttersons thoughts and feelings.The chapters are all arranged to follow what happens to Utterson and the titles are all to do with what happens within the chapter itself (and give a clue to what the chapter is about). The last two are in the send they are because that way Lanyon doesnt repeat what the reader knows from reading Jekylls chapter, if they were the other way around.In this essay I have shown how Robert Louis Stevenson has presented the theme of duality in his novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I have achieved this by analysing the language of the textual matter that describes the characters, weather, buildings and the narrative structure.