Discuss the Representation of evil in Stevenson's 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!'

Melissa Burks 10T

Discuss the Representation of evil in Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!’

My essay is about ‘the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel and it was set in London in the 1980’s. The major theme is evil and the text alludes to the conflict between good and evil in man. The novel is about a man named Dr Jekyll who is the good man in the book but when he drinks a potion (that he invented, as he is a scientist) he turns into Mr Hyde who is a diabolical murderer. In this essay I will focus on how evil is revealed in the text.

The novel was set in the Victorian age (1837-1901). The Victorian society in England was very rigid. People repressed their feelings and were very religious and moral. Middle class people would have been – religious, smartly dressed, educated and marriage was encouraged. Many things influenced Stevenson’s writing. Such as the horror stories about ‘Deacon Brodie’ and ‘Burke and Hare’, the Body snatchers. Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankinstien’ also helped Stevenson with his idea of the double act. Charles Darwin went against religious ideas with his ‘Origin of the species’, that questioned religious ideas. Also the ‘Jack the Ripper’ murders happened two years after the novel was published.

Robert Louis Stevenson describes Edward Hyde as being an “Animal”. Evil is explored in the character of Edward Hyde because Hyde represents the beast in man because he “cries out like a rat” and he describes himself as “hissing” like a cornered snake. He is everything that is bad – disfigured, hirsute, assertive, rude, deformed and a murderer. He is anti-social like an animal and acts on instinct like an animal. There is a lot of imaginary in the novel about animals like “moves like a monkey”.

Stevenson shows evil by describing Hyde’s evil acts as:

1. Attack on ...

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Robert Louis Stevenson describes Edward Hyde as being an “Animal”. Evil is explored in the character of Edward Hyde because Hyde represents the beast in man because he “cries out like a rat” and he describes himself as “hissing” like a cornered snake. He is everything that is bad – disfigured, hirsute, assertive, rude, deformed and a murderer. He is anti-social like an animal and acts on instinct like an animal. There is a lot of imaginary in the novel about animals like “moves like a monkey”.

Stevenson shows evil by describing Hyde’s evil acts as:

1. Attack on little girl.

A man called Mr. Enfield was walking down the backstreet's of London near Dr. Jekyll’s house he witnessed an incident. Mr. Hyde runs down a small girl, he tramples her on the floor, people witness it and they demand compensation. Hyde goes into Jekyll’s house then he comes back out with a cheque for £100 signed by Dr, Jekyll. This raises people’s suspicions of Mr. Hyde. Everyone was disgusted by Mr. Hyde’s appearance.

The door- front and Rear entrance to Dr. Jekyll’s house.

Front door- elegant and pleasing to eye leading to nice hall and dining room. This is where Jekyll’s seen his public nice, kind face. Rear door- dinghy, shabby – leads to dark interior of old dissecting rooms in laboratory. Represents secretive, dark, evil side of Jekyll’s character and only Mr Hyde is seen here its always locked.

Secrecy- Symbols of secrecy are locked doors, barred windows and windowless buildings like a laboratory. Fog- Ever present, surrounds buildings inside and out thick – symbolises the sinister atmosphere. Narrators – In the novel we are told the story by 4 narrators. Enfield, Lanyon, Jekyll and Utterson. Allows reader to understand all characters and relationships. Stevenson believes that people are a product of their environment and that Hyde is caused by all the corruption in society and the repression normal human wants and needs that were seen as evil and amoral in Victorian society. He suggests that all humans possess and if we nurture either side then it will take over as it did with Hyde.

Therefore, ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ is a novel that shows the struggle between good and evil in man. Stevenson shows this evil in various ways. For example, through the use of evil characters such as Hyde and through the use of evil incidents such as the Carew murder and the attack on the little girl. He also uses symbols of evil, such as the door and the fog. To keep the reader in suspense, Robert Louis Stevenson uses four narrators to tell the story so that you are drawn further into the tale. I found the text to be very disturbing, the language was hard to understand and the representation of evil in the novel was very effective.