Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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'Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

The novella focuses on split personalities. 'The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde' was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a popular writer with mass appeal 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' was written as a short novel. The story deal with physical individuals, with two personalities occupying them and shifting between the two. A use of variety of techniques.

'The strange case of Jekyll and Hyde' is in 'respectable' Victorian London, which is none the less a dark and harsh place. It has the wealth of Victorian society already supporting it but then has the small and cramped dirtiness, the foggy evenings where a man was once beaten. Both the stories are showing splits and this can be related to the theme and way the story puts its self across, the split personality of the story. A respectable front is displayed and then through this we see glimpses of the black bad side. The stories generally have this bad side hidden but we are still able to see. 'The Darkness Out There' focuses mainly on the summery meadows but we then hear indirect descriptions of Packers End. This differs in 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as the story is based on the respectability of Victorian London like 'The Darkness Out There' and uses Mr. Utterson the trustworthy and conservative figure to generate a respectable image like Mrs. Rutter is used in 'The Darkness Out There,' but we are then led further into the story and see the blemishes in the respectability are seen through the narrative, not experiences being recited to us as experiences of 'Packers End' are. We see for ourselves here the dirt, back streets and the beatings unlike the other side of 'The Darkness Out There.' The setting in 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' is at one point mentioned as 'very cool and a little damp, and full of premature twilight.' This is a first hand example of the split personality coming through, the darkness showing through too early, damp, a total opposite to the respectable setting of Victorian London.

'The Darkness Out There' focuses on a post world war piece and 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a pre world war piece. Penelope Lively uses World War II in the story to show how our society has moral imperfections. We are shocked when we are shown how Mrs. Rutter showed a murderous and evil side, which goes against our society's self image. This reflects the split in the personality of the society itself with Mrs. Rutter as a representative, showing them that parts of society have a dark and hidden side even though we tell ourselves we are correct.

The stories here both show the theme of a split personality with one split understated. It is almost as if the authors are lifting up the bed slightly to show us some of the dirt that has been brushed under there. 'The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde' does this by relating to individual places like the street in which Dr. Jekyll's lab is located, the eyewitness account of Mr. Hyde beating an elderly man. Both the authors show us the private side of people's minds which are not usually exposed, in 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' this is shows differently as the two sides are represented as two different physical forms unlike 'The Darkness Out There' which has Mrs. Rutter who carries both sides of the visible personality. This can become a shock to the characters in the story and to the reader when they discover something about that character when they thought differently of the character, like when Sandra and Kerry in 'The Darkness Out There' are shocked to discover another side to Mrs. Rutter. This can be seen in the way that Kerry becomes quite aggressive in the way that he speaks and leaves the house, Sandra becomes quiet and shows the shock that way. The children both show a split in personality here. Peter in 'The Darkness Out There' is busy doing jobs for Mrs. Rutter, his T-shirt is wet with sweat as he is working so hard, he then shows the other side of his personality when he is about to leave by disrespecting her and even goes as far to say that he never wants 'to go near that old bitch again.' He was willing to work for her and then badmouths her but away from her face. Sandra on the other hand simply nods at Kerry and doesn't say anything but she still acknowledges what he is saying. Sandra shows a split in her personality by looking at Kerry in a different light. She realises that you can 'get people all wrong' and she realises this about Kerry but this also reflects what she thought of Mrs. Rutter when she first met her and when she left the house. With Sandra being the narrator, she shows a split in the story which we can see. A split in the personality of her thoughts on the matters of the story, showing how she changes to see things deeper. Instead of the tidy room to go on, she also has the dirt under the bed to alter her opinions.

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In 'The Darkness Out There,' Mrs. Rutter is graphic about the destruction in the German war plane crash, being very matter of fact and not being moved by any of the gory details, it was 'all smashed up by the time I saw it,' she said and 'she chuckled' when she talked about how she saw it come down, and then goes onto saying to Sandra 'Drop more milk dear, if you don't mind.' From Gruesome to being respectable and polite. This is different to 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' in the way that Dr. Jekyll changes physically as well ...

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