'Henry Jekyll is a victim of his time and therefore deserves our sympathy' Discuss.
'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' was written by Robert Louis Stevenson during the Victorian era. This is significant because during this period, society was very different from today's society. During the Victorian there were strict moral codes to which men of the upper classes were expected to achieve. I will discuss if Jekyll was a victim of the harsh Victorian society and hence whether he deserves our sympathy.
I think that in some ways Jekyll was a victim of his society as Jekyll was caged by his upbringing and tortured by feelings which were forbidden. The conflicting sides of his personality are clear when he refers to, 'the perennial war among my members'. After keeping these feelings for so long inside him Jekyll must have become desperate, so we can understand why he made the potion and deserves our sympathy.
As I stated in my introduction, the society Jekyll lived in was very rigid and he had lots of pressure on him to accomplish great things in life. Some people would say that Jekyll did his experiment in the interest of science and that he was pushed by society's expectations to make groundbreaking discoveries; he claims, after all, that 'the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound, at last overcame the suggestions of alarm'. Jekyll was obviously keen to keep up with the advances in science which were so prevalent in the Victorian era. Also, had the experiment gone slightly differently, Jekyll may have created a personality that was one hundred percent good; this makes us think that it was not all his fault. Furthermore whilst making his discovery Jekyll lost everything he had; he lost his friends and family and if this was in the interest of science then we should feel some sympathy for the man. Withdrawing from society, few really cared about him or noticed him. One could say that it was his fault because he pushed them away, but maybe he was afraid he would lose his friends forever if he told them about his freak discovery. This seems particularly likely when one considers the death of Dr Lanyon.
'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' was written by Robert Louis Stevenson during the Victorian era. This is significant because during this period, society was very different from today's society. During the Victorian there were strict moral codes to which men of the upper classes were expected to achieve. I will discuss if Jekyll was a victim of the harsh Victorian society and hence whether he deserves our sympathy.
I think that in some ways Jekyll was a victim of his society as Jekyll was caged by his upbringing and tortured by feelings which were forbidden. The conflicting sides of his personality are clear when he refers to, 'the perennial war among my members'. After keeping these feelings for so long inside him Jekyll must have become desperate, so we can understand why he made the potion and deserves our sympathy.
As I stated in my introduction, the society Jekyll lived in was very rigid and he had lots of pressure on him to accomplish great things in life. Some people would say that Jekyll did his experiment in the interest of science and that he was pushed by society's expectations to make groundbreaking discoveries; he claims, after all, that 'the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound, at last overcame the suggestions of alarm'. Jekyll was obviously keen to keep up with the advances in science which were so prevalent in the Victorian era. Also, had the experiment gone slightly differently, Jekyll may have created a personality that was one hundred percent good; this makes us think that it was not all his fault. Furthermore whilst making his discovery Jekyll lost everything he had; he lost his friends and family and if this was in the interest of science then we should feel some sympathy for the man. Withdrawing from society, few really cared about him or noticed him. One could say that it was his fault because he pushed them away, but maybe he was afraid he would lose his friends forever if he told them about his freak discovery. This seems particularly likely when one considers the death of Dr Lanyon.
