The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Raveen Joshi

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In What Way Is The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr. Hyde’, A Novel Of Secrets, Where Truth Is Hard To See?

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about Dr. Henry Jekyll and his estranged alter ego Mr. Edward Hyde.  The idea of truth is frequently come across in the novel but is never really found, on a few occasions in the novel, the truth is searched for and is sometimes found. Through the use of different settings and also the encounters within the book, the truth becomes very difficult to see, both literally and metaphorically. An example of this, being the two doors on either side of Dr. Jekyll’s home, the door at the back which was often used as Mr. Hyde’s entrance, is hidden to the general public of the novel. The author, Robert Louis Stevenson, purposely fills the novel with secrets, mystery and unanswered questions to depict the true nature of Victorian gentlemen and the duplicitous society which he lived in.

A number of secrets are kept throughout Jekyll and Hyde. This is mainly the cause of hidden identities and people living separate lives, one being the good, the public figure seen, and the second life being the dark and evil side. In the novel, one character, Mr. Enfield states he was ‘coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o’clock’. His statement shows us that although he may be respected in the public eye, he still takes improper excursions which are unknown by others, apart from those he tells. The main secret that is kept from us is the true identity of Mr. Hyde. It is often said that he is ‘not easy to describe’, but he is said to be ape like or an un-evolved form of man. A similar thought to this was of Charles Darwin, who, lived during the same era. Darwin believed in the idea that all humans evolved from a species from simpler forms over time.  Hyde is kept secret from society and is seen as a lower class to Dr Jekyll, an example of this is the side door that Hyde uses, that is kept hidden from the public and the front door used by Jekyll, which is blatantly shown and is nicely decorated for everyone to see. In a short story written earlier by Robert Louis Stevenson entitled Markheim, Markheim is seen by a mysterious visitor, who just like Mr. Hyde is indescribable. In the short story, written two years before The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the visitor is said to be ‘like a living lump of terror’, and that Markheim ‘thought he knew him; and at times he thought he bore a likeness to himself’. These two quotes show not just the obscurity but the secrecy of the visitor’s true appearance, as Markheim cannot place exactly how this visitor is of significance to his life.

In Jekyll and Hyde, nearly every character has a secret of his or her own; this is to help keep the disgust of their double life hidden. One character, Mr.Utterson, keeps a lot of secrets to himself, about his personality and about his relationship and what he knows about his friend; Dr Jekyll. He does this often to protect his reputation. One secret Utterson keeps is from the police, after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, although he assumes that his good friend Dr Jekyll has something to do with the murder, he still keeps quiet and protects his friend.

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The idea of hidden identities and keeping secrets in Jekyll and Hyde is to help make the truth harder to see. One of the first in history to occupy using hidden identities was Deacon William Brodie, who lived in the later 1700’s. Brodie was the son of a respected cabinetmaker in Edinburgh. However he also enjoyed a life of gambling and was even gambling on the evening of his father’s death. Many roads in Edinburgh’s ‘Royal Mile’ are named after Deacon William Brodie and his double life as a tradesman but also a daring thief, his life is also said ...

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