Jekyll/Hyde essay

[xalanax]

Hey Miss can you please help me with my conclusion?? I'm really stuck

[laurenduncan]

miss i don't have the paragraph planner! or a book! ....i don't i'll be able to hand this in tomorrow, sorry

[meganb1]

My Essay:

Jekyll and Hyde.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, written in in 1885 was then later published in 1888, 3 years after the original copy had been written. Jekyll and Hyde has an affinity with other novels written by Stevenson due to their labyrinthine and modern setting. The novella is the story of a man who invents a potion to split his personality into two different people -good and bad. The object of this being that when he drinks the concoction he will turn into the opposite personality, but when his transformations become uncontrollable Henry Jekyll realises that perhaps it is better to keep some parts of yourself hidden from the world, so as to protect yourself and those around you.

The plot of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ is written in a very intriguing way. After concocting a mixture that will split his personality in two, Jekyll first revels in the endless possibilities of being someone else whenever he chooses. But when Jekyll struggles to control his other personality things start to become fraught with danger. When Jekyll realises he is fighting a losing battle with his opposing personality he becomes scared of himself, in a way- he’s scared of how this other side of him thinks and the things he plans to do. Mr. Hyde is a destructive, violent and aggressive and soon wishes to take control of Jekyll’s body fully, instead of having to share it. Jekyll’s transformations become more frequent and he is no longer in control of his own body. Hyde is destroying him. Rather than have himself lose control to Hyde, Jekyll performs the ultimate act of self destruction, while he is still in control, suicide. Jekyll knew that if he was to stay alive he would have endangered those around him, that sometimes what truly is inside all of us is best alone. And sometimes the evil inside us is best left well alone and not allowed to run free.

In the first chapter, ‘The Story of the Door’, Hyde’s personality and appearance have a significant effect on the rest of the characters in the novel, because they cannot pinpoint a specific thing that they dislike about Hyde, though they still feel a strong dislike for him. Utterson says: ‘I never saw a man I so disliked, yet I scarce knew why’ which shows that they immediately did not trust him thought they didn’t know him yet- they judged based on appearance. The other characters all dislikes Mr. Hyde as well but again, they do not know why. The first time we see Hyde is when he tramples a young girl in the middle of the street, which gives us a bad impression of Hyde from the start. In the ‘Search for Mr. Hyde’ Utterson goes to meet with Hyde, who soon becomes frustrated: ‘”He never told you!” cried Mr. Hyde, with a flush of anger. “I did not think you would have lied.”’ At this point Utterson’s impression of Jekyll could differ from that of his hate for Hyde, Utterson respects Jekyll because he is a well-spoken and likeable person. Utterson and Hyde have very different ways of speaking. Utterson goes into a lot of detail and expresses his and does conceal anything at all, whereas Hyde is very sharp with Utterson in the second chapter with the after mentioned line ‘He never told you, I did not think you would have lied’. Hyde appears to be very withdrawn and immediately upon meeting Utterson the two have a dislike for each other. Though Utterson is friends with Jekyll, which highlights the disparity between the two sides of Jekyll’s personality. The street in chapter one is described as welcoming and quiet: ‘… with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen.’ Then at the other side of the house there is another door, which is described as a ‘… sinister block of buildings, thrust forward it’s gable onto the street’. This door is not portrayed as welcoming, which makes the door stand out and is a metaphor for Jekyll and Hyde, good and evil, which ties in with the theme of the duel nature of humanity and also hiding yourself away. It relates back to Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll being the nice, friendly side of the house and Hyde being the sinister looking side that is hidden away.

In ‘The Carew Murder’ Hyde has become extremely out of control, and commit’s a very brutal murder: ‘great flame of anger’, ‘ape-like fury’, ‘storm of blows’. After realising that the broken can belongs to Jekyll, people react by thinking Hyde has stolen it from him. The can is used as a symbol for Jekyll, who is upright and honest and has suddenly been broken without warning. The reader knows that Hyde has gone too far this time and the fact that Henry Jekyll’s cane is discovered at the scene gives the reader and characters some clues as to Hyde’s real identity.

Stevenson uses pathetic fallacy in his description of the fog, which helps connote mystery. Stevenson describes the fog as ’a great chocolate-coloured pall’, this makes the reader pick out the word ’chocolate’ which is thick and dark in colour and suggests that something is sweet and very sickly. ’Pall’ is a good contrast for the connotations of chocolate because pall brings to mind the word ‘pallid’ and brings connotations of sickness, death and inescapable cover. The contrast of these two things links in with the theme of the duality of human nature. Stevenson says that ‘the fog slept on the city’ which makes you think of fog that is thick and unmoving and also suggests it could wake up. This is a metaphor for Jekyll being overpowered by Hyde. Hyde is the fog, slowly taking over and starting to wake up, becoming less calm- the suggestion that it could ’wake up’ is sinister in itself. Jekyll is the city, meaning he can do nothing about these changes and he is becoming overpowered by the fog. The word ‘drowned’, like ‘pall’, connotes sickness and death but also suggests that the city has been swallowed by the fog and is being suffocated by it. Jekyll is symbolised by the city and Hyde by the fog, which implies that Jekyll is being ‘swallowed up’ by the fog and may find it hard or even impossible to get rid of Hyde and overpower the ‘fog’ that has settled.

At the end of the novel Jekyll can no longer bear this terrible curse and kills himself while he, Henry Jekyll, is still in control of his own body- he does not want to let Hyde take over and use his body for evil. We read the death from Henry Jekyll’s perspective which draws the reader in even further because for the first time they are getting Jekyll’s point of view on things. ‘Truly two’ shows the belief that Henry Jekyll thought that man ‘is not one but truly two’. This belief eventually destroys him because he cannot cope with the two halves of his personality fighting for control over his body. Stevenson uses the fact that the two sides are no longer equal, the evil side is more powerful, to help portray that it is dangerous to indulge in reckless and indulgent behaviour and that you should lead a balanced life.

To conclude, I feel Stevenson has used literally devices very effectively, such as characterisation and pathetic fallacy, to convey the duality of man. I particularly enjoyed his use of Hyde being a metaphor for the fog and Jekyll being the city because I think it showed that despite how hard we try the evil inside us can escape, whether we want it to or not, and we have to try and control it however we can- in Jekyll’s case it was taking his own life so as not to harm other people or give Hyde the satisfaction of winning control of his body. I really enjoyed this novella because I feel it could be adapted into a modern day setting and that people could relate to this story.

[mrsanderson]

Thank you, Megan!

[Catherine M]

Hi Miss Davidson,
In my essay you said to put in the quotation about the smiling saleswoman but I didn't bring the book home so I was wondering if you knew it? Also I haven't mentioned anything about allegory in my essay and I'm not sure what to put. Thanks Catherine

[mrsanderson]

Hi Catherine!

You can integrate your quotation if you like. For example: 'Stevenson describes the shops on the street as "like smiling saleswomen", which suggests...'

If you wanted to include the longer quotation, it's "the shopfronts stood out along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like smiling saleswomen'.

As for allegory, it's only important that you mention it in your essay if you've mentioned it in your introduction or conclusion. It's not necessarily an important technique in terms of the question you've been asked, so the easiest thing to do would be to take any mention of allegory out of your introduction and conclusion. You could mention a different technique in its place, one you've dealt with in your essay.

Hope that helps! Let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Miss Davidson

[robbieman456]

Right Attempt 2:

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[robbieman456]

And if that didn't work:

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[Catherine M]

Thank you very much, I think I have fixed it but I will hand it into you on Monday to make sure it's ok.
Thanks again Catherine

[xalanax]

Hey Miss, This is my essay! ;D

Attachments:

[mrsanderson]