The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louise Stevenson ( Essay)

In “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde”, a scientists called Dr. Jekyll, created an experiment with a potion that would turn him into Mr. Hyde a horrible creature. The idea of the author was to show the beast that people have inside, that everyone has a bad side. Now I am going to talk about some themes of the story.

The author implemented a theme called “The Duality of Human Nature”. Jekyll was the good side and Hyde the bad one. Jekyll´s point of view was that “Man is not truly one, but truly two”, and he imagined an “angel and a “devil” fighting for the human soul. In Jekyll’s the good side was shown more, and he knew that he had a bad one, Mr. Hyde. For example man and animal, Hyde killed people because he wanted to but the animal kill for survival and they don’t know what is bad or good. In this case Hyde is immoral and the animals are amoral.

Now I am going to talk about the other theme that the author had introduced, “The Importance of Reputation”. Dr. Jekyll had a good reputation with the high social class. You were not allowed to gossip, your reputation was going to be destroyed. For example Utterson, thought that Dr. Jekyll was hiding Mr. Hyde, but he did not say anything about it, because Jekyll was a really good friend, and most probably because he would destroy his reputation. “The middle one of the three windows was half-way open; and sitting close beside it, taking the air with an infinite sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.”.

The author also introduces the symbols, and one of them is Hyde’s physical appearance. His physical appearance symbolized the misbehavior of his acts as he was ugly and deformed. In one part of the story Enfield says. “I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity…” Hyde´s small stature represented that because he did not appear for so long that he had stopped growing. And finally his harness, that represented that he was Jekyll´s instincts, the animalistic side of Dr. Jekyll.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” leaves you thinking, if there is actually an evil side in all of us. I like the way the story was developed, that everything was there for a reason and the developing of the character´s deep information. In the other side I had learned that I should be more careful at the moment of trying new things that might turn me into the other me.