The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a great example of Gothic Fiction. Mr. Utterson is a lawyer in London who has three friends, Dr. Lanyon, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Enfield, another lawyer. Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to transform into a deformed version of himself, a man who went by the name Mr. Hyde. Hyde was everything Jekyll was not. Jekyll was a kindhearted man and liked spending time with his friends. Hyde was violent, evil, and took out his anger by killing or injuring others. Dr. Jekyll himself also becomes darker. He often turns into Mr. Hyde on purpose to act violently towards others, then transform back in order to not get caught. One night, Jekyll discovers that he has involuntarily transformed into Mr. Hyde. Realizing that the dark side might be taking over his mind, Jekyll shows symptoms of depression, refusing to go out and meet his friends. Jekyll eventually runs out of the potion and can’t make any more. To stop himself from committing more sins, he kills himself, and Mr. Hyde goes down with him.
People can be divided very often because of their lack of self control. Some people do good deeds but later end up indulging in cruelty, violence and evil. Dr. Jekyll, as a young man, was devoted to his job and saved countless lives. However, his friends later left him because he was turning “un-scientific”, as Dr. Lanyon put it. Unfortunately, Jekyll did not have the same ability to control himself as his friend, Mr. Utterson. As a result, he drank a potion that turned him into an evil person and he committed at least 1 murder. Jekyll realized that his more evil self was taking over and he may have made an irreversible mistake in transforming into Mr. Hyde. Because Dr. Jekyll failed to control himself, he ended up indulging in evil and violence which was unusual especially given the fact that he was a doctor who was supposed to save lives not take them. Succeeding in life is not about rising to the top as fast as possible; it’s about controlling yourself so that you may hold on to who you are in the future.
Although science and technology are undoubtedly great things, ethical rules still need to be applied to them. Anybody or anything, when trusted with too much power, has the ability to do good and also evil. Dr. Jekyll started out as an innocent doctor at the beginning of the story, but at the end, he becomes more and more immoral, before becoming downright evil. Obviously, turning yourself into someone else to commit crime is unethical. Dr. Jekyll had strong morals; after all he was a doctor who saved lives, but he begins indulging in evil as soon as he transforms into Mr. Hyde. This shows how technology and science can go rampant and result in evil when left unchecked. Dr. Jekyll did have a strong work ethic, but not strong morals, especially in the later chapters. Due to this, he begins using his ability to kill people. Science has taken society very far in the last few thousand years, but it has also been used for evil, which is why we should watch out for potential dangers from technology.
The supernatural cannot really exist in this world and is said to be real by those who do not truly understand science. People are quick to jump to assume that something they don’t understand can be attributed to magic or the paranormal, but that is false. Dr. Jekyll did not really understand the dual nature of humans, nor did his friends. So when Dr. Jekyll began studying the dark side of humanity, most jumped to the conclusion that he was going insane and said he was studying the supernatural. As time went on, Jekyll created a potion without any sorcery or witchcraft, though it seemed like it to Dr. Lanyon, the only witness of his transformation. Jekyll seemed crazy to those who knew him when he studied the two-sided nature of humans and many believed he was a wizard or was involved in magic. In reality, Jekyll was only using science even though magic potentially existed in the universe that the novel takes place in. Our nature usually cannot tolerate the fact that there are some things we cannot know, so many people attribute the supernatural to things they don’t know.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson explains the transformation of Dr. Jekyll into a cruel, evil, and violent version of himself, named Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll started out as a kindhearted man, but as he aged, he was more interested in violence and created a smaller version of himself(Mr. Hyde) that he could transform into with a special potion. Jekyll would kill someone in Mr. Hyde’s body, then turn back to himself so that nobody would suspect a thing. Jekyll had another motive than indulging in violence; he was getting old but Mr. Hyde was younger so he could prolong his life span by transforming into Mr. Hyde and hiding under the radar of the authorities. This novella teaches us three themes. First, people may lack self-control and as a result, indulge in activities that could lead to their own demise. Second, although science and technology have benefited society greatly, they still need to have ethical rules placed on them. Third and finally, the supernatural is the ignorant man’s explanation for what he cannot understand.
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