No Subject

[Another student]

Id like to comment about the opinion of the 14 year old student. Please keep in mind that I am not criticizing, but rather I have reason to believe that some of the facts are incorrect. First, I noticed that the reader said Victorian Europe didn't question God. The period of Enlightenment happened hundreds of years before the Victorian Era, and though Britain was in a way still clinging to a Christian morality, the majority of people had a greatly deteriorated view of the church. Also the seeds of humanistic thought were sown in the Enlightenment period, and history reaped its "benefits" with the era of the French Revolution, the Crimean War, the wars to unite Germany and Italy, etc. Next I'd like to correct the point about there being no middle class. The discovery of electricity was almost a dirrect result of the Industrial Revolution, which had almost only taken place in England. The Industrial Revolution did infact create a working middle class composed of people who had moved from the countryside to work in the poor conditions of the factories in the cities. In the Victorian age, these folks were creating unions and guilds and other groups of the like. I also thought the ending was week, as was Utterson's narritave throughout. I mainly wanted to know what he really thought of it all. It is greatly discriptive, but not opinionated, which I think would make it more interresting for our day and age. I am also a student, a sophomore in highschool, and we had to read this in class. Though I am not a fan of this sort of forced-upon reading, I do like how it is broadening my horizons of literature and increasing my vocabulary and other things that I know would please my teacher to death if she knew I was enjoying it.

[n kubicki]

<br>Im quite worried that this person thinks that Jekyll and Hyde is aimed as a horror story. Although this was a symptom of the novel and it caused shock in society (not least in Stevenson’s own family), it is only that. The novel is a moral commentary. It is a warning about our power as evil agents and is not a scaremonger story. These issues are as valid today as they were in Stevenson’s era. <br>As for no one questioning god… isn’t the whole point of the bible that people were questioning god (think genesis 18 – Sodom and Gomorrah)? And that was over 1800 years before Stevenson was even born.<br>The whole point of the book is a variety of things: the possibility of double lives – being respectable and dishonest simultaneously; the fight between good and evil; the part of the bible in moral reasoning; the way that evil is stronger than one’s resolve to be good; etc.<br>Would the book really benefit from a commentary from Utterson? Perhaps this would dampen the blow of the point of the book. The way in which it may be perceived is illustrated in the way in which Lanyon took the news.<br>

[Unregistered]

you seem to have missed the concept of the inner most feelings and desires of dr jekyll being unleashed within the body of mr hyde. Jekyll is in fact totally free to do whatever he wishes within the body of mr hyde, however this evil nature begins to take over as it is not being supressed as it would be within normal circumstances. In effect dr jekyll is corrupted by evil, and therefore the goodself is no longer imporant enough or strong enough to fight off the evil nature. When reading the book you should question what the mental state of Jekyll is before the experiment occured, and whether his inner most wants and desires ultimately corrupet him because he wanted them to. The book needs to be looked at in termso f its meaning and intention rather than whether it is scary or ont, because there is so much more to it rather than jsut horror.

[Unregistered]

i also believe some of the facts are incorrect. the whole point of this novel is that on the surface it appears to be a horror story, it appears to be 'strange' but the whole point of it is that it really is a tale about humans, and the good and evil within all of us and the victorian influences of the time

[Unregistered]

Dear 14 yr old: Actually ever since the industrial revolution there had been a rise of the middle class- in fact probably before that. By the time Stevenson wrote this there was very much a middle class, that of factory owners and businessmen who were not gentry and therefore did not belong to the middle class. It was an interesting point but history does not ebar it up. But you are right, there was, and still is, a huge discrepancy between rich and poor in the western world. As to evil being stronger, i don't think that is the point at all, as there is a definite case for Stevenson regarding evil as ther weaker part of our nature (see the clothes remark further up the page). I must reread the book, I just found this page looking for pictures of Hyde to put on an invitation! (I'm having a Notorious Villains' Ball)

[Unregistered]

i don't think books have to be scary to be good and i don't think this book was meant to be a horror story

[Unregistered]

I am 14 as well though I asume you are 15 by now and I find your opinion quite astounding. First off to state something in rebuttle to a point you made, well you would be better off idf it was a fact. Electricity had just been invented? Look no one invented electricity first of all its a form of matter. Second of all I believe it was Bengiman Franklin; who died in the 18th Century, who discovered the abilty to harness this form of matterand he invented several inventions using electricity. Also check when The light bulb was invented (1879) before the book was published infact 7 years later so by then most houses were equipped with electric lights. Also were not talking about the dark ages here there are photographs of the man for gods sakes.<br><br>-The most awesome ever, <br>Zach<br><br>excuse my grammer its late

[14 year old student]

I can understand why this was an amazing book at the time it was written but i feel for a modern day audience it doesn't work as well. To start with it's not scary to the readers any more as there is a lot more media open to us about the horrors of todays society. Also in Victorian society no one questioned God so the idea of something happening which isn't controlled by God would be unusual. Electricity had only just been invented so people were quite wary about the things science could do. I think the main theme in the book is duality - How London is split (the upper class and lower class - there was no middle class), good and evil, scientific fact and experimental new ideas. <br> I'm disapointed with the way the book ends. I think Mr Utterson should have expressed his opinions since we see the story through his view even though the book is written as the third person. Also i think writing everything that hasn't been concluded in one letter at the end was a way of just trying to finish the book quickly.<br> I'd be interested to hear your comments on the matter.<br>From a 14 yr old. (20.10.02)