Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

[samijodi]

I need some help in doing a characterization of Mr.hype, paper due in the next 2days.

[blazeofglory]

I need some help in doing a characterization of Mr.hype, paper due in the next 2days.

This book is really about human conscience. Mr. Hyde is a character, the Devil within, for everyone lives with the Devil within.

Both characters in the novel are simply what we have within, allegorically.

Mr. Hyde is simply a reflection of our negativity and indeed embodiment of the evil within us and that is exactly what the author wants to prove through this novel.

It is really a good novel, and the writer has so masterfully woven these characters, and we have different feelings and undergo different states of minds.

This shows life and indeed the mind is full of struggles.

[MrD]

You could read Showalter's essay on it for the homosexual slant.

I've got to write an essay on this, due in within 2-3 weeks. I have two slants on the story to work on, trying to decide which one to use.

First I'm going on the accepted actions in society and how Hyde is hedonistic side to human beings that is restricted by the Victorian society of the time. Second view is of mental health problems, prior to creation of a universal health care system and how all classes of society contained mentally afflicted people in them, possibly undiagnosed due to contemporary medical ability/knowledge.

[Daniielle]

:flare: hey i am doing an essay on this in english its so hard wundering if you could help xx

[MrD]

Okay, another way of looking at the story is in the different lifestyle views of the middle and working classes. The good doctor has had to live a restrained life and is now getting on. He has found a way to 'enjoy' working class activities with the help of a drug that transforms him physically so he cannot be recognised. He thinks he is in control, pays compensation, clearing up after Hydes damaging effects. He tries to make good the enjoyments that he himself is actually experiencing through Hyde. He goes out partying; drinking, fighting, whoring.

It all ends really when he loses control and is trapped in Hydes body. He has to remain hidden due to the murder of Carew. Carew, seen through the homosexual interests in the story, might have propositioned Hyde on the path. Middle class bisexuals/homosexuals of the time frequently mentioned their ideal partner being the working class imagery of the manual worker. The strong, alert men of the middle class. Jekyll/Hyde in his working class persona responded to this with typical working class (of the time) hysteria when faced with homosexuals and beat the guy to death in a 'crime of passion'. Not even bothering to clean up after himself, to conceal his identity as attacker.

Somenes in another thread is asking about religion in the story. But frankly I don't remember any religion and I'm currently rewriting the whole thing for a modern audience, just for fun. There is no brimstone and fire fearing in the story if we take the homosexual angle which is the modern reading of the novella. It is fear of the working class uncontrolled by social mores and of course the fear of homosexuality, especially after a law had just come in banning it.

Depending on what level of education you are reading this book at, your classes student age and the duty of care the school is operating under, you will be asked to look at this book in a certain perspective. It is a 'shilling shocker' and has been called a great piece of literature.

Stevensons wife took the first draft off him and demanded he rewrote it. Certain terms are changed for the retail outlet it is aimed at. He suffered from disease and under the effects of such and the medication he suffered hallucinations and dreams that gave him the material that he used for certain scenes. Although written set in London, it could very well be the Edinburgh where Stevenson lived.