how does the religion in the book convey the depths of Hydes evil.
please reply asap
thank you
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how does the religion in the book convey the depths of Hydes evil.
please reply asap
thank you
I've read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, just finished it today. Great page-turning psychological thriller.
I myself could not see any religious aspects within the actual novel.
The only real reference I could see, was an off-handed note in the notes pages at the back of the Penguin Classics edition, that explained that Dr. Jekyll in his letter to Mr. Utterson implied his 'unnamed' sin that he is eternally damned for could be some sort of masturbation disorder. The note said that this was in relation to the culture's roman catholic ideas towards masturbation, how it is seen as taboo.
That is pretty much the only religious reference within the whole novel that I could find.
Hope this helps! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ben.!
I'd hardly say that it is the "only religious reference". In the very first page of the novella, a reference is made to Genesis 4 - " 'I incline to Cain's heresay', he used to say quaintly: 'I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.' "
It is not only biblical references made, though. Stevenson refers to Hyde as a "damned Juggernaut" - Hindi Jagannath, "lord of the world", the title of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu: specifically, the uncouth idol of this diety at Puri in Orissa, annually dragged in procession on an enourmous car, under the wheels of which many devotees are said to have formerly thrown themselves to be crushed.
Also, Jekyll's inner division is analogous to schisms existing in religion in Scotland during the Victorian era – a metaphor for the opposing forces of Scottish Presbyterianism and Scotland's atheistic Enlightenment.
The book is dripping with religious connotations. Turn the pages, you'll find a few.
=) Hope this helps.
And of course there's the whole Jekyll as creator, Jekyll as having undergone the Fall, etc.
The prevailing culture in c19 Scotland, and indeed since the 1500s was Calvinist and presbyterian which pretty well defined itself in opposition to Roman Catholicism. (Scotland's catholic presence only became significant in the C19 with the introduction of Irish labourers.)Quote:
Originally Posted by ben.!
All forms of Christianity would have disapproved of masturbation in any case. I was struck that no where was it specific what the nameless horrors that Jekyll had perpetrated actually were. I assumed something like rapes, sexual abuse, murders and/or visiting prostitutes. Certainly something a bit more exciting that the odd toss off.
How about Romans 7.19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do?
Don't forget in the very first chapter Utterson's relationships have a "similar catholicity of good nature"Quote:
Originally Posted by Jackson Richardson