Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Thread!!!

[hp 4ever!]

I've been meaning to get this up for days...wait let me correct that....for WEEKS! anyways...just had to channel my stress into a device that had no feelings....one of my favorite texts ever is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...so I've decided to start a thread on it...
Opening ideas:As seen in Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, the theme of a dual nature is an imperative concept. Dr. Jekyll has learned to “recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man” (Stevenson 43). Adah as claims that as tall and straight [she] may appear[,]… she is a crooked little person trying to tell the truth” (Kingsolver 496). The mere truth that Ada, the evil side, is trying to reveal is that civilization consists of “illusion mistaken for truth” (532). One of those illusions is that there is no such thing as the dual nature of humans. However, one should not be fooled for everyone, not just Dr. Jekyll, contains “two natures that [contend] in the field of [one’s] consciousness” (Stevenson 43). One does not need travel to the Congo nor does one need to swallow a special potion to have an evil side because it is already residing within each member of the human race.
*However feel free to discuss whatever comes to mind.

[Neo93]

Good point.

Each and every person does have an evil side, but most people are lucky enough that they can control this evil. However, this doesn't mean that it's not there.

Now the question becomes how to get rid of this evil, if indeed getting rid of it is the best way to deal with it. Kingsolver and Stevenson try to show us the best way to deal with this evil in two very different ways.

Adah's personal journey becomes one of the focal points of Kingsolver's novel. When Adah's evil side is released in the Congo, it nearly grows to consume her. However, Adah recognizes this and manages to gain control of her evil when she returns to the United States. But then, she finds that her attempts to eliminate this evil leave her feeling that she has eliminated a part of herself, which is completely true. Adah concludes that evil is and always will be a part of each person, and that the only way to control evil is to balance it with good.

Dr. Jekyll's potion upsets the balance between good and evil in his soul, which ultimately destroys him. He recognizes too late that this balance must be maintained in order for a person to survive. in his final statement, he attempts to show the reader that though evil can never be cleansed from the soul, it can be balanced with good.

Both authors show that evil is an essential part of each person and that evil must be balanced with good.

[hp 4ever!]

Exactly. I do agree with that and to relate that back to the Crucible (the thread you started), one will always stink with the taint of original sin for it cannot be washed no matter how hard one tries...but what do u think about the duality of good and evil...do u believe that there is a duality, or do you believe that man is truly one: live evil that is tamed by societal restrictions and laws as Lord of the Flies portrayed?

[Neo93]

I think, and this is not supported with any textual evidence or anything, the Robert Louis Stevenson was trying to show that although humans are truly two different personalities, the personalities are comingled into one person, and in a sebse, they are one. Only in the extreme case of Mr. Hyde was anyone able to seperate the evil elements of thier soul from the good. I think Stevenson showed that although humans bear the burden of having two completely different personalities, these personalities have to coexist and establish a working balance to maintain the sanity of the individual, in effect creating a single personality, much like the United States is one country, but made up of several different states.

[hp 4ever!]

So, I noticed that the color change in the book not only represents the change the giving of true life to Jekyll (indicated by change from red to green), but it also could symbolize the different moods of the novel.
Quote: "The mixture, which was at first of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small fumes of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green" (Stevenson 40). The red represents evil..bloody. This relates to the beginning of the novel because the beginning describes the incident of Hyde trampling the little girl. The white (a symbol of purity and goodness) crystals melting could represent the melting of goodness in Jekyll. The vapour and dark purple color represents the fog and the mystery (represented by the dark purple) in the novel. For those who hadn't read/ heard of the plot dealing with Jekyll being Hyde, this mystery was probably a feeling that was aroused during the middle of the novel to the mid-end. (Ex: Who is Hyde?). Then, the green foreshadows at this point that good will ultimately prevail.
just some thoughts

[Pumpkin]

man, y'all need more people talking in here. yeah, i know, slightly off topic, but i'm just that cool.

~christina~

p.s.--ok, so hp4ever! is 'kita, but who is neo93? ok, thnx ^^

[hp 4ever!]

so, lets try relating this book to other texts that we've read...for instance, The Crucible. In both texts, we see that they have mentioned (directly/indirectly) the ideology of original sin....any thoughts as to why?

[TOKprof]

Something I find interesting about the duality aspect that you're talking about in J&H is that even after Jekyll splits, there is still a weird duality. Hyde apparently is completely evil, yet he can control himself in social situations when necessary. He's able to sit with the girl's family until morning in order to pay them, and he controls himself with Utterson--for the most part. Jekyll, on the other hand, cannot be completely good--even after Hyde has been created. There is a part of him that truly enjoys Hyde's existence; that doesn't seem good to me. So is Stevenson telling us that our duality is somehow infinitely reproducing itself so that not only are we both good and evil, but that we're all essentially schizophrenic personalities who have no control over our goodness or evil?

[Janine]

Can't wait to read this and take part in the discussion - on my way out this evening but will check in later or tomorrow. I just read the book last month.

[TOKprof]

hp 4ever!, If we're comparing J&H to other texts, what about Scarlet Letter? One (maybe too obvious) connection is the similarities between Hyde's appearance and Chillingworth's appearance in SL. But interestingly, it's Jekyll, not Hyde, who has the same profession as Chillingworth. Hmmm...

[duckduckgoose]

As far as Scarlett Letter and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there are so many similarities between Jekyll/Hyde and Dimmesdale/Chillingworth. Jekyll and Dimmesdale are both very respected men who are HYDEING (haha.. pun) something considered evil and sinful. For Jekyll, that secret is Hyde himself and all the bad Hyde is associated with (because it is in the end Jekyll's responsibility). Although Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are not one in the same, Dimmesdale's biggest sin was associated with Chillingworth, because he had an affair with Chillingworth's wife.
Both Hyde and Chillingworth also hide something- their true identities. These two characters are the embodiment of evil, and are associated with two respected, humans who have made mistakes. Hyde and Chillingworth continue through their respected stories slowly eating away at the person they are associated with.

[sillygoose]

Jekyll and Dimmesdale can also be related in that they both were killed by their secrets. Dimmesdale's secret sin slowly ate away his soul. He tortured himself for bringing that sin upon himself and it eventually picked his soul clean. After his confession, he had to die in order to become free of his sin. In the same sense, Jekyll died in order to free himself from his evil. Jekyll's secret was the creation of Hyde. Hyde literally tortured and picked at Jekyll until Jekyll slowly lost control. In the end, Jekyll knew the only way to free himself from Hyde was suicide. Both these men had to rid and clean themselves of evil and sin by ridding themselves of their lives.

[mzmarymack]

Okay, this is not exactly where the thread's going, but about J&H and PB:
One common link b/w J&H and Adah is that the entire situation & dilemma is in their heads. Adah's left side of her brain is not really "shriveled up like a prune." In fact, the left side of her brain, which controls reasoning, writing, and mathematical skills, is amazingly sharp. She's very intelligent. Her right brain, which is characterized by creativity and imagination, is also fully developed. Therefore, this whole "Woe-is-me/Leah ruined my life" has no sound basis.
As for Jekyll and Hyde... I think that self-control is the key to Jekyll's transformations. J starts automatically turning into H when he loses his resolve to be good. It's easier to let H take control and responsibility for J. J falls so low that he has himself convinced that he cannot turn back into Jekyll. It's all in state of mind.

[duckduckgoose]

in response to the whole Adah J&H thing, it seems to me like Adah is Hyde and Leah is Jekyll, but instead of transforming into one another, they are separate identities in two different bodies. Leah, like Jekyll, represents a regular human who seems mostly good. Adah is the darker twin, known as the sinful one in the eyes of her sisters. She is also considered disfigured, like Hyde.

[blazeofglory]

I have read the book years ago and was excited at what I got there in the book, something really thrilling, the outpourings of all that we have concealing and still we do, the sinner or real part of us. And all we do now is pretentious things, and we lie to ourselves and to others. We all have more capacities for evils. We are hypocrites under the skin despite the fact that we become charismatic and cherish something or some attributes of peace ambassadors.

I like this book and still I find it really thrilling.