How does Stevenson represent the conflict between good Vs evil in his Novel “The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”?

 

Introduction

 I shall be talking about how Stevenson manages to portray the conflict between good and evil in his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’.

 Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 Edinburgh, Scotland and was a sickly child. His father was a lighthouse designer of who wanted his only son to study engineering. However, Stevenson changed his mind and he chose to study literature at the University of Edinburgh. As a child Stevenson received an extremely strict religious upbringing, which emphasized sin and the punishments of hell. He seems to have reacted against this upbringing, by taking a great interest in t the conflict between religion and science.

 ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ has a genre of gothic horror and science fiction and its literary influences are from Charles Darwin and Mary shelly (Frankenstein). The book was written by Robert Louis Stevenson during the Victorian era and the book was published in 1886. This is of great significance since the society we live in today differs greatly to the times of the Victorian era. Our lives would have been rather dissimilar if we had been living in the Victorian times.

 During the Victorian era men were seen as superior to women since men had access to many things such as an education and the right to vote while women were stripped of their basic rights and were forced to stay at home doing all the cooking and cleaning. One of the main beliefs was that everyone should cover up and avoid acting in anyway that may come across as sexually provocative. This resulted in there being a strong division in society, creating two sides. One side of society is polite, good natured, honest and noble while the other side is feeling insecure and repressed leading them to commit sinful acts such as prostitution since they can no longer contain there sexual feelings.

 In addition there was a great divide between the rich and poor many people were placed into different classes this was known as the “ class system” the higher the class your were in, the better you were treated and the more opportunities you were given. Some say that it was possible to tell if a person was of high class just by looking at their facial features this is known as physiognomy.

As a writer, Stevenson experiments with a number of themes and writing devices such as Pathetic fallacy, Duality, Secrecy, Addiction and Physiognomy.

These are the main themes that Stevenson has characterized in the novel. Stevenson cleverly structures these themes in his novel to portray the conflict between good and evil. This could symbolise the society around the time of Jack the Ripper.

Main Body

Mr Hyde is the result of Dr Jekyll’s careless experimentation; Jekyll had created a potion to separate his good side from his evil side in to two different beings. Hyde is immoral and sinful yet he is “about as emotional as a bagpipe” and is free from all restrictions. Hyde’s name is of great significance since ‘Mr’ implies that he is ordinary where ‘Dr Jekyll’ tells us that he is a man of high class, he is well educated and is upstanding. The title Dr gives us the feel that he is a man of importance and has a purpose in society.

Hyde is not an ordinary villain and neither is his evilness in fact Stevenson describes his evil nature as “really like Satan” this simile can be associated with hellish imagery as he was seen as a great evil, something rejected by God primarily based on physiognomy but in character. In addition Victorians were extremely religious, anything that went against their “morals” or “values” was seen as sinful. This of great importance since in the Victorian era Satan was seen as quintessence of evil rather like Hyde, this automatically distances the reader from Hyde without even mentioning his appearance.

Stevenson gives very vague descriptions of Hyde in relation to his appearance since Hyde “is not easy to describe” although he has an air of “something displeasing, something downright detestable” that radiates from him. In addition, Hyde is supposed to be the classical sign of evil. Stevenson takes advantage of this and introduces physiognomy; he describes Hyde as “ape like” through this animalistic quote. Stevenson suggests that Hyde has not quite evolved into a human as he is still a step-down on the evolutionary scale possibly acting as a reason as to why he behaves the way he does. Like a “damned Juggernaut”, Hyde’s barbaric and animalistic nature is inspired by theory of evolution published by the famous scientist Charles Darwin this ties in with the theme of Darwinism. The belief of physiognomy is heavily challenged as Stevenson presents the idea that a person’s personality lies deeper than their “exterior”, which is shown through Dr Jekyll as a decent respectable man who has a great evil dwelling within him.

In the very first chapter of the novella, we are introduced to Mr Gabriel John Utterson. Stevenson uses the theme of duality while describing Utterson as a character. Initially Utterson comes across as inherently uninteresting; he is “never lighted by a smile” and “lean, long, dusty, dreary” in person. Utterson is “austere with himself” he does not gossip and is a conservative thinker although he is someone with an outlook “to help rather than reprove” this tell us that he often burdens himself with other peoples problems this assists Utterson’s in his profession since, he is a lawyer. As a narrator Utterson tells the story as a report of accounts and less like a novel primarily because the story is directed by a third person narrator through Utterson’s point of view. Making him a central character in regards to the book and the social web of people. Yet Utterson is some how “loveable” he has many friends and a key part of his personality is that he remains loyal to those whose reputations may have suffered. This loyalty leads him to investigate the mystery that surrounds Jekyll. We also trust him as not only is he our only option but it is through his profession and overall demeanour that we begin to trust his opinion and accounts on the events in the novella, in a way it makes us as bad as the Victorian society as they also judged through status, stature, and appearance.

In the beginning Dr Hastie Lanyon is regarded as a very minor character although he plays a pivotal role in exposing Dr Jekyll’s secrets and clarifying previous events as a narrator. We first come across Dr Lanyon we he speaks dismissively of Jekyll’s experiments referring to them as “unscientific balderdash”, his disbelief in Jekyll renders him a greater extent of Utterson who is the quintessence of rationalism and realistic explanations. Lanyon was a “genuine” gentleman who was an old associate of Dr Jekyll but the two later feel out since Lanyon disagreed with Jekyll’s fascination with metaphysical and transcendental science where as he preferred traditional science. His disapproval is his position on good versus evil unlike Utterson he is rather biased, judgemental and upstanding; instead of showing tolerance towards Jekyll he excommunicated him. Having spent his life as a rationalist and a sceptic Lanyon can’t deal with the world having Jekyll’s experiment revealed. He describes it as something that would “Stagger the Devil himself” and seeing Jekyll transform into Hyde first hand was his “life shaken to its roots” Hyde’s evil is so powerful that it radiates out of him and touches anything that witnesses such a scene, to the point where this inhuman character has contaminated Lanyon. Lanyon couldn’t possibly handle the weight of such a great evil and secret. . This strange and even disturbing phenomenon was the cause of Lanyon’s grave depression that lead to his death ruling out the belief that he died of natural causes.

Themes and Symbolism

Stevenson uses a mixture of Pathetic Fallacy and Secrecy in the novel to elaborate on a sense of good and evil. Stevenson uses Victorian London a city plagued with segregation to heavily contrast Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as well as their appearance. Soho is was renown for its high levels of prostitution during the later hours of the day and the early hours of the morning it provided cover for those who wanted to indulge in any promiscuous activities making it a rather secretive place. In the novel Hyde is situated in the “the dismal quarter of Soho” living in a “scarcely house” this tells the reader that Hyde is perfectly suited to this environment and can go undetected in this sordid part of London. The door to Hyde’s residence gives us a clear insight into Hyde’s state of mind. His door had “neither bell nor knocker” this shows he does not want to be disturbed and is hiding. This also shows that Hyde cannot be simply grouped into one category; he is and will always be a separate entity on its own that belongs nowhere.

Dr Jekyll’s laboratory is a “dingy windowless structure” with only “three dusty windows barred with iron” emitting an air of secrecy preventing anyone from being able to see inside suggesting that Jekyll refuses to be helped. The iron bars also given a prison like quality and reflects Jekyll’s feeling of entrapment and that he can’t escape his feeling of guilt.

In addition Stevenson capitalises the unpredictable nature of England’s whether to emphasise his use of pathetic fallacy to predict certain events. In chapter four of the Carew Murder case many weather references are made foretelling the tragedy that was about to take place. “Fog rolled over the city while the sky was lit by a full moon”. The Fog conceals the cities secrets where as the bright moon is the much needed warning sign that disaster is immanent. The Clouds symbolise Utterson’s vision in uncovering the truth which, represents his struggles as he is attempting to solve a case “blind” when the fog is said to be lifted it shows Utterson’s realisation and piecing together of the case.

Stevenson represents the theme of duality by talking about sides of Dr Jekyll’s house at the front Jekyll’s house is well presented in an upper class part of London and we can imagine him living there. Where as the other side of Jekyll’s house the laboratory is used by Hyde and is described as having a “discoloured wall on the upper and in every feature bore the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence” this description refers to Hyde since it makes sense for a man like him to live in a place of such negligence. The two sides of the house would help Jekyll turn into Hyde since society would be none the wiser of the change. Nobody would no expect either character to use opposite side of the house, as they would not expect them to be the same person.

Utterson also shows duality in the book as he is described as “lean long dusty dreary” yet somehow loveable. This shows that despite Utterson’s stiff appearance he has a warm loving side; he also shows duality in his friendship with Poole this is because upper class people were not supposes to have friendships of people with lower class.

Moreover, Stevenson experiments with the theme of addiction. When Jekyll tastes the potion for the first time he describes it as “indescribably sweet, I felt light and happier in my body”. Stevenson uses adjectives to depict the mood of Dr Jekyll when he first consumes the potion, mirroring the effects of the drugs and his surfacing addiction, as though the potion is a mechanism to the nurture of his darker side, which he feels liberated in. We see Dr Jekyll, once believed to be strong willed man crumble at will in the hands of liberation. An alternative interpretation is Freud’s theory of suppression. He believed that suppressed inner desires eventually surface, which is what is occurring here with Jekyll. The potion can be seen as Jekyll’s door into freeing his other half.

Stevenson highlights religion values and morals in the novella since he is reacting to the harsh upbringing of a strict religious environment. “That child of Hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear and hatred” Stevenson alludes to Christian doctrine and plays with the idea of nature versus nurture. He also cleverly ties in duality with religion “My devil had long being caged, he came out roaring” Stevenson cleverly and skilfully combines Darwinism and religious beliefs through animalistic language. Hyde is willing to fight for his survival; he is desperate to survive and to conquer over his other half, to gain control.  

Contemporary Relevance

Stevenson skills were far reaching as he had predicted and illustrated many concepts that were ahead of his time; one of these was the idea of repression a term later coined by the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. His book was also based on a dream he had which inspired him to write this novel. He also talks about issues that occurred in the Victorian era which are still very relevant to the 21st century for example inequality, the idea of cloning and stem cell research all indirectly mentioned in the novel. Finally he outlines the human nature of good and evil in the form of greed, the love for money and need for sex all parallels which exist to this present day.

Conclusion

The themes and symbolism presented by Stevenson help us see the conflict between good and evil while creating suspense and intense imagery. Stevenson cleverly links the themes to the contemporary relevance of the novel in order to preserve the conflict between good and evil.

By Mohammed Hasan