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...of good and evil, and duality of man? helpppp, gcse literature coursework due in on thursday. the question is "Using the novel ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, as your basis discuss the nature of good and evil, and duality of a person’s nature" any one got any help/tips/advice? URGENT!!!! thankyou.
well i had wrote it myself, was hoping that people would give me tips/help/advice on things i hadn't included. i obviously hadn't made it clear. well i'll post what i've written, though it's quite long.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel written by the Scottish author Robert Lewis Stevenson, which was published in 1886. The novel was a huge success and soon became one of his best-selling books. The novel portrays the concept of the duality of a person’s nature, describing how everything has two sides to it. Stevenson uses Jekyll and Hyde as a metaphor for this, typically Western Culture, theory.
In the 19th century, Victorian Society was very different to now. It had big divisions between upper and lower class, a high crime rate, a lot of poverty, arranged marriages and a high amount of prostitution because lower class woman could not find work. The entire 19th century was very much concerned with the concept of the duality of a person’s nature, which was first introduced in 1818 with the story of “Frankenstein”....
The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde (set in London in the 19th century) follows Mr Utterson who tries to uncover the mystery between the relationship of his friend Dr. Jekyll and the misanthropic Mr. Hyde. When Utterson unearths the horrendous truth, he cannot keep it to himself.
The novel is based upon a scientist who has created a concoction which is able to transform a human, splitting their personality into two; good and evil.
Dr Jekyll experiments with a drug which starts to split his personality into good and evil elements. Jekyll soon loses control and the evil side, Mr Hyde, starts to take over his body more frequently and without the aid of the drug. When Jekyll transforms into Hyde, he becomes much more youthful and handsome. Although he may become good looking, Hyde commits terrible acts, such as the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. When Hyde is sought for murder, Jekyll decides he must kill himself....
The final irony lies with Jekyll’s act of suicide, as although it is Jekyll who commits the act, when his body is dying Hyde takes over and the dead body is found as Hyde.
Stevenson uses plenty of different language and descriptive techniques in the story. He uses imagery, such as “audibly shattered”, “hailing down a storm of blows”, and “flame of anger”. Mr Hyde is compared to a storm which tells the reader that he is unpredictable, unaware of consequences and has a mind of his own. Stevenson uses animalistic terms to describe Hyde’s behaviour such as “ape like”, “no control”, “uncivilised” and “hostile”.
The main characters in The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde are; Dr Henry Jekyll, Mr Edward Hyde, Dr Lanyon, Mr Utterson and Poole.
Dr Henry Jekyll is a doctor who is constantly fighting a battle within himself between good and evil. Jekyll has a very secretive life and the evil within him forces him to push away those who are close to him....
He drinks the potion he created which transforms Jekyll into the remorseless Mr Edward Hyde, this represents the hidden evil in a person’s nature. The potion also transforms Jekyll into a good looking, youthful man who is also very confident and good with women. Jekyll must have a selfish desire to be handsome and young again so he continues to take the medicine. The evil side gains in power and confidence, and gradually Jekyll begins to transform into Hyde without the potion, whilst the acts he commits worsen. Hyde’s character changes greatly throughout the novel as at first he is still good, in the sense that he pays compensation to the girl’s family after he trampled over her. The evil side quickly becomes stronger and people start to notice the change in Jekyll’s face.
Dr Lanyon is a friend of Jekyll’s who disagrees with his scientific beliefs. Lanyon helps Utterson to solve the case of Jekyll and Hyde, but when he finds out about Hyde’s identity he becomes very ill and dies....
Mr Utterson is a lawyer who is believable and trustworthy. He distrusts the mysterious Mr Hyde from the start and wants to find out more about him.
Poole is Dr Jekyll’s butler who notices the changes in Jekyll from very early on in the novel.
Robert Lewis Stevenson puts across an array of different moral messages to the reader which relate to Mr Hyde. The first being the most obvious, that everyone has two sides to them. This is portrayed by Hyde being “evil” and Jekyll being “good”. The second message in the novel is expected behaviour in society. This is shown at the start of the book where Hyde tramples over the girl, but at this point he has still got some good in him as he pays compensation for his act. The third message is drug addiction as Jekyll becomes addicted to taking the drug to enhance his appearance and confidence.
Throughout the story Robert Lewis Stevenson presents his idea of the duality of man where Dr Jekyll has a dark side within him but he hides it away...
He presents this idea by using two protagonists, Jekyll and Hyde. Dr Jekyll is a typical upper-class person and Hyde is signifies the purest of evil. Hyde brings out the worst in people, therefore showing the bad side of human nature.
Many people believe that every human has a two sided personality, though we can choose which side to show. The majority of the population choose to be good, law abiding citizens. A small proportion are evil, to portray this Mr Hyde was depicted as small and deformed, whereas Jekyll was quite big. Hyde is described in the novel as a monster, a “juggernaut”, a deformed creature. “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man so disliked and yet I scare know why. He gives a strong feeling of deformity. He’s an extraordinary looking man.” .....
No one can pin point what is wrong with Hyde’s appearance, but they all know that there is something not right about it, this shows them sensing the evil within him.
The difference in good and evil is also portrayed in the buildings. Jekyll’s street also has a duality. This is a description of the house, “Here is one large block of buildings. On Jekyll’s side, the side presented to the public eye, it seems lovely, graceful building inhabited by one of London’s most respected physicians. On the other side-but still a part of the same building we find rubbish and squalor, people abroad on questionable errands at three in the morning.” Jekyll’s side of the street is well kept whereas Hyde’s side is threatening, mysterious and out of the public eye. The conditions of each of their sides of the building are much like the characters themselves. The cellar door is also very mysterious, described as “blistered and distained door” set in “a blind forehead of discoloured wall”.
Doors are symbolic of mystery and power; they are used to hide things. In this case the door is used to hide the secret of Edward Hyde.
In the Last Night, the night is described similarly to Jekyll and Hyde. The first example of this is where it says “it was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March”. In this it makes it sound as if the month should be December, as a March nights are rarely as dramatic as described here. This may personify Mr Hyde; it suggests that something is out of the ordinary as you would normally associate weather conditions like these with the winter months. Another example in the Last night is “with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her”. The first part of this quotation could be describing the appearance of Dr Jekyll. There is personification in this as moons do not lie on their back. It also shows that Utterson will find something unusual at Jekyll’s house, and that Jekyll may not be himself.....
Sigmund Freund’s theories help to explain the duality of human nature. One theory Freud made was his arguments concerning the unconscious mind. Freud believed that the thoughts and desires banished to the unconscious mind motivate the behaviour of the conscious mind. So if someone were to push all of their evil thoughts to the unconscious mind, trying to be good, it could create a Mr Hyde aspect to that person. Freud abandoned this idea and came up with the “psychic apparatus” which had three components; the id, super-ego and ego. The id being the impulsive, child like portion of the psyche, which only regards what it wants and ignores the consequences. The super-ego is the moral component of the psyche. The ego attempts to get a balance between the two extremes of the id and super-ego. Mr Hyde is portrayed as the id, as he commits sins and does not think about the consequences of his actions....
Jekyll is more like the super-ego, trying to please everyone else and making sure that he does the right thing for everyone. Even Jekyll’s job shows this as he is a doctor so he spends his life making sure that everyone else is healthy and happy, ignoring his own needs. It is best to get a balance between the id and super-ego so that you keep yourself and others happy.
I believe that no one can be completely good or evil. Everyone has a range of mixed emotions and feelings within them; no one is purely good or evil. Hyde shows macrocosm, in the sense being that he is pure evil and no one is completely evil, just partially. Everyone has a mix of good and bad in their personality. Stevenson gives the impression that human nature is an ongoing battle between good and evil, he does not see anyone as particularly good or bad, more impulses of human nature that overwhelm the body.
yeah it's pretty shit that's why i need help. haha.
well i had wrote it myself, was hoping that people would give me tips/help/advice on things i hadn't included. i obviously hadn't made it clear. well i'll post what i've written, though it's quite long.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel written by the Scottish author Robert Lewis Stevenson, which was published in 1886. The novel was a huge success and soon became one of his best-selling books. The novel portrays the concept of the duality of a person’s nature, describing how everything has two sides to it. Stevenson uses Jekyll and Hyde as a metaphor for this, typically Western Culture, theory.
In the 19th century, Victorian Society was very different to now. It had big divisions between upper and lower class, a high crime rate, a lot of poverty, arranged marriages and a high amount of prostitution because lower class woman could not find work. The entire 19th century was very much concerned with the concept of the duality of a person’s nature, which was first introduced in 1818 with the story of “Frankenstein”....
The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde (set in London in the 19th century) follows Mr Utterson who tries to uncover the mystery between the relationship of his friend Dr. Jekyll and the misanthropic Mr. Hyde. When Utterson unearths the horrendous truth, he cannot keep it to himself.
The novel is based upon a scientist who has created a concoction which is able to transform a human, splitting their personality into two; good and evil.
Dr Jekyll experiments with a drug which starts to split his personality into good and evil elements. Jekyll soon loses control and the evil side, Mr Hyde, starts to take over his body more frequently and without the aid of the drug. When Jekyll transforms into Hyde, he becomes much more youthful and handsome. Although he may become good looking, Hyde commits terrible acts, such as the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. When Hyde is sought for murder, Jekyll decides he must kill himself....
The final irony lies with Jekyll’s act of suicide, as although it is Jekyll who commits the act, when his body is dying Hyde takes over and the dead body is found as Hyde.
Stevenson uses plenty of different language and descriptive techniques in the story. He uses imagery, such as “audibly shattered”, “hailing down a storm of blows”, and “flame of anger”. Mr Hyde is compared to a storm which tells the reader that he is unpredictable, unaware of consequences and has a mind of his own. Stevenson uses animalistic terms to describe Hyde’s behaviour such as “ape like”, “no control”, “uncivilised” and “hostile”.
The main characters in The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde are; Dr Henry Jekyll, Mr Edward Hyde, Dr Lanyon, Mr Utterson and Poole.
Dr Henry Jekyll is a doctor who is constantly fighting a battle within himself between good and evil. Jekyll has a very secretive life and the evil within him forces him to push away those who are close to him....
He drinks the potion he created which transforms Jekyll into the remorseless Mr Edward Hyde, this represents the hidden evil in a person’s nature. The potion also transforms Jekyll into a good looking, youthful man who is also very confident and good with women. Jekyll must have a selfish desire to be handsome and young again so he continues to take the medicine. The evil side gains in power and confidence, and gradually Jekyll begins to transform into Hyde without the potion, whilst the acts he commits worsen. Hyde’s character changes greatly throughout the novel as at first he is still good, in the sense that he pays compensation to the girl’s family after he trampled over her. The evil side quickly becomes stronger and people start to notice the change in Jekyll’s face.
Dr Lanyon is a friend of Jekyll’s who disagrees with his scientific beliefs. Lanyon helps Utterson to solve the case of Jekyll and Hyde, but when he finds out about Hyde’s identity he becomes very ill and dies....
Mr Utterson is a lawyer who is believable and trustworthy. He distrusts the mysterious Mr Hyde from the start and wants to find out more about him.
Poole is Dr Jekyll’s butler who notices the changes in Jekyll from very early on in the novel.
Robert Lewis Stevenson puts across an array of different moral messages to the reader which relate to Mr Hyde. The first being the most obvious, that everyone has two sides to them. This is portrayed by Hyde being “evil” and Jekyll being “good”. The second message in the novel is expected behaviour in society. This is shown at the start of the book where Hyde tramples over the girl, but at this point he has still got some good in him as he pays compensation for his act. The third message is drug addiction as Jekyll becomes addicted to taking the drug to enhance his appearance and confidence.
Throughout the story Robert Lewis Stevenson presents his idea of the duality of man where Dr Jekyll has a dark side within him but he hides it away...
He presents this idea by using two protagonists, Jekyll and Hyde. Dr Jekyll is a typical upper-class person and Hyde is signifies the purest of evil. Hyde brings out the worst in people, therefore showing the bad side of human nature.
Many people believe that every human has a two sided personality, though we can choose which side to show. The majority of the population choose to be good, law abiding citizens. A small proportion are evil, to portray this Mr Hyde was depicted as small and deformed, whereas Jekyll was quite big. Hyde is described in the novel as a monster, a “juggernaut”, a deformed creature. “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man so disliked and yet I scare know why. He gives a strong feeling of deformity. He’s an extraordinary looking man.” .....
No one can pin point what is wrong with Hyde’s appearance, but they all know that there is something not right about it, this shows them sensing the evil within him.
The difference in good and evil is also portrayed in the buildings. Jekyll’s street also has a duality. This is a description of the house, “Here is one large block of buildings. On Jekyll’s side, the side presented to the public eye, it seems lovely, graceful building inhabited by one of London’s most respected physicians. On the other side-but still a part of the same building we find rubbish and squalor, people abroad on questionable errands at three in the morning.” Jekyll’s side of the street is well kept whereas Hyde’s side is threatening, mysterious and out of the public eye. The conditions of each of their sides of the building are much like the characters themselves. The cellar door is also very mysterious, described as “blistered and distained door” set in “a blind forehead of discoloured wall”.
Doors are symbolic of mystery and power; they are used to hide things. In this case the door is used to hide the secret of Edward Hyde.
In the Last Night, the night is described similarly to Jekyll and Hyde. The first example of this is where it says “it was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March”. In this it makes it sound as if the month should be December, as a March nights are rarely as dramatic as described here. This may personify Mr Hyde; it suggests that something is out of the ordinary as you would normally associate weather conditions like these with the winter months. Another example in the Last night is “with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her”. The first part of this quotation could be describing the appearance of Dr Jekyll. There is personification in this as moons do not lie on their back. It also shows that Utterson will find something unusual at Jekyll’s house, and that Jekyll may not be himself.....
Sigmund Freund’s theories help to explain the duality of human nature. One theory Freud made was his arguments concerning the unconscious mind. Freud believed that the thoughts and desires banished to the unconscious mind motivate the behaviour of the conscious mind. So if someone were to push all of their evil thoughts to the unconscious mind, trying to be good, it could create a Mr Hyde aspect to that person. Freud abandoned this idea and came up with the “psychic apparatus” which had three components; the id, super-ego and ego. The id being the impulsive, child like portion of the psyche, which only regards what it wants and ignores the consequences. The super-ego is the moral component of the psyche. The ego attempts to get a balance between the two extremes of the id and super-ego. Mr Hyde is portrayed as the id, as he commits sins and does not think about the consequences of his actions....
Jekyll is more like the super-ego, trying to please everyone else and making sure that he does the right thing for everyone. Even Jekyll’s job shows this as he is a doctor so he spends his life making sure that everyone else is healthy and happy, ignoring his own needs. It is best to get a balance between the id and super-ego so that you keep yourself and others happy.
I believe that no one can be completely good or evil. Everyone has a range of mixed emotions and feelings within them; no one is purely good or evil. Hyde shows macrocosm, in the sense being that he is pure evil and no one is completely evil, just partially. Everyone has a mix of good and bad in their personality. Stevenson gives the impression that human nature is an ongoing battle between good and evil, he does not see anyone as particularly good or bad, more impulses of human nature that overwhelm the body.
yeah it's pretty shit that's why i need help. haha.