The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
In the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Steveson used the architecture of Dr. Jekyll's house very intelligently. The house can be regarded to be parallel to Dr. Jekyll's double personality. Throughout the book, the house lends itself as a powerful prop, by which it is possible for Dr. Jekyll to use his house even when he is in the form of Mr. Hyde. The house, like Dr. Jekyll, has a dark side. On the front side of the house, it seems to be an elite, upper class, respectable home. However, the rest of the house is quite the opposite. As the book described it - "discolored wall on the upper; and bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and so did negligence." Therefore the back door could be used by Mr. Hyde, with very few suspecting Mr. Hyde of having any connection to Dr. Jekyll. Steveson fit the architecture of the house into the story cleverly. The house supports Dr. Jekyll's secret of being Mr. Hyde at times. The house symbolizes the double personality of its owner. Therefore Dr. Jekyll and his house have parallel characteristics. We are introduced to the back door right at the beginning of the book. The door is said to be - " equipped with neither bell or knocker, was blistered and distained." Along with the
The importance of Dr. Jekyll keeping up his image of a respectable man, was more important in those times. London, and its society must have been very conscious of class and respectability. A secret of the nature of Dr. Jekyll would have created a scandal beyond belief in those times. This book portrays a very interesting insight into the double sides of human nature. Each person has a dark side, which is brought out in different ways. Some people bring out their violent side by playing sports, or watching violent movies. Some people find other means by which they can come around the darker side of their nature. But Steveson tries to show, through this novel is that each person has some secret identity, and that if their living environment is too closed they feel like breaking boundaries and becoming their fantasies, at the risk of what other people may think of them. Dr. Jekyll himself confessed this to Utterson in his letter after his suicide. He wrote " I know myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine." Steveson was trying to say in this novel, that Dr. Jekyll was a man, who had always followed the rules of society. He was a respectable man, and had never had any adventures. By becoming Mr. Hyde, with the help of his knowledge of science he was satisfying his evil side. But he could not altogether forget about society. Although Dr. Jekyll's reputation was still important to him, and he becomes a hypocrite in the process, he found a way to hide his hypocrisy and keep his reputation as it was. This is why he had to use h
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Approximate Word count = 1129
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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