The novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson, tells the story of a prominent scientist who chooses to restrain his own natural aberrations to build up a respectable and admirable social image. In the end, the implicit idea is that the human tendency to try to develop the benign side of the self over the evil side is not a manifestation of the individual’s natural instinct, but rather an impulse caused by his desire to belong to society.
Dr. Jekyll comments on the nature of human benevolence in certain passages of this story. One example, it is when he says the following in his “Full Statement of the Case:” “To cast [my lot] in with Hyde (the evil side of my soul), was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless.” (Stevenson 31) Here, this character clearly says that if he fed his evil side he would lose all his social aspirations and his dear friends. In other words, the story suggests that the individual cares to dispose his/her evil side only to become accepted in a social group.
On the following page, Dr. Jekyll reasserts his claim by saying: “Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde.” (Stevenson 32) In these lines, this character, instead of referring to the possible social losses that would result from the release of his evil part, he says directly that he prefers to be a benign or a morally correct person in order to have friends and, therefore, enjoy the benefits of being a social being.
In addition, when Dr. Jekyll says: “Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde peep out an instant, and the hands of all men would be raised to take and slay him” (Stevenson 32), He is basically affirming that society will destroy any individual who devotes his life to liberate his evil behavior. Thus, individuals must construct their good side over their evil one in order to fulfill the desire to be socially accepted.
As a conclusion, the story reaffirms this point by referring to feeding the evil part of the self as an act that, not only will cause the individual’s rejection from society, but that will also bring destruction and death. This is an even bolder and more revealing claim that, even though it is not explicitly stated in the text, is metaphorically constructed by comparing the draught that releases Dr. Jekyll from any behavior control to the effects of alcohol. In this case, the fact that Dr. Jekyll resorts to use the brutish effects of alcohol on a drunkard to refer to the dangers of letting the evil part of the self behave freely suggests that the outcome of feeding human evilness brings about destruction:
I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice, he is once out of five hundred times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I had considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde. (Stevenson 32)
This assertion suggests that liberating the evil side of human soul not only alienates the individual from the rest of society, but it also causes insensibility and, therefore, destruction.
Society restrains the individual's behavior
ResponderEliminarThe novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson, tells the story of a prominent scientist who chooses to restrain his own natural aberrations to build up a respectable and admirable social image. In the end, the implicit idea is that the human tendency to try to develop the benign side of the self over the evil side is not a manifestation of the individual’s natural instinct, but rather an impulse caused by his desire to belong to society.
Dr. Jekyll comments on the nature of human benevolence in certain passages of this story. One example, it is when he says the following in his “Full Statement of the Case:” “To cast [my lot] in with Hyde (the evil side of my soul), was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless.” (Stevenson 31) Here, this character clearly says that if he fed his evil side he would lose all his social aspirations and his dear friends. In other words, the story suggests that the individual cares to dispose his/her evil side only to become accepted in a social group.
On the following page, Dr. Jekyll reasserts his claim by saying: “Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde.” (Stevenson 32) In these lines, this character, instead of referring to the possible social losses that would result from the release of his evil part, he says directly that he prefers to be a benign or a morally correct person in order to have friends and, therefore, enjoy the benefits of being a social being.
In addition, when Dr. Jekyll says: “Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde peep out an instant, and the hands of all men would be raised to take and slay him” (Stevenson 32), He is basically affirming that society will destroy any individual who devotes his life to liberate his evil behavior. Thus, individuals must construct their good side over their evil one in order to fulfill the desire to be socially accepted.
As a conclusion, the story reaffirms this point by referring to feeding the evil part of the self as an act that, not only will cause the individual’s rejection from society, but that will also bring destruction and death. This is an even bolder and more revealing claim that, even though it is not explicitly stated in the text, is metaphorically constructed by comparing the draught that releases Dr. Jekyll from any behavior control to the effects of alcohol. In this case, the fact that Dr. Jekyll resorts to use the brutish effects of alcohol on a drunkard to refer to the dangers of letting the evil part of the self behave freely suggests that the outcome of feeding human evilness brings about destruction:
I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice, he is once out of five hundred times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I had considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde. (Stevenson 32)
This assertion suggests that liberating the evil side of human soul not only alienates the individual from the rest of society, but it also causes insensibility and, therefore, destruction.