Jekyll and Hyde Contrast

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde consists of reputation, good vs. evil and damage control. In other words, Utterson tirelessly works to prevent his good colleague Dr. Jekyll from being dragged into the horrid affairs of Mr. Hyde, and Dr. Jekyll goes to the superior of lengths to prevent his Hyde identity from being discovered, in order to avoid anyone knowing of his somewhat questionable scientific work and morally despicable behavior. Much of the falsehood is based on the characters reputations and how they have to maintain a good public image, as they are upper class people.The novel manoeuvres place in strait-laced England and the main characters are all male shares of upper class London. Enfield, Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll are all aware of social expectations and the importance of appearance, Jekyll and Hyde shows a contrast of public vs private. dis humanitytle in the low chapter, Enfield is wary of sharing his story of the mysterious door because he loves gossip, as it destroys reputations. In kind, Utterson refrains from informing the police that Jekyll is a close friend of Hydes following the murder of Sir Danvers Carew.Rather, to maintain his friends reputation and protect his public image, Utterson goes to Jekyll directly to discuss the matter. This issue also arises in the matter of physical appearances, particularly architecture. In the first chapter, we learn that Hydes mysterious dwelling is run down, neglected, and shabby. In contrast, Jekylls home is extremely well kept, majestic, rich, and beautiful. Ironically, we eventually learn that the mysterious door is in circumstance connected to Jekylls home, it is a back entrance rarely used. Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is an examination of the duality of human nature, this is shown through and through the fact that Mr. Hyde is in fact Dr. Jekyll the difference is that Hyde is formed through all the evil characteristics of Jekyll. Uttersons discovery of Jekylls astounding work occurs in the final chapter of the novel. We have already witnessed Hydes powerfully vicious violence and have seen the contrasting kind, gentle, and goodly Dr. Jekyll. In approaching the novels mystery, Utterson never imagines that Hyde and Jekyll are the same man, as he finds it impossible to believe their extremely different behavior.In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Jekyll claims, man is not truly one, but truly two. So, in Jekylls view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Jekylls case, his good emplacement is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him, but at the end of the book his evil side becomes stronger and unstoppable. However, as a respectable member of society and an honorable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and unbosom his evil characteristics.Unfortunately, rather than separating these forces of good and evil, J ekylls potion provided allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil, so there is never a way to strengthen or separate Jekylls pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Jekyll allows Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Jekyll ever had. The book portrays Hyde in like an animal short, hairy, and like a troll with knotty hands and a horrific face.In contrast, Jekyll is described in the most gentlemanly terms tall, refined, polite and honorable, with long elegant fingers and a handsome appearance. So, perhaps Jekylls experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without his reputation as Jekyll being at risk. Jekyll and Hyde are not the only examples of duality in the novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms, as both a foggy, dreary, nightmarish place, a nd a well kept, bustling center of commerce.Indeed, precisely as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde contains extremely violent scenes. In each instance, the culprit is Mr. Hyde, and the victim is an innocent. For example, in the first chapter we learn how Mr. Hyde literally trampled a young girl in the street and later on we learn that Hyde, unprovoked, mercilessly beat Sir Danvers Carew to death. Even worse, we find at the conclusion of the novel that Hyde thoroughly enjoyed committing this violence, and afterwards felt a rush of excitement and satisfaction.This shows the pure evil Hyde has that was mentioned forrader. Interestingly, Hydes final victims, when he commits suicide just before Utterson and Poole break into his cabinet, are both himself and Jekyll. In this final act, neither victim is innocent. Clearly, Hyde is guilty of a great many crimes, and Jekyll is guilty as he created Hyde, allow him run free, and inhabits the same body as the man. Perhaps in this conclusion, Stevenson is suggesting that to those who promote and commit senseless violence, punishment will come.