- Published: September 25, 2022
- Updated: September 25, 2022
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
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The Elements of Evil (Assignment (Grade Year) “ It wasnt like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut” (Stevenson, Chapter, 1).
The Elements of Evil
The 1886 born ‘ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ is a thrilling allegoric description about a doctor’s change in to an evil human being with excitement growing through the nerves of readers. This wonderful novella was written by renowned English writer Robert Louis Stevenson. This review tends to analyze how effectively Mr. Stevenson tries to figurate the character of dignified Dr. Jekyll into horrific Mr. Hyde, using various symbols of evil. There are ample reasons to support the view that this novel portrays evil in human beings.
To illustrate, the story renders ample ideas to trace the ethical sides of deeds of each character. Jekyll’s counter part, Mr. Hyde, a very important character in the story is rather like a synonym for iniquitous personality. A quote from page 40 reads like this, “ Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice” (Stevenson, Chapter, 2). One can easily identify the deliberate attempts the author makes to exhibit the villain in Mr. Hyde.
Take the following for reference; Mr. Earnfield describes to Utterson how the creature trampled over a child in the street-“ and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the childs body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasnt like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut” (Chapter, 1). It gives the greatest visual effect of a narration- here, a man is a brute personified! Irony of the expression is that the narrator calls the Mr. Hyde ‘ a man’ and ‘ a juggernaut’ at the same time.
There is another example of how Mr. Stevenson visualizes the wicked image of a true brute. Hyde’s encounter with an old guy referred in page 47 runs like this, “ he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman., ……………………. …….. the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway”(Stevenson, chapter, 4). It shows the maximum of severity that an individual can posses. It is definitely indisputable that the character of Mr. Hyde is the reflection of the devilish mindset of human. There can be probably nothing more brutal about anyone than killing a fellow being for insistent pleasure.
The evil works out in the transformed life so effectively that Mr. Hyde’s ascendancy over Dr. Jekyll grows to the maximum that he can never make a way back to his previous life without the stuff of the medicine. Later part of the story has much to converse between the lawyer and Mr. Poole. ” We have come too late,” he said sternly, ” whether to save or punish. Hyde is gone to his account; and it only remains for us to find the body of your master”(Stevenson, Chapter, 8).
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the best work that portrays the elements of evil which transforms a gentle human being into a horrific personality like Mr. Hyde. There are several words and symbols in the texts that represent evil. Stevenson conveys the notion that every human being has an eternal insider hibernating within. Transformation happens to him only when he reacts to his vulnerability.
Works Cited
Stevenson R L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mundus Publishing,
1950.