How Is Diction Used In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

The manner in which Hyde is first presented attracts the reader’s attention and provokes momentous assumptions from the reader that Mr Hyde is

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson uses very rich diction so that his audience can visualize every detail of the setting and characters. In Dr. Lanyon’s letter to Mr. Utterson describing how he came to know of Dr. Jekyll’s deception and secrets, he also describes Mr. Hyde. This was the first time in the novel that Mr. Hyde was descriptively described. The diction Stevenson used influenced not only the visual aesthetics of the reader but several themes and gives the reader foreshadowing. Dr. Lanyon first describes Mr. Hyde’s clothing as “enormously too large”, and goes into further detail by observing that his pants were too long for him and were “rolled up to keep them from the ground” and “the collar sprawl wide upon his shoulders” (Stevenson). Dr. Lanyon’s description also foreshadows the truth behind Dr. Jekyll’s secret because Dr. Jekyll was described as a large man, “a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty” (Stevenson). Mr. Hyde’s description also included Dr. Lanyon’s surmise that “there was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature” (Stevenson). In the last chapter, the letter from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Utterson, the audience gets a sense of shame and understanding from Dr. Jekyll. Stevenson’s diction strongly influences the reader’s perception of Dr. Jekyll’s letter. His use of words like “morbid sense of shame,” “driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law of life,” and “shed a strong light on this consciousness of the perennial war among my members” (Stevenson), imply the emotional impact that Dr. Jekyll’s experiments had on

The repression of homicidal desires, as shown by Dr.Jekyll, forges a plight for himself when he creates a distinctive criminal persona, such as Mr.Hyde. As Hyde’s immoral deeds

“All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Robert Louis Stevenson was no fool when it came to understanding the duality of human nature evident within mankind. In his novella, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson is able to explore his interests concerning the dark, hidden desires that all human beings are guilty of possessing. In his story, a well-respected professional by the name of Dr. Jekyll experiments with the idea of contrasting personalities and successfully undergoes a physical separation of such identities—one which would soon wreak havoc upon his very existence. As a result of his success, Edward Hyde is born. Hyde, characterized as a miniscule and terrifying, apelike figure from the start,

Working Thesis: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is a poignant example of the consequences of signification and humanity’s pursuit of meaning, which in this story lead to devastating results.

Duality is arguably the most prominent theme of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, appearing throughout the story in various descriptions and plot points. In the beginning of the book, however, there is no direct evidence of the unity of the two personalities of Dr. Jekyll, that of himself and his inner demon - Mr. Hyde. It is for this reason that the story remains intriguing to the end, keeping the reader guessing about the identity of Mr. Hyde and his relationship to the esteemed Dr. Jekyll up until the denouement. The explicitness of the descriptions of two seemingly two separate men make it seem as though they are in fact two men caught up in dangerous business. Only through the foreshadowing through the pervasive theme of

Hyde is evil. He is not just mean, he is complete evil. The reader is now aware that Jekyll knows how bad he is when he is Mr. Hyde. No one in the town wants anything to do with Mr. Hyde, they may not know who he is, but he is so intimidating that no one will give him the time of day. Jekyll analyzes that no one will go near him because humans are of good and evil.

Once you have expressed interest in your repressed behavior it is very hard to control it. Dr.Jekyll lives in a society where the norms not only engross their lives but cause unwanted hatred when one does not conform to those norms. The gentlemen lifestyle, in which Dr.Jekyll lives, causes men to carry out their wants and desire at night so that during the day they can remain a perfect model citizen. As one of Dr.Jekyll’s associate, Mr.Utterson, is going to speak to Mr. Hyde he passes through town noticing “hues of twilight; for here it would be dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be glow of a rich, lurid brown, like the light of some strange conflagration”(Stevenson25). He is not only seeing a contrast of the lower and upper class but also describing Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. The towns Mr.Utterson goes through are polar opposites, however, they are physically close to each other, just as Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde are complete opposites but are a part of the same individual in order to be both socially accepted and internally desired. Stevenson is demonstrating that both Dr.Jekyll’s personalities, although polar opposites are very close to each other at all times. As Mr.Utterson and a friend went on their daily walk they can across Dr.Jekyll on his balcony and stopped to say hello, noticing his smile which “was

The classic novel begins with Mr. Utterson, Doctor Jekyll’s lawyer, becoming suspicious about a peculiar man named Mr. Hyde. Utterson soon finds out that Hyde lives with Jekyll and is actually mentioned several times in Jekyll’s will. Although many lawyers would not think much of this, Utterson did because Mr. Hyde was nothing like other men: he was effervescing with wickedness. Hyde’s wickedness was exemplified throughout the novel by his countless acts of evility, murder, and maliciousness; he ran over a girl, killed numerous people, and eventually killed his master. Likewise, as the story progresses, we discover that as Hyde became more sinister, Jekyll became more

I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into the sea of liberty” (Stevenson, p. 63). Dr. Jekyll considered himself a genius for having the ability to separate the two entities of his good and evil

The novel further proves that the inner devil is desperately trying to escape. The terminology for Jekyll and Hyde could also be found in a dictionary. Such definitions can be found: (1)“one who has a quasi-schizophrenic, alternating phases of pleasantness and unpleasantness” (2) “a person having a split personality, one side of which is good and the other evil” and (3) “this phase refers to a person who alternates between charming demeanor and extremely unpleasant behavior”. Sigmund Freud, a controversial psychiatrist with many questionable theories, described the symptoms of schizophrenia as the “Jekyll and Hyde syndrome”. Jekyll and Hyde were two opposite personalities that made up one person. Stevenson wrote his novel on the assumption that man is made up of only two parts- the good and the evil. In the novel, Mr. Hyde was depicted as being ugly, disgusting, and much smaller than Dr. Jekyll himself. This was because his evil side (Mr. Hyde) was a smaller portion than that of the good side (Dr. Jekyll), so Jekyll was

Dr. Jekyll: He is a respected doctor and both friend of dr.lanyon, a fellow physician, and utterson, a lawyer. Jekyll is a prosperous man, established in the community, and is known for his works. He has a darker side to him.

In the beginning of the story, Mr. Hyde is introduced and is viewed by the society he lives in as deformed, strange, and evil. He is accused of shocking acts such as trampling a little girl in the streets, and murdering an older gentleman. These acts cause people such as Mr. Utterson to become puzzled at why Dr. Jekyll is putting Mr. Hyde in line to inherit what he leaves behind – mostly because Mr. Hyde is the farthest thing from normal or good. However, the pieces fit together when it is revealed that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. Overall, finding out that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact, the same person, is the first logical explanation is that Dr. Jekyll is guilty for the crimes Mr. Hyde has committed.

Robert Louis Stevenson uses a kind of split writing approach when it came to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is writing in the Victorian era, which to us comes across as a very old writing style. His writing is very Victorian but is also full of outdated structures and expressions. The writing style is formal and proper, because to the Victorians manners were everything, however the writing also gets dark and grimy. In the quotation we selection, the diction in the passage is very formal, there is no slang used. The language is also elevated, as the author uses words like “detestable”. There are also connotative words. Enfield is not able to describe what Hyde looks like, even though he saw him very clearly. He uses words like

Stevenson effectively explores the theme of duality and how there are two sides to a person: the good and the evil, the “polar twins” that is embedded inside each and every one of us, that “man is not truly one, but truly two”. He too explores other dichotomies such as reputation and temptation, moral insanity, criminal responsibility, and sexual perversion.