Our Inner Demons Revealed
Hello all! I hope that you are all doing well and making it through this quarantine
I'm Wes and today I'll be reviewing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. As opposed to simply giving a summary and my opinion, I want to dive into the moral debate that is brought up in his novella, so I'll spare the plot so you guys can read the book yourself. Unfortunately in order to discuss the moral question posed the big plot twist will be spoiled, so I guess I lied to you. Huh. Anyways, onto the "review"!
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Some background:
Throughout the story, we see two characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We find out that Dr. Jekyll is an upstanding member of society and Mr. Hyde is the type of person to literally run over a child and not look back (it happened). In the end, we find out that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person all along. Jekyll, who was a scientist, had created a formula that could transform him into a different person. While truly himself, he continued with the normal motions of life. But he used his alter-ego, so to speak, to drink, smoke, go to "whore-houses". Jekyll used Hyde so he could do the "bad" things that he wanted to do while keeping Jekyll free of any consequences. The more that he transforms back and forth, the more difficult transformation and remaining as the transformation became. Hyde also began resisting against Jekyll. Eventually, the inner-conflict between the two resulted in the death of both.
So what's there to take away from that?
We all want to do bad things, I dare say it's human nature. No matter how much we hide it, we all want an alter-ego that allows us to do bad things while our actual selves remain without consequences. Somehow, Jekyll managed to do this, but it ultimately led to his demise. So what does that say about our deep, dark desires? Take it as you will. I choose to interpret this as an idealist concept won't work. In the story, Hyde began to take over control. The ideal situation for me is a world where our bad sides must refrain for the sake of our good sides (which is basically our world).
In that giant paragraph, the one thing I want to ask you is how do you interpret Jekyll and Hyde and their struggle?
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I'm really sorry if that made no sense and/or was rambly, but this book honestly amazed me with its telling. The prose is intricate and managed to tell such a vivid, relatable story, so check it out... or don't.
Cheers,
Wes
I'm Wes and today I'll be reviewing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. As opposed to simply giving a summary and my opinion, I want to dive into the moral debate that is brought up in his novella, so I'll spare the plot so you guys can read the book yourself. Unfortunately in order to discuss the moral question posed the big plot twist will be spoiled, so I guess I lied to you. Huh. Anyways, onto the "review"!
---
Some background:
Throughout the story, we see two characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We find out that Dr. Jekyll is an upstanding member of society and Mr. Hyde is the type of person to literally run over a child and not look back (it happened). In the end, we find out that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person all along. Jekyll, who was a scientist, had created a formula that could transform him into a different person. While truly himself, he continued with the normal motions of life. But he used his alter-ego, so to speak, to drink, smoke, go to "whore-houses". Jekyll used Hyde so he could do the "bad" things that he wanted to do while keeping Jekyll free of any consequences. The more that he transforms back and forth, the more difficult transformation and remaining as the transformation became. Hyde also began resisting against Jekyll. Eventually, the inner-conflict between the two resulted in the death of both.
So what's there to take away from that?
We all want to do bad things, I dare say it's human nature. No matter how much we hide it, we all want an alter-ego that allows us to do bad things while our actual selves remain without consequences. Somehow, Jekyll managed to do this, but it ultimately led to his demise. So what does that say about our deep, dark desires? Take it as you will. I choose to interpret this as an idealist concept won't work. In the story, Hyde began to take over control. The ideal situation for me is a world where our bad sides must refrain for the sake of our good sides (which is basically our world).
In that giant paragraph, the one thing I want to ask you is how do you interpret Jekyll and Hyde and their struggle?
---
I'm really sorry if that made no sense and/or was rambly, but this book honestly amazed me with its telling. The prose is intricate and managed to tell such a vivid, relatable story, so check it out... or don't.
Cheers,
Wes
I know you're a big advocate of posting book reviews which I normally oppose. This review, however, was very enjoyable. It was creative, interesting, and opened the comments to discussion more than just "good review, I'll check out that book."
ReplyDeleteI am not sure where I stand on the moral issues in this book because I think I need more information. What does the "formula" actually do? I assume the mind stays the same and the body is the part that changes, but then do the negative actions (drinking, smoking) affect both bodies or just one? I think that the struggle between Jekyll and Hyde is that Jekyll feels no responsibility for Hyde. Jekyll doesn't do bad things because he wants to preserve his health and public image. When he is Hyde, he doesn't care what people think of him. This may not make sense, but I feel bad for Hyde since Jekyll is essentially ruining his life. There is a reason we don't do bad things, they have consequences.