Hamish’s Blog

In the novel “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” Robert Louis Stevenson’s idea is that evil is inherent in all of humanity and that no person can be entirely good, however a man could be overtaken and controlled by pure evil. The nature of good and evil which Stevenson conveys and the constant struggle for supremacy between the two is very complicated and distinguishing between them is difficult as both are so closely entwined. This conflict between good and evil is conveyed through characterisation, setting and symbolism.

Stevenson expresses the conflict between good and evil through characterisation using Dr Jekyll as one of his focus points for this. Jekyll is “a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast”; this suggests that he has something concealed from everyone else. Within these words Stevenson reveals the different levels of the character. His “smooth face” creates an impression that suggests he has a secret or hidden facade, the reader may be deceived by his immaculate appearance, hence an air of mystery. The expression “a slyish cast” creates a crack in Jekyll’s refined “mask” through which the reader begins to see his true nature and hints of darkness inside Stevenson’s character. What I think he is meaning to convey though, is that Jekyll is trying to hide evil itself, however because evil is strong Stevenson shows that he cannot stop it slowly encroaching into the character.

Another example of how characterisation is used to convey the conflict between good and evil is through Mr Hyde. Hyde eventually turns out to be Dr Jekyll whom has been changed by the drug, however, up until the point where this information becomes known to the reader, Stevenson’s other characters do not know this and think he is a different person altogether. The other characters do agree on one thing though, “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing something downright detestable… yet I scare know why. He must be deformed somewhere… although I couldn’t specify the point… And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him at this moment.” This quotation is from when Enfield depicts to Utterson how he watched Hyde trample down a little girl. He is asked to describe Hyde’s appearance, but is unable to create a clear portrait. Stevenson’s Enfield affirms that he is disfigured, ugly, and causes an immediate revulsion, yet he cannot say why. Enfield’s incoherency sets a pattern for the novel as no one, from witnesses describing Hyde, to the police or even Utterson himself, can conceive a precise description of the man. Most people merely come to the conclusion that he appears ugly in some inexpressible way. Their lack of success in articulation creates an impression of Hyde as an uncanny figure, whose deformity is obscured, mysterious, and apparent with another sense, like human instinct, for which no word exists.

As well as characterisation playing an important part in this novel, some of the settings also convey the conflict between good and evil and their struggle to become the strongest “element of the soul”. Dr Jekyll’s “court was very cool and a little damp, and full of premature twilight, although the sky, high up overhead, was still bright with sunset”; Stevenson’s choice of words is used to show that even though it just seems like a court, the description means more in terms of good versus evil. This setting is a representation of Jekyll; he is the court that is filled “with sunset” or good, which he and everyone around him can see. However there is a hint of evil lingering in him, shown by the “premature twilight” which is slowly creeping into his body and trying to overpower his good spirit which is appearing to succumb as the evil increases. Stevenson conveys that Jekyll is trying to cover up this release of evil by saying that “the sky, high up overhead, was still bright with sunset”, which demonstrates that good is trying to block or push out the evil by “brightly” showing itself. However the “high up overhead” part of the quote indicates that Jekyll’s spirit and good will is far away, and that his need and want to not be evil is only second to his desire to be evil, meaning that his power to choose what he becomes is quite limited due to how far his consciousness is away from controlling his own mind. Stevenson effectively uses this to convey the change that is occurring inside his character of Dr Jekyll; showing that evil is beginning to manipulate Jekyll so he believes that he does not need the good within, which allows the evil that resides in him to dominate his soul, destroying the once good man.

The setting discussed contained elements that represented things greater than themselves. This type of symbolism is used throughout the novel to show the dramatic side of the contrast between good and evil and how the two are so closely related. The signatures of Stevenson’s characters, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, are collected by Utterson and he shows them to his head clerk, Mr Guest, who deduces that “there’s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many point identical: only differently sloped” Stevenson’s choice of words show the contrast in these signatures reflects the two sides of the Stevenson’s characters, sloping one way then the other, changing from one character to the other. Jekyll believes that he is safe in his seemingly good form and that any wrong done by his alter ego will just vanish and not compromise him when he takes the drug. However as shown by Stevenson’s quote, even Jekyll cannot create a new signature to disguise Hyde’s true identity meaning the difference between the two is very noticeable. This is also symbolic as Stevenson shows that suppressing the evil inside a person can make it more obvious especially when all the pent up rage, anger and cruelty gets released at once due to Jekyll not being able to control the evil which is now commanding him.

Through characterisation, setting and symbolism, Robert Louis Stevenson shows that evil is built-in to all of mankind and that it can exploit a person so that the light of good is extinguished. The closely linked relationship between good and evil and the continual battle between them is a never ending conflict in the novel “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”

Hamish