R. L. Stevenson’s novel ‘The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ set in late 19^th century Englandis an example of Victorian fiction.The novel explores the strength of human ability in the field of science. The novel is composed of various elements like allegory, gothic novel and Victorian literature.The novel starts with the name of the character and their social status.All throughout the story there is a blurring between the rich and the poor. There is a lot of sexual undertone that is subtly hinted in the novel.The novel could also be an allegory for drug addiction which was a major problem in the Victorian era. There is a third person omniscient voice which is authorial. The novel tells us about the fine line between the supernatural (gothic) and the material (science) world.The chapters are episodic in nature and there is a slow reveal of the events. The story revolves around the duality of the central character.

Mr Utterson, aprominent lawyeris a unique character and represents the ideals of a Victorian gentleman. We see the incidents through his point of view. We believe his theories because of hisserious nature. The story revolves around Mr Utterson trying to find out what is going on between his friend Dr Jekyll and the mysterious Hyde who is a murderer.R. L. Stevenson has chosen the names of the characters through the emotion that it evokes on hearing them like Utterson or Hyde. The ‘Story of the door’ indicates spaces. The various themes of the novel are friendship, fight between good and evil and science versus nature.

Dr Jekyll was a member of the upper class who was like by his peers. He had a dark wild side to him. He concealed his pleasures for the sake of his career and conformed to Victorian society. He felt like an imposter within his own body.He was torn between his attempts to be good and his evil fantasies.He wanted to embark on immoral adventures and escape social judgement.He finds out about the duplicity of life and wanted to separate his two natures and he creates a potion that lets him transform into Hyde, who is his evil alter ego.The only thing that connected Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the memories that they shared. Their personalities were in stark contrast. Overtime Hyde appears as and when he wishes and Jekyll loses control over him.Although Jekyll is horrified by his actions, he continues to take the potion. Earlier he had to repress his true self, emotions to lead a restrained and respectable life. But now he lived his darker urges through Hyde.

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Edward Hyde is everything Jekyll cannot be in fear of social criticism.Although Hyde was physically younger and smaller than Jekyll he awakens disgust and terror among people. Hyde gives an impression of deformity but with no nameable actual deformity. The words small and large were used to describe Hyde and Jekyll respectively and the audience subconsciously cannot conclude that they are the same person. The contrast between them is very sharp. What Jekyll did was unscientific and outside the bounds of social norms. There is a lot of emphasis done on sight. There are numerous arrays of documents which link to the story like the handwriting, cheque, key etc.

The final chapter indicates the moral struggle of fate versus evil. Jekyll tapered with the supernatural and now had to pay for it. The heart of the issue unravels at a medium pace and then ends with the death of Jekyll.The final word of Jekyll’s letter indicates that Jekyll lives in writing even though Hyde had power over him. The true part of Jekyll dies when the letter is finished.There is no voice of the narrator or Utterson after this as Jekyll’s truth or his life is in his very letter which came to an end.At the end of the novel, there is a third voice which tells us about Jekyll and Hyde as separate people. They are divided by hatred. Jekyll was suffering from a deep identity crisis. Jekyll takes the final call and kills himself because Hyde faced charge as an outlaw. By the end of the novel, the voice shifts from that of a doting father to anger.This novel was an inspiration to comic characters like Dr Bruce banner and the incredible Hulk which portrayed the similar case of a split personality.

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