Hyde & Jekyll

Part One:

Excerpts

Chapter 1 & Chapter 3

     What does Mr. Hyde look like? what exactly is wrong with Mr. Hyde's appearance? To figure this out you have to put in some thought. When Enfield describes Hyde to Mr. Utterson (the lawyer) he leaves out any of the usual physical traits most stories begin with, like blue eyes, black hair, large nose, etc.. Instead of the common characteristics, he leads with, "There is something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something down-right detestable"(page 8). As Enfield cannot explicitly name any physical faults in Mr. Hyde's appearance, the reader is left to their own imagination, which leads to one of a dark, horrific monstrous man, that cares for no one but himself. The strong negative connotations of phrases like "down-right detestable" and "he gives a strong feeling of deformity" make the reader believe this. Later on, after taking in Mr. Enfield's account and the will Jekyll told Utterson to hold onto, Utterson came to the conclusion that, "out of the shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there leaped up the sudden, definite presentment of a fiend" (page 9). It seems throughout this chapter that Mr. Hyde was being described off of what he sounded like and the actions he made, and through these the reader can get a good sense of who this man really was.


    On the other hand, Dr. Jekyll is perceived as someone of good, and the reader can see that he is the opposite of Mr. Hyde. In this excerpt a description of Dr. Jekyll is given, he is characterized as, "...a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness..." (14). This description contrasts what the reader would perceive Mr. Hyde as, and it shows that Mr. Jekyll is respected, as well as liked by many. This description also provides physical characteristics of Mr. Jekyll, making him seem realer than Mr. Hyde because the reader can actually imagine a face. The use of simpler descriptive diction such as "large", where words like imposing or substantial would likely have been applied to Hyde, makes Jekyll into a gentler and nicer character. The development of ideas on Jekyll's character that we readers engage in, is the presence of dramatic irony. Everyone knows that Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll are the dual personalities of one man, but the positive diction used to describe his appearance and how others regard him, give the reader underlying knowledge that some parts of Mr. Jekyll are in fact evil. This makes the reader not fully like Mr. Jekyll even though everyone else mentioned In the book as said they did.


Part Two:

The two poems I created that are the voices of Jekyll and Hyde, are the descriptions of the two, which I wrote about above. I based the poems off of the struggle between good and evil, and how no matter how much you want of one, the other will always try to break free. Although both of them are aware of who they are and want to stay in that body, there is a constant struggle with the other part. Both poems give the reader a feel for what both of the characters are feeling and thinking.

Dr. Jekyll

I am the good part
the part that is loved

I am caring, with kindness to give

A doctor who cares for life

A man with a hidden secret

A thought
A whisper

Yelling to set him free. Yet,
havoc is what he desires

STOP. I will not.

I will stay above the dark my friend
I need help, for I am a man now

But not for long.


Mr. Hyde

I am the bad part
the part that is hated

I am monstrous, with knives for words

I am a doctor who longs for death

A man with a hidden secret

A cry
or maybe it's a crack in my mind

Yelling for me to turn. Yet,
this is me, I cannot. Will not. Change

YES. I will not

Fall into the abyss my friend
for you burden me with a conscious

But not for long.