Hyde & Seek
Part 1:
In chapter 1 the excerpt "He is not easy to describe" portrays Hyde in a despicable way from the very beginning. Hyde is introduced in a way that puts his character in the dark side before even meeting the character for him to introduce himself to the audience in his own way. The audience is automatically suspicious and put off by Hyde based off of the description Enfield tells, and for some reason the audience will trust Enfield with this description because he portrayed himself as worthy of truth from the beginning of the chapter with a description, all relaying trustworthy, good, shy friend characteristics. However, Enfield is a minor character in the book but Hyde's mysteriousness continues on and this can be brought back to chapter one setting the tone with Hyde's character.
In chapter 6 the excerpt "Now that that evil influence" portrays Jekyll as someone who is the friendly man on the street that everybody likes. He is described to be social with friends and care for them but also shuts them out. Jekyll seems to be portrayed as someone who is supposed to be a "changed" man but is having drawbacks. This begins with Jekyll having parties and seeing his friends for two months almost daily to not allowing Utterson entry to his home. It could be seen that Hyde had a big influence on Jekyll and when he was taken away from him, indicating the inner dark side is gone, (seen in the first sentence of the excerpt) Jekyll is able to feel at peace and be with his friends again and social. However, Jekyll starts to hide away again which indicates the inner dark side, Hyde, is coming back into his life. This also indicates that Hyde is controlling Jekyll and the dark side has power over him because he let it go wild once before and can not control it again. Jekyll's disappearance has an impact on his friends, "he found this return of solitude to weigh upon his spirits" (Stevenson 39). This portrays Jekyll as someone who means something to the people around him and that creating Hyde is tearing him apart as well as wearing him down. That is shown when Utterson does see Jekyll again with a worn out face and tired body indicating his time of hell he has been through with Hyde and the battle of his other side.
Part 2:
J: Jekyll H: Hyde
J&H: He is my other half, the other part of me
J: Why oh why did I do it?
H: Why can't I have more?
J: I wanted to get rid of the dark
H: I want to get rid of the light
J: And the things he has done has me on my knees
H: I do not know of the thing called remorse
J: My dreams and aspirations... gone!
H: The screams and blood... want!
J&H: He is my worst half that has ruined me
J: I have to stop it, stop him, stop me
This is to show how both sides view each other as their worst side. Jekyll is upset by what he has done and made of himself/Hyde, and how it has ruined his dreams and aspirations. Hyde believes that Jekyll is his worst half because he feels remorse and wants friendship while all he wants is to let out anger and explore his dark side of murder. In the end Jekyll knows what he has to do for the in order to stop Hyde from the world.
In chapter 1 the excerpt "He is not easy to describe" portrays Hyde in a despicable way from the very beginning. Hyde is introduced in a way that puts his character in the dark side before even meeting the character for him to introduce himself to the audience in his own way. The audience is automatically suspicious and put off by Hyde based off of the description Enfield tells, and for some reason the audience will trust Enfield with this description because he portrayed himself as worthy of truth from the beginning of the chapter with a description, all relaying trustworthy, good, shy friend characteristics. However, Enfield is a minor character in the book but Hyde's mysteriousness continues on and this can be brought back to chapter one setting the tone with Hyde's character.
In chapter 6 the excerpt "Now that that evil influence" portrays Jekyll as someone who is the friendly man on the street that everybody likes. He is described to be social with friends and care for them but also shuts them out. Jekyll seems to be portrayed as someone who is supposed to be a "changed" man but is having drawbacks. This begins with Jekyll having parties and seeing his friends for two months almost daily to not allowing Utterson entry to his home. It could be seen that Hyde had a big influence on Jekyll and when he was taken away from him, indicating the inner dark side is gone, (seen in the first sentence of the excerpt) Jekyll is able to feel at peace and be with his friends again and social. However, Jekyll starts to hide away again which indicates the inner dark side, Hyde, is coming back into his life. This also indicates that Hyde is controlling Jekyll and the dark side has power over him because he let it go wild once before and can not control it again. Jekyll's disappearance has an impact on his friends, "he found this return of solitude to weigh upon his spirits" (Stevenson 39). This portrays Jekyll as someone who means something to the people around him and that creating Hyde is tearing him apart as well as wearing him down. That is shown when Utterson does see Jekyll again with a worn out face and tired body indicating his time of hell he has been through with Hyde and the battle of his other side.
Part 2:
J: Jekyll H: Hyde
J&H: He is my other half, the other part of me
J: Why oh why did I do it?
H: Why can't I have more?
J: I wanted to get rid of the dark
H: I want to get rid of the light
J: And the things he has done has me on my knees
H: I do not know of the thing called remorse
J: My dreams and aspirations... gone!
H: The screams and blood... want!
J&H: He is my worst half that has ruined me
J: I have to stop it, stop him, stop me
This is to show how both sides view each other as their worst side. Jekyll is upset by what he has done and made of himself/Hyde, and how it has ruined his dreams and aspirations. Hyde believes that Jekyll is his worst half because he feels remorse and wants friendship while all he wants is to let out anger and explore his dark side of murder. In the end Jekyll knows what he has to do for the in order to stop Hyde from the world.
The last line of your poem really resonated with me. It is interesting to see what Jekyll thinks he needs to do about Hyde and how you displayed their characters through your poem. What I found to be the most thought-provoking point of your analysis is that Jekyll is losing against Hyde because he let him run wild before and now has a hard time getting him under control. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteIn your analysis, I liked when you briefly talked about the audiences reaction to Hyde by the description. That is something that I think a lot of people did not really think about but is an important aspect of it. I think most of your analysis was pretty spot on. I really liked your poem because it really shows how conflicted Jekyll/Hyde was about the whole thing, but also how he realized he had let something uncontrollable get away from him.
ReplyDelete