Public Morality

Prévia do material em texto

Universidade Estadual da Paraíba 
CEDUC – Centro de Educação 
Curso: Letras-Inglês Noturno 
Componente Curricular: Literatura Inglesa IV 
Professor: Thiago Almeida 
Aluno: Lenilson Carneiro da Silva 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Analyzing public morality in the life of Dr. Jekyll in the book “The Strange 
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Campina Grande, November 29th 
 
2 
 
Who is the author of the book? 
Robert Louis Stevenson was a 19th century Scottish writer famous for such novels as 
Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was a Scottish 
and was born in Edinburgh. Since the beginning of life as child he desired to write. So, he 
started sooner. In 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson saw the publication of his first volume of 
work, An Inland Voyage. 
The year 1886 saw the publication of what would be another enduring work, Strange 
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was an immediate success and helped cement 
Stevenson's reputation. The work is decidedly of the "adult" classification, as it presents a 
jarring and horrific exploration of various conflicting traits lurking within a single person. The 
book went on to international acclaim, inspiring countless stage productions and more than 100 
motion pictures. 
Summary of the plot and characters 
The plot starts with a dialogue between a lawyer named Mr. Utterson and another man 
named Enfield, that shares a tale. It is interesting that a man named Edward Hyde trampled a 
girl in the beginning of the tale felt somehow guilty and paid a check to the family of the young 
girl. This check wasn’t his, but from another man. His name, Dr. Henry Jekyll. 
Then, this lawyer finds out that Hyde is the heir of all possessions of his client Dr. 
Henry Jekyll. He felt anger immediately. Supposedly, this man had been doing wrong things 
according to his old friend Dr. Lanyon. It is stunning to Mr. Utterson to know that such a man 
would receive such a fortune. Thus, he begins to wonder and decides to investigate more about 
this man, Mr. Hyde. 
One day, Mr. Utterson follows a man and finds out that he is the so-called Mr. Hyde. 
They talk for a while, but the lawyer decides to keep his secret of Jekyll’s will to himself. Mr. 
Utterson walks home after visiting the house of Henry Jekyll with a heavy heart and considers 
what information Mr. Hyde must have in order to be able to blackmail Dr. Jekyll. 
Mr. Utterson meets Dr. Jekyll in a dinner and attempts to question him about what is 
happening between him and Mr. Hyde. However, the doctor clearly begs Utterson to let this 
matter sleep and make sure that this continue to be a private thing. Then, Jekyll says: 
 
“I know you have seen him; he told me so; and I fear he was rude. But, I do sincerely take a great, a very great 
interest in that young man; and if I am taken away, Utterson, I wish you to promise me that you will bear with 
 
3 
 
him and get his rights for him. I think you would, if you knew all; and it would be a weight off my mind if you 
would promise.” 
 
It is not clear so far, why Jekyll seems to be “helping” young Hyde. But there is something else 
to be revealed soon. 
 One year later, young Hyde murders an old man and a maid witnesses the scene. She 
faints while seeing the horrible scene and when she came to herself, the murderer was already 
gone. She called the police. Utterson is informed of the crime and connects the maid’s 
description of the murder with Hyde immediately. 
 Mr. Utterson goes after Hyde and cannot find him. Instead, he and a police officer met 
an evil-faced woman. They talk with her for a bit and continue considering about the 
information they have got so far 
In that afternoon, Mr. Utterson pays a visit to Dr. Jekyll. They conversate. It seems that 
Dr. Jekyll has good reasons to protect Hyde at any cost. No matter what it may take, Jekyll is 
willing to help poor Hyde. The lawyer does not find it convincing and cannot understand why 
his friend is acting so weirdly. 
The lawyer receives a letter from Dr. Jekyll. In this letter, which Utterson enjoys mostly 
and regrets from his suspicions, he learns that Hyde is not really who he thought he was. 
Actually, it seems apparently that Dr. Jekyll is forging Hyde as a murderer. 
The disappearance of Hyde provides a good outcome in the life of Dr. Jekyll for about 
two months. He was nowhere to be found. On the other hand, Lanyon appeared to get worse. 
He is described to be balder, ill looking and these terrible things we show in our faces when 
bearing anguish, depression etc. Lanyon declares himself to be a doomed man. 
The clerk who works with Utterson compares the two letters, one from Mr. Hyde and 
the other from Dr. Jekyll and finds out that their handwriting are considerably alike. A week 
after the dialogue in which Utterson notices that Lanyon is deeply sick and saying puzzling 
words, he dies. However, he leaves a private letter with highly classified information to Mr. 
Utterson. But there was still an issue. The letter could be opened only after the disappearance 
of Dr. Henry Jekyll. 
On an ordinary Sunday, the two friends Utterson and Enfield walk together as usual 
and talk about the case of Hyde and his disappearance. Then, Utterson expresses himself saying 
 
4 
 
that he hopes Hyde shows up soon. In the middle of three-opened-windows Utterson saw Dr. 
Jekyll. The chat as Jekyll says that his life has come to an end. After a small talk, both friends 
witness the death of Jekyll (or Mr. Hyde dead wearing Jekyll’s clothes) just in front of them. 
They go speechless and reactionless. No one was expecting that to happen. 
Additionally, the lawyer receives a visit of Mr. Poole, the man who works in the house 
of Dr. Jekyll. He seems to be worried and afraid of something, but cannot say anything about 
it. He, then invites Mr. Utterson to see with his own eyes. They leave Utterson’s house, arrive 
in a square, enter into a manner and meet people there. Then, Mr. Poole claims that the thing 
in the cabinet where they are is not Dr. Jekyll. He believes that Jekyll’s dead. But he also shows 
a note to Utterson that seems to indicate quite the opposite. 
Suddenly, intrigued by the amount of information he heard, Utterson decides they will 
need to break the door of the cabinet and find out by themselves who that crying-person is. 
They break the door, enter the cabinet and find the body of Edward Hyde laying on the 
floor wearing Dr. Jekyll’s clothes. They keep searching for Dr. Jekyll in the theater but he is 
nowhere to be found. Then, they find a letter of will or disappearance signed with the name of 
Gabriel John Utterson. When he read those letters, amazement was unavoidable. 
In the words of the letter, it says that Utterson should now read the narrative of Dr. 
Lanyon and then, Jekyll’s. Now, everything is going to be revealed. 
Lanyon’s narrative says that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. Dr. Jekyll 
drinks a liquid and turns into the small and ugly man. 
Analysis 
 The aim here is to compare the lifestyle of Dr. Jekyll according to the concept of public 
morality. Let us define our terms: “Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards 
enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the 
content of the media, and to conduct in public places.” (Wikipedia) 
 That being said, I would like to start my reasoning: Are humans good or evils? Can 
someone be one hundred percent good or the other way around? Who are you to call someone 
a hypocrite? Are not you one of them as well? These questions are theones selected that I will 
try to answer in the next pages. 
 
5 
 
 During the investigation of Mr. Utterson the reader will notice that there are lots of 
secrets about the life of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We also see that this characteristic matches 
up with our public life. Let me break it down. We live in a society and need to follow a bunch 
of rules, adapt ourselves to fit into standards etc. However, the truth is that we are not the true 
self when we follow those things. Notice, I am not saying that everybody is evil. I am claiming 
that all of us hide something that we feel ashamed of because it is considered immoral, evil in 
the society. 
 Another thing noticed in the life of Dr. Jekyll is that when he was interrogated by 
Utterson he describes himself (Hyde) as a needy person that has a lot of struggles that nobody 
would understand if they were shared widely. In public life, we always try to justify our 
mistakes or “sins” depending on the point of view of each one. We blame the others, we argue 
that we do not follow anything. 
 Morality is something really interesting. It is considered pivotal when you are affected 
by the moral defects of your neighbor, but it is relative when you are the one making mistakes. 
I admit that this debatable because for some scholars there is no such thing as morality. 
On the other hand, there are some scholars that believe it does exist. In fact, there are some 
moral “laws” that are consensus around the world. For instance: murder, rape, kidnapping etc. 
Unfortunately, we will not have the space the dive in this topic. 
This discussion brings us to the topic of hypocrisy. According to the dictionary 
hypocrisy is: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not: behavior that 
contradicts what one claims to believe or feel. Basically, it is to say something or defend some 
ideas and contradict them at the same time by living as they were nothing to you, like they did 
not even matter. The word hypocrite comes from Greece. At early ages, a hypocrite was some 
kind of actor or actress who interpreted a character in a play. The word started to be used 
negatively because people noticed that it would fit perfectly in describing the real-life 
organization and morality as well. 
One of the propositions I am making here in this paper is the everybody is at least 
essentially a hypocrite morally speaking. I will explain my point. All human beings have got 
certain areas of their life that they would like to improve. There are also lots of things they 
regret for have done in the past. So, in order to prevent the next generations to suffer, to become 
something they do not want or they think is not good to anyone, they defend ideas against their 
own past experiences. This kind of behavior has advantages and sometimes disadvantages. 
 
6 
 
One advantage is that if you succeed on this task teaching someone and giving advice 
on how to prevent the person to make the same “mistakes” or actions, you are helping the 
person considering that this person accepts your ideas and agrees to follow them freely. One 
disadvantage would be that if the person finds out your past experiences and criticizes you, you 
will have no longer any influence on him/her. 
Following this reasoning and comparing with the life of Dr. Jekyll, it is absolutely a 
good point to make defending that everybody is a hypocrite. And you know what? That’s fine! 
Once we know that everybody has got issues to address, I defend that this should unite us more. 
It might seem utopian to say, but that is what I really propose after this analysis. I leave the 
question still open to debate. 
 Notice that in the last chapter of the book the letter of doctor Jekyll reveals his original 
plans. He wanted to separate the two sides evil and good, but he fails to do so. Instead, he 
drinks this potion and transforms himself into a wicked version of him. Namely, Edward Hyde. 
My analogy here followed by my interpretation of this descriptions is simple. Everyone 
want to be considered good. All people want to have a high reputation and we work hard to 
keep our secrets to maintain it good. When we change religions, participate in a political 
movement for a good cause, when we help our neighbor we are doing some good but in our 
minds, there is always some desire to be seem as a good person. 
 
 
 
 
References 
SparkNotes Editors. (2003). SparkNote on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Retrieved 
November 27, 2017, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jekyll/