The Jekyll and Hyde Syndrome - Book Report/Review Example

Man has the tendency to be a good and upright individual as well as to be a perpetrator of evil doings, inbuilt in his character. By trying to indulge their base nature, some individuals lose complete control over themselves. This has been illustrated by R.L.Stevenson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde. The story begins with Utterson, the lawyer, and friend of Dr.Jekyll being narrated an incident in the night when a child was mercilessly trampled upon by Mr. Hyde, who, later gives a cheque signed by Dr.

Jekyll to the parents of the child as compensation. The lawyer is worried because Dr. Jekyll has recently made a will leaving all his money to Edward Hyde in case of his death or "disappearance". A few days later, a well-respected man named Sir Danvers Carew is murdered brutally by Hyde. As there is an eye witness for the murder, the police are after Hyde who has disappeared .Dr.Jekyll becomes a recluse and refuses to meet anyone. Utterson tries to talk to his friend Dr. Lanyon who refuses to talk about Jekyll and later sends the lawyer a sealed letter.

The household staff of Jekyll complains to Utterson of their master's strange behavior. When they enter Jekyll's private quarters after breaking open the door, they see the body of Hyde lying dead in Jekyll's clothes. The mystery is solved when the two letters are read: Dr. Jekyll has a double personality- he himself was the horrible Mr. Hyde.The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brings out vividly the change that was wrought on Dr.Jekyll when he could not control his baser nature from taking over his personality.

His very appearance changed whenever he turned into Hyde: he became smaller, his face became ugly and his hands grew hairy He seemed abnormal and revolting. Whereas Dr. Hyde was a"large, well made, smooth-faced man of fifty" (Stevenson 23), Hyde was young and dwarfish. "Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish; he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation".(19) While Dr.Jekyll was handsome, as for Hyde, "the man seems hardly human!" (19)Their respective characters are also poles apart; while Dr.

Jekyll is affectionate intelligent and reputable, Hyde is cruel, wicked and cunning. He binds Dr. Lanyon under the seal of professional ethics when he says to him, "Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows under the seal of our profession"(74) Jekyll was a moral man, although he recognized "the primitive duality of man."(77), but Hyde was a "really damnable man."(8) While the persona pf Jekyll was made up of "the aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made up" (79) his spirit, Hyde's personality "bore the stamp of lower elements "(79) in his soul.

Although Dr.Jekyll had two characters and two distinct appearances, the evil character wins in the end because he has been indulging it too long and has not controlled it.The Turn of the ScrewThe duality of the character of an individual is chillingly portrayed by Henry James in "The Turn of the Screw". A young and beautiful woman is engaged to be the governess of a young girl Flora and her ten-year-old brother Miles, at their country estate Bly. Miles has been dismissed from his school for a vague reason.

The young woman learns that the previous governess Miss Jessel is dead and so is Clint, the valet.