Comparison of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Mary Reilly

2

SURNAME

Comparison of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll andMr. Hyde to Mary Reilly

The book Mary Reilly by Valery Martin was writtenas a sequel literature to book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. Martin’s earlier texts in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll andMr. Hyde are seen to be stark, ingeniously related and engaging froma reader’s standpoint. This literature tells a disturbing storyabout a dual personality of Dr. Jekyll, a re-known medical physician.The author paints the character of Dr. Jekyll as a man with anenormous philanthropic heart but is battling innate tendencies ofgood and evil with a possibility of separating these two personalcharacter traits at any given time. The Dr. Scientifically develops adrug that alters his character into the demonic Dr. Hyde. In thischaracter, Mr. Hyde is seen to undertake actions that make use of hisevil nature to the best of his ability. In this book, Stevensonpaints the doctor as being a violent man. He states that the actionsof this man are incomparable to any sane human being.

In his Stevenson’s texts, Dr. Jekyll, as well asMr. Hyde, have a significant number of powerful and most violentscenes. Every time Mr. Hyde, who is the culprit in all thesituations, is in a violent encounter, the victim is always innocent.This is apparent in the first chapter of this book where the readersare given inside information about the incident where Mr. Hyde ranover and trampled a young girl in the streets at three o’clock inthe morning. Later on, as the plot advances, we learn of an incidentwhere Hyde mercilessly murdered Sir Danvers Carew unprovoked and forno apparent reason (Stevenson 221).Even worse, as we conclude reading Stevenson’s literature, we getto learn that Mr. Hyde was a sadist who enjoyed afflicting pain onother people. The author paints the character of Mr. Hyde as a personwho always obtained joy and fulfillment from committing violence hestates that Hyde was always filled with excitement and satisfactionafter undertaking violent activities. Through Stevenson’s artisticuse of imagery to describe Mr. Hyde’s violence against his victimsexpresses the true depravity and exposes the evil nature of Mr. Hyde.His actions show a violent cold blooded killer who does not showremorse to any of his victims nor does he think twice before ending alife. These violent actions do not depict character of a sane humanbeing who treasures the sanctity of human life thus Hyde’s violenceonly project his evil character.

Just like he did to his victims, Hyde ends upturning his violent nature on himself and committing suicide. Onrealization that he was about to be exposed to the world, Mr. Hydeopts to end his life. This is when he realizes that Utterson andPulls were in the process of breaking into his cabinet. Though froman in-depth analysis of this book, it is apparent that neither of hislast victims was innocent since he kills himself and Jekyll. Afterhis demise, Mr. Hyde is seen as clearly guilty of a significantnumber of crimes at the same time Jekyll is guilty since he wasHyde’s proxy or aid since it was he, himself who created Hyde inthe first place. He plays into Hyde’s hands because despite beinghis creator he let him run free and use the same body as a man eventhough he knew Mr. Hyde’s violent tendencies. In conclusion,Stevenson suggests that those who commit violence, punishment willsoon become their fate. This statement proves that it was theauthor’s intention to use the subjects run away violent actions asthe basis of his literature work.

The novel Mary Reilly, on the other hand, is aninfluential literature work depicting the work of Doctors Jekyll andHyde. This work of art gives readers an inside look at the work ofDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde providing them with a new narrative throughthe psyche of a Victorian servant by the name Mary Reilly. The authorin this literature text narrates Mary’s stories based on thewritings of Mary’s Diary. Her diary entries paint a picture of theservant’s experiences as well as her personal feelings whileworking under Dr. Henry Jekyll. In her texts, she is seen to bealways sympathetic of Dr. Jekyll’s afflictions but does not seem tounderstand the exact experiences the doctor goes through. As theauthor later expounds in his book, Mary Reilly at one point opens upon his Masters ever changing health situation. As the book concludes,Mary’s mother loses her life leaving her in a state of internalgrief. Although this literature text is pegged on the same context asStevenson’s, Valery can be seen to focus on sexual issues in herwriting. She approaches her narrative from a feminist standingpoint projecting the gender inequality tendencies in the currentworld.

In her text, Valery attempts to come up with aNeo-Victorian appropriation built to recreate the Victorian binaryopposition. Therefore, the author develops, Mary, a female characterto paint a picture of a gender conflict as well as a state of socialboundary regression in her narrative. In the Book, Mary’s characteris shown as the source of all her insecurities and fears. This isapparent while looking at her situation from an adult’s perspectiveher concerns are seen from her case of claustrophobia as well as herinherent hatred for rodents specifically the rats. At the openingscenes of the book, the author expounds about Mary’s compulsion tobehold in her tender age, Valery also informs readers of Mary’sfirst bodily encounter with a male as well as her struggle withbetween her instinct and property (Valery 125).The author makes use of Mary’s character in this book to tell astory of the problems women faced and continue to face in thesociety. This is apparent in her master`s house where her unfortunateencounter as a young girl continues to haunt her always reminding herof her place in the society due to her sexuality.

In line with Valerie’s sexuality theme in thebook, she pushes for a gender reversal depiction. In this regard, theauthor seems to anticipate both Mary and Jekyll’s duality asindependent human beings. She further explores the struggles both ofthese individuals go through between passion, instinct, ethics,reason as well as passion. The author employs this gender-crossingand sexuality depiction as a means to destabilize the laid downVictorian standards of Femininity and masculinity. Valery brings outthe feminine Character of Mary in this text as an honest young lady.Her mannerism is used as a contrast with Jekyll’s subdued mannersand his antisocial tendencies, aware of his privileged position inthe society as a physician and as a man. Therefore the author usescases of sexual injustices perpetrated against the lady because ofher sexuality and social standard. She builds Mary as a charactercontrasting her mannerism to those of her Master. In this case, it isaccurate to state that Valery uses her book to show inequality in theworld based on sex, therefore, the book advocates for equality ofgenders as its core theme.

Just like Jekyll, Mr. Hyde appears as a significant character in bothof these books. This is maybe because they are the same person from awider perspective but pushing the different author’s themes. Basedon a scrutiny of these two characters, Mr. Hyde character traits canbe seen as being diverse in these two texts. Stevenson brings out Mr.Hyde as a wicked and violent man whom many people seldom see. In thisbook, Mr. Hide is associated with being evil based on an earliercharge with brutality on a young girl as well as the killing of SirDanvers Carew. Also, Hyde appears to possess connections to Dr. HenryJekyll as his next of kin and being the man who is always seen inJekyll`s house. However, in Valerie’s book, Mary, a female is thecentral character and narrator. She does so well by bringing the Maryin a face to face encounter with Hyde`s instances of extreme rage andevil tendencies. Being the doctor’s assistant, Mary observes Hyde’sbrutality, bad intentions as well as indecisive origins a gendermatter that is experienced by females across the world on afirst-hand basis. This is evident from an excerpt where Hydes isdescribed as always having a frown and that dark look is well visiblein his eyes (Valery 216).

Work Cited

Stevenson, Robert, Louis. The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dover ThriftEditions. London, UK, 1886.

Valery, Martin. Mary Reilly. Doubleday.London, UK. 1990.