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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY: IS JEKYLL TO BLAME?

Robert L. Stevenson presents evil at its worst form through his character, Dr. Jekyll. The

novel mirrors the exact nature of humankind, which is both wrong and good. However, evil

seems to outdo the good if one is not careful to control the emotions. This argumentative essay

seeks to ascertain if Dr. Jekyll is guilty of all the evils he makes Mr. Hyde commit or not.

Although he is a medical doctor, he misuses his knowledge, bringing evil rather than good to

society. I think Dr. Jekyll becomes too motivated by his innovativeness and forgets to head to his

voice of reason. Therefore, Dr. Jekyll is guilty of all the eventualities that happen in society due

to the misuse of his knowledge.

Dr. Jekyll decides to experiment with his evil on Mr. Hyde, and he knows pretty well that

it is wrong. He even lets Hyde out at night so that he may not be noticed by society. Stevenson

describes Hyde as “…Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil” (Claus,&

Sandrine, 577-578). Utterson brings out the vicious nature of Hyde as he describes his physical

appearance as deformed. However, he cannot explain clearly how Hyde looks like (Arivovna, &

Kadirova, 23-27). Mr. Utterson says that there must be something else, and implies that the man

seems hardly human. This means that Dr. Jekyll makes Mr. Hyde with utmost evil traits.

Dr. Jekyll is also at fault for the deaths done by Hyde. He enjoys letting out his evil side

through the character so that he can be wicked. Despite knowing the dark side is not good, he

started letting out Hyde more often, that he soon gained control over him. Jekyll says, “…was a

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being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centred on self; drinking

pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another…” (Komissarova & Alice,

157-170). Dr. Jekyll executed his private desires, sensual pleasures to malicious acts, and needs

through Hyde to a level that Jekyll could no longer control Hyde. His evil had triumphed over his

voice of reason.

To fulfill his ambitions, Jekyll is driven by his evil side. His sense of consciousness

gradually weakened, and he could no longer see the bad in doing anything provided he fulfilled

his ambitions. The more he enjoyed letting the evil triumph, the more it gained control over him.

He says, “This person who had thus, from the first moment of his entrance, struck in me what I

can only describe as a disgustful curiosity” (Komissarova & Alice, 157-170). As a result, the evil

started to torture him, and he was no longer the person he was before. The author says, “The

power of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll”;”… and at every hour of

weakness, and in the confidences of slumber, prevailed against him, and disposed him out of

life” (Claus,& Sandrine, 577-578). Consequently, Dr. Jekyll started suffering and regretting his

decision to experiment with evil.

One may argue that Dr. Jekyll was not at fault since his original intention was pure.

However, the argument is unpersuasive since he would have stopped experimenting as soon as

he discovered that the evil was becoming more assertive and fighting for freedom. Thus, I would

strongly convict Dr. Jekyll for the deaths and misconduct of Mr. Hyde.

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Work Cited

Arivovna, Kadirova Nargiza. "Parallelism in transformation motives of Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson and The Metamorphosis by Kafka." International

Journal on Integrated Education 2.6 (2019): 23-27.

Claus, Sandrine P. "The Strange Case of Prevotella copri: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?." Cell host &

microbe 26.5 (2019): 577-578.

Komissarova, Alice Leonidovna. "The Representation of Evil and the Conventions of the Gothic

Stories in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Филологический аспект 10 (2018):

157-170.