The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Writing task

I

think fear is something relative. But in general, fear is a strong and unpleasant feeling that you get when you think that something bad, dangerous or frightening might happen.

In this book, the theme of fear is very present. We are going to find in what circumstances it appears.

In first place, we all understand that Utterson is afraid during the whole book. He doesn’t know what is happening, nobody tells him. It spreads mystery and mystery often means fear. He tries to understand, he asks around him and he feels there is something wrong. We can see it for the first time when he discovers that Dr. Jekyll gives all his possessions to Mr. Hyde, in the case of his disappearance. The lawyer knows Hyde is not a good person (he knows the story of the little girl). He thinks Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll, that is why Utterson is afraid for his friend (Enfield speaking: “I suppose it’s a case of blackmail; […]. But even that […] is far from explaining everything.” p.5) The fact that Utterson doesn’t know what’s going on makes him afraid.

Secondly, the character who died because of fear, the one who knew what’s going on and died because of it, was Dr. Lanyon. Indeed, the doctor saw the metamorphosis from Hyde to Jekyll. It is so unlikely and unexpected that it made him sick and he died. I know he died because he has been surprised, but the unlikely is related to fear and that is why I can say he died because of the fear (“I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and it made my soul sick. […] terror sits by me at all hours […]. I cannot think of it without a shocked feeling of horror […].” p.48).

Finally, we see the last aspect of the fear in the character of Jekyll. We learn, at the end of the book, that he was frightened by his second personality. In fact, he starts to be afraid of Hyde when he realized he cannot control him (“But time began at last to dull the freshness of my fear. I began to suffer the pains of strong desire, as if Hyde were struggling for his freedom.” p.55).

In conclusion, there are three main aspects of the fear: Utterson, because he didn’t know what was going on, Lanyon because he knew and, of course, Jekyll because he didn’t know how to control himself. That is why I think fear is something relative: they all have their own fear.

...