Character Analysis of Mr. Hyde

Character Analysis of Mr. Hyde

Members of our Group:

Carlos Ontiveros

Sarah Estrada

Topic:

The topic that we were assigned is to provide a description of Mr. Hyde and relate it to the idea that human ugliness originates in the soul.

"Good Stuff"

Antagonist

Mr. Hyde would be considered the antagonist of the story because he is the person that blocks Dr. Jekyll’s existence.

Irony

The irony involved is that Jekyll purposely turned himself into Hyde and by the end of the story, he wasn't able turn himself back because Hyde became the controlling force.

Conflict

Mr. Hyde’s character evokes many conflicts throughout the story such as trampling over the girl, or the murder of Mr. Carew.

Simile

Simile is used multiple times in the story to describe Hyde’s appearance. For example, Hyde was compared to a troglodyte, which means a primitive thing or person.

Parts of: Character Analysis

describe the character.

discuss the conflict in the story, particularly in regards to the character’s place in

it.

identify the type of character it is dealing with.

Character Analysis of Mr. Hyde

Type of Character

Antagonist: The character that blocks the protagonist.

Characters Place in the Conflict

Dr. Jekyll became curious about his alter-ego so he synthesized a potion that reveals the dark side of a person. Once Jekyll took the potion, he turned into a character called Hyde. This character is almost the exact opposite of what Jekyll is and does things that Jekyll would never do. For example, Hyde killed Carew in a rampage.

Description

“Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering, and somewhat broken voice” Stevenson, pg. 19

“Particularly small and particularly wicked-looking, is what the maid calls him” Stevenson pg. 29

“his clothes, that is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric, were enormously too large for him in every measurement-the trousers hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them from the ground, the waist of the coat below his haunches and the collar sprawling wide upon his shoulders.” Stevenson, pg. 54

Connection:

All of the descriptions provided of Hyde that existed in the book were told from the point of view of society. Why did society view Hyde like this? Is society actually afraid of Hyde because they are afraid of the unknown? Or was society actually the evil one? Who was the person that decided that the acts that Hyde did were evil or cruel? To Hyde, the things he did were absolutely ethical. Society depicted Hyde as wicked and terrifying because they didn't have the same views as him. The world wanted nothing to do with Hyde because he was not in the same status quo as them.

ACTIVITY TIME!! :)

Activity Wrap-Up

Were'nt most of the things you thought of related to the mortal sins? Now that you've realized that, don't you see that there is a little bit of human ugliness in everyone's soul. Hyde wasn't the only one who was "evil". All of you that connected your thoughts to the mortal sins can now relate to Mr. Hyde's personality. Now, in a sense, you know that you, at least in part, have something in common with Mr. Hyde.

Conclusion

Hyde appeared terrifying and hideous to the rest of the characters and the reader. However, Hyde was a part of Jekyll. So why wasn’t Jekyll evil? I believe that Hyde was the microscopic amount of evil that existed in Jekyll’s soul. Once that evil was brought into being by the way of Jekyll’s own potion, we were able to see the ugliness that originated in Dr. Jekyll’s soul through the character of Mr. Hyde. In conclusion, Hyde was an interpretation of the ugliness that existed in Dr. Jekyll’s soul.

Any Questions?

Works Related:

WEBSITE:

"Glencoe." Glencoe: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/dr_jekyll.pdf>

Schalk, Sami. "DSQ." Disability Studies Quarterly. N.p., 4 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/145/145, >.

"SparkNotes: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Analysis of Major Characters." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jekyll/canalysis.html>

BOOK:

Stevenson, Robert Louis.Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Unabridged version). New York: Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Press, 2005. Print.

THANK YOU!!

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(cc) photo by jimmyharris on Flickr

(cc) photo by Metro Centric on Flickr

(cc) photo by Franco Folini on Flickr