Heroes & Monsters

Ms. Carla Kurt

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Directions: Answer all of the following questions completely, citing specific examples from the text. Include page number citations. Your objective is to have a set of complete responses that examine how Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the dual nature of man and how this exploration reflects Victorian society and attitudes and the effects of society on the individual.

1. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson shows the civilizing influence as well the restricting and debilitating effects of society.
1. Where do we see the benefits/positive aspects of society and its codes of behavior?
   
   
2. Where do wee see the negative effects/ aspects of society and it codes of behavior?
   
   
2. Think about the positive and negative effects of society on the individual by imagining a situation in which you find yourself totally alone on a deserted island.
   
   
1. Describe how you would dress, what kinds of things you would do, and what you would think about.
2. Imagine you are in a typical social situation such as in school, church, or with a group of friends and make a parallel list.
3. Identify the positive aspects of being alone that are lost when in a social group, and the positive aspects of being in a social group that are lost when you are alone.
   
   
3. How do social expectations shape your behavior? Think about social situations in which you dramatically change how you act. Compare your behavior in a private space at home with the way you act in the public sphere of school, sports, or work. Make a chart with three headings: home, school, and work (or sports or any other situation in which you interact with adults outside of home or school) indicating the setting and then listing your behaviors in each situation including:

a. the type of language you use, colloquial or formal;

b. how you address other persons;

c. the body language you use; whether you smile or laugh freely or are more serious; how you interact—as equals with the other persons or as inferior or superior.

4. Whenever Dr. Jekyll wants to change into his “darker” side, he seeks isolation. He wants to maintain his respectable role in the community while he engages in activities not acceptable to society. Novels and films explore what happens when people are freed from the restraints of society and the role of the community to maintain moral behavior. Compare William Golding’s Lord of the Flies or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
1. What happens in Lord of the Flies when the boys are isolated from society and social codes?
   
   
2. What happens to people when they are not restrained by social conventions?

5. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character describes the intense isolation and alienation from family and friends that preceded his creation of the creature. Read a few pages from Volume I, Chapter 3 where he describes how he broke all family ties and immersed himself in his scientific work.
1. What is your reaction to this passage?
2. What is the author’s attitude about this behavior?
3. Does she approve or disapprove and how do you know from clues in the writing?
   
   
6. Read the first chapter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in which Mr. Utterson and Mr. Richard Enfield are described. Discuss:
1. What are the ways that Victorian society has shaped their behavior?
2. Why does Stevenson emphasize their behaviors, their routine, and their philosophy of “minding their own business”?
3. Do you agree with Enfield that it’s not good to ask too many questions?
4. Do you think Stevenson is using irony and what is its impact?
   
   
   
7. Sigmund Freud explored the role of civilization in helping individuals to control their destructive urges and impulses. Read the attached section from Civilization and Its Discontents describing the destructive behaviors of humans and how these can be channeled.
1. Write a clear summary of Freud’s ideas, and prepare notes on the following:
2. Do humans have a drive towards self-destruction? Where is destructive behavior evident today?
3. How do individuals/society deal with their destructive impulses?
   
   

After class discussion response:

How does Robert Louis Stevenson’s exploration of man’s dual nature in his novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reflect Victorian society and attitudes? What, in turn, does this exploration show about the effects of society on the individual?