Dr. Evil

Through-out the book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we can see a central theme of evil. Evil is described in several ways, all of which circulate around Mr. Hyde. On the first account, evil is portrayed through the appearance of Mr. Hyde. He is described as “pale and dwarfish; he gave an impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile…he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice….” Mr. Utterson’s first reaction to Mr. Hyde, which is not an uncommon reaction to the evil little man, was that of disgust, loathing and fear. There is never a good thing said about the appearance of Mr. Hyde, which leads the readers to believe that he must be evil, or at least not at all good. We can also see evil in the actions of Mr. Hyde. In the very beginning of the book we see that Mr. Hyde “trampled calmly over [a] child’s body and left her screaming on the ground.” The event is described by Mr. Enfield as “hellish to see.” Mr. Hyde obviously had no remorse or preoccupation with the fact that he had just mowed down a little girl on the street. Later in the book we also witness the brutal murder of Sir Danvers Carew, an elderly gentleman of the town. Mr. Hyde was described by a maid when she saw him “break out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane and carrying on like a madman.” Then Mr. Hyde “Broke out of all bounds and clubbed [Carew] to the earth…trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered….” Trampling children and brutally murdering elderly men are very evil things to do. Evil is also described by Dr. Jekyll the first time he changed from himself to Mr. Hyde. Dr Jekyll describes, “I felt younger, lighter, happier in body…I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine.” Dr. Jekyll is implying here that everyone has a wicked, evil side to them. However, not everyone lets this side come out into the open the way he did. Now that his lesser half, the evil Mr. Hyde, has finally been released Dr. Jekyll reacts with delight because he has never before been able to release his evil side. It’s ironic that most people fear their more malicious nature and thus keep it subdued at all costs while Dr. Jekyll embraced his evil side and lets it live freely for certain time periods.

Madam Morrible the Horrible

Madame Morrible, an obvious evil character in Wicked, uses the power she has as a headmistress and a loyal follower of the Wizard to further the Wizard’s unfair regime and to build upon Elphaba’s hatred of him.
One of our first encounters with Madam Morrible is at the school in Shiz, where we read of her poetry soiree. During this soiree Madam Morrible reads one of her very own poems; the last three lines read, “Whose Virtues do exemplify, And Social Good thus multiply. Animals should be seen and not heard.” In front of an entire room full of impressionable young students Madam Morrible states her opinion, and the opinion of the Wizard, that Animals should not have the same rights as people. This was a highly offensive and unfair statement that does not belong anywhere near a school. Schools and universities should be built upon strong foundations of morals and objectivity. That Madam Morrible brought discriminatory politics into the classroom and tried to further enforce the Wizard’s discriminative view of Animals was a disrespectful and an immoral use of her power as headmistress.
Madam Morrible also uses her power as headmistress to murder Dr. Dillamond. Although never proven that Madam Morrible was the one truly behind the murder, we do know that her tiktok machine, Grommetik, committed the act. It is highly unlikely that Grommetik, a practical slave to Madam Morrible, would have acted on his own accord. It is quite evident that he was carrying out the dirty deed for Madam Morrible herself. Madam Morrible was able to get away with the murder of the Animal because of her power as a headmistress and loyal follower of the Wizard.
Madam Morrible uses her power again to try to recruit scared, intimidated young girls to become adepts for the Wizard himself, and thus help the Wizard carry out his discriminative and diminishing dictatorship. Madam Morrible states, “By an authority vested in me that is too high to be named [the Wizard] I have been charged with a crucial task. A task essential to the internal security of Oz. I have been working to fulfill this task for some years, and the time is right, and the goods [Elphaba, Nessa and Glinda] are at my disposal.” She speaks of the three girls as if they are property, simple toys for the Wizard to shape and use at his disposal. The ironic thing is that she talks as if being an adept to the horrible Wizard was some kind of grand achievement and honor.
Each step that Madam Morrible takes further infuriates Elphaba and adds to her hatred toward the Wizard and the development of the climax of the book. In the end Madam Morrible’s actions drive Elphaba to murder her, creating a Witch that is capable of taking other’s lives.