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.