Frankenstien vs Dr.Jekly and Mr. Hyde - 1495 Words

Both Robert Louis Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein tell cautionary tales of scientists abusing their creative powers to exist in another sphere where they cannot be directly blamed for their actions. Though Frankensteins creation is a Creature distinct from his creator while Dr. Jekyll metamorphoses into Mr. Hyde, the double of each protagonist progressively grows more violent throughout his story. By doing so he symbolizes his creators repressed desires in a stifling society. The stories have parallel structures in the three main ways. First, both Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein are scientists who, though welcomed by society, find it constraining and often alienate themselves. Each creates an alter†¦show more content†¦And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows (27). Words like bounds, clubbed, earth, ape-like, and storm all reinforce the readers idea of Hyde being a thoroughly primitive savage, and the repetition of trampling serves as an excellent mini-motif. Though Hyde tramples his victims, has he not been trampled in the same way by the oppressive society that condemns him at a glance? The Creature murders Frankensteins younger brother, but he, too, is driven to that course of action by a society that scorns him. The Creature spies on a family in the wilderness and learns human language, customs, and history. He resembles nothing so much as a child or prehistoric man in these episodes, first discovering fire, then bits of language, and finally emotion. He confronts the elderly father of the family and predicts his fate if he is not taken in by them: I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever (129). Fulfilling his prophesy, the rest of the family barges in: Who can describe their horror and consternation upon beholding me? (131) The Creatures status as pariah differs in one major respect from Hydes; though they both possess loathsome appearances, the Creatures soul, at the beginning of his life, at least, is as pure