Literature and its Evolution
Literature evolves as life continues to change and develop. As with evolution of human beings and animals, literature follows the same trend when the need to do so arises. Fortunately, the need for literature to evolve arose in the Victorian era when Dr. Robert Luis Stevenson and Mary Shelley, both scientific fiction writers used their literary masteries to switch between their characters to give their audience a well-rounded understanding of their stories.
Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Shelley's Frankenstein
Symmetry in Victorian English Tales are classic and great examples of English fictions that fall within the period of Victorian English of tales gone wrong. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the salient similarities present in the two horror tales considering their themes, romanticism elements, and conflicts present in them.
Exploring Themes in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a narration of Victor Frankenstein's success of reanimating a dead body and the aftermath guilt for creating the monster. When the monster realizes how he came into existence and the rejection he faced from the mankind, he resolves to avenge his sorrow by revenging on his creator (Shelley, David, and Kathleen 10). Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the other hand, focuses on the mysteries of Jekyll and Mr. Hyde following a drug production that made Hyde reveal the evil side of his personality which took control over him. Terrified by Hyde's actions, Jekyll commits suicide to escape his actions (Stevenson 21).
The Theme of Dualism
The authors of the two books have dealt with twisted individualism of the main characters to bring to the surface the theme of dualism. In both the two plots, the characters have the desires of inventing magnanimous things that will see them become the leading scientists and innovators. The protagonists in the novels experience lots of terrifying incidences denoting their immoral stands. Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein are both puzzled by their immoral experiment outcomes that resulted to their tragic death. However, their deaths were necessary tragedies which enabled the authors to create the underlying message in their respective works. By exploring the theme of good versus evil in Stevenson's work, a constant situation of Dr. Jekyll fighting himself and the knowledge that he should do good but feels better when he does evil (Stevenson 43). He shows that bad and good are natural and that a person cannot escape his or her naturalness. Similarly, Mary Shelley's work explores the discourse of personal aspirations and the resultant consequences. Shelley considers individualism with a responsibility, which questions the significance of human ambition (Shelley, David, and Kathleen 16).
Rationalistic Perspective in Victorian Literature
From the rationalistic perspective, it is no doubt that the literature in the Victorian period were dominated by romanticism, religion, arts, social values, and mysticism started to penetrate the minds of contemporary thinkers of the era, which made literary works close to the daily life. As a result, most novels were realistic and pursued greater spaces in the in the society. Arguably, Shelley and Stevenson use fulfilling individuals in emblematic states. They aimed at entertaining their readers and they became successful. The two novels attempt to drive social improvement in the different forms by having protagonist try to create magnanimous creatures. Dr. Jekyll succeeds in creating Mr. Hyde (Stevenson 76) while Frankenstein creates Victor Frankenstein (Shelley, David, and Kathleen 32).
Conflicts in the Novels
Additionally, the two authors explored conflicts in their works as subject matters of their novels. The conflict in Stevenson's novel is the frequent struggle between Dr. Jekyll and his personality. Although he enjoys the recognition and reputation of high social status, Jekyll wishes to experience his dark side and he does not openly attempt it due to fear of breaking the decorum rules that dominate his psyche Victorian society (Stevenson 109). In Shelley's Frankenstein, conflicts stem from Frankenstein himself. His fixation with creation of life becomes the driving force of his actions that ended creating a lot of damages. Creator versus creature conflict emerges when Victor realizes that he is unwanted and he sorts to revenge on his creator (Shelley, David, and Kathleen 78).
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary W, David L. Macdonald, and Kathleen D. Scherf. Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus. Peterborough, N: Broadview Editions, 2012. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories.” Barnes " Noble Classics, 2003.
