Literary Essay II

Choose ONE of the following tasks and develop it thoroughly in an essay.

It should include an introduction, the main body and a conclusion.

Develop the corresponding theory, and account for it quoting from the novels “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” and “Frankenstein”.

1. How did writers and audiences in late Victorian England explore the idea of a hidden or double self (doppelganger)? In what ways did these representations express changing ideas about sexuality, gender, and class?

2. What Makes a Monster and What Makes a Man? Explore the Relationship between the Creator and the Creation in the Gothic Novel.

3. Compare and contrast the endings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How do the similarities and differences reflect the views of the authors about human nature and the possibility of redemption? How is it applicable to the set of beliefs of the time (The Enlightenment, the Crisis of Faith, Darwinism)

4. Compare and contrast the motives that drive the protagonists to plumb the depths of science in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What do the differences in motivation indicate about the concerns of the respective authors with the plight of man and society?

5. Victorian Englishmen often took seriously the “science” of physiognomy - the idea that a person’s traits could be read by observing his bodily, and especially facial, features. To what extent is this concept central to the plot of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Does it also apply to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

6. Near the beginning of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Utterson says, “I incline to Cain’s heresy; I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.” Discuss the extent to which the Victorian values of minding one’s own business and keeping silent about anything embarrassing or controversial contribute to the progress of the plot and the development of its themes. Does Stevenson approve of these values or find them ultimately damaging? Support your argument with details from the story. How is it shown in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

7. Victorian society is often thought to have been repressive, with the implication that such repression of man’s natural drives is harmful. Discuss the idea of the repressiveness of Victorian society in the light of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How is repression portrayed in Frankenstein? Did the authors think the society in which they lived was repressive? Did they think this was good or bad? Support your arguments with quotes from the texts.

8. Some critics have seen in both novels a parable of British colonialism, with civilized man seeking to control the savagery of uncultured man, but instead being fascinated by and eventually drawn into the savagery that he outwardly deplores. Which aspects of the story fit this reading and which do not? Support your answer with quotes from the stories.

9. The theories of Freud about the makeup of the human psyche could be applied to the interpretation of both texts. To what extent do Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein reflect Freud’s views of the id, the ego, and the superego? Is man hopelessly divided against himself? Do the authors see any hope for one who seeks to keep the savage within under control? Use quotes from the texts to support your answer.

10. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, could one interpret Frankenstein and his monster as two aspects of the same person? In other words, does the monster represent the evil side of the good doctor? Compare this interpretation with the more obvious use of the same idea in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

11. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde may be read as a cautionary tale against the possible dangers of scientific advances, and as such contains many parallels with Mary Shelley’s famous Gothic novel Frankenstein. Do the two books view science and its dangers in the same way? If so, what are the important points the two have in common? If not, what are the most significant differences you see in the two treatments?

12. Any other: ____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________