Topic > Conformity and repression in The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

In The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, author R.L. Stevenson uses the point of view of a repressive society and Dr. Jekyll to show when people are held under rigid principles and expectations, some are forced to find an outlet to compensate for things that are not socially appropriate. Jekyll was born into a wealthy and respectable family, from a young age many things were expected of him. Jekyll was expected to respect his elders, do good to his fellow man, and live a respectable life. What people didn't know was that Jekyll was starting to feel the temptation to do things that didn't fit his family's guidelines for his life, he was forced to bury them in order to live up to his family's expectations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Repression played a big role in Jekyll's life, he constantly felt the need to repress his feelings and temptations for fear of how someone might see him if they found out what he was thinking. Hiding these feelings and temptations at such a young age caused Jekyll to have a split personality: "... I was already engaged in a profound duplicity of life." Jekyll felt immensely guilty about his temptations, but by having a separate person to blame those temptations on, Hyde gave him a sense of relief. Jekyll speaks of the dual nature of man “…that man is not truly one, but truly two.” He believes that there is strictly a good side and a bad side in him separated by a trench. This trench physiologically gives him the ability to feel guilty only when he is physically Jekyll, Hyde does what he wants without remorse. Hyde is pure evil, he is all the bad parts of Jekyll bottled up; he was a mad man who did what he wanted and embodies everything that was socially unacceptable in Victorian society. There were very few people who knew Mr. Hyde, but of those who did, none had anything good to say about him. “Mr. Hyde, who had once visited his master and for whom he had conceived a dislike.” Hyde did many questionable things, but one crime that really stood out was when he killed Sir Danvers Carew. Mr. Carew was a man very important and was well respected in the community for his work and for being a gentleman. Hyde's motive had to do with the fact that Mr. Carew was everything Jekyll was supposed to be. All those feelings Jekyll had repressed once poured out causing Hyde's wrath. Great example of repressive Victorian society is in the film "Mary Poppins" father, Mr. Banks, is looking for a nanny to straighten out his children and make them behave properly .Mr. Banks represents a social tradition in the film, similar to Stevenson's Victorian society, in that he is well kept, has a good job and rules the house. Marry Poppins brings organized chaos into the home which allows the children to have an outlet creative and just gives them the opportunity to be kids. Banks' logic is what helped create a repressive society in the first place. It's the idea that people have to act a certain way to be accepted. This idea still has an immense impact on society today, especially when it comes to teenagers. In my life, the outlet I use for repressed feelings is music. Nowadays, there are a lot more standards and expectations for teenagers, this has to do with social media and the standards we hold ourselves to. Repression occurs when a thought or memory is too painful to face,/10088386)