Final Blog Post

Kayli Dutton

Theresa Traver

English 277

8 May 2020

Final Blog Post

During this course we read many interesting pieces of British literature that I found influential. Out of these texts, I felt most interested in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. This is why I would choose a text like this to teach (hopefully) to my future high school students. I found this text to be a stand out among our other readings, due to the themes presented in the story- which were unlike those of our other class readings. Themes such as the duality of man, good versus bad, and the use of parallels within this story, create an interesting and gripping work of Gothic literature. Mr. Hyde and his darker alter ego, Dr. Jekyll, exemplify the idea of “duality of man”. Mr. Hyde being a rather harmless man, and Dr. Jekyll on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, carrying out violent acts for seemingly no reason. The use of these parallel characters illustrate the two sides of man– the good and the bad. Similar to the theme of duality of man, the use of opposition is often seen in the themes presented throughout this novel. Themes such as kindness versus violence, and light versus dark also appear within this novel. The use of these parallels make this a very interesting read to me, and I think that they’re important in showing young readers the conflicting forces of the world. This is a message I think many students would benefit from- not everything in the world is good, but not everything in the world is bad either. 

Reputation is also an important theme seen within “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. The strive for strong social standing and reputation can be detected in many moments of this novel. The desire for protecting one’s reputation, and remaining in good light to others, is a common thread throughout many of the characters of this novel. These characters believe that in order to earn a good reputation, one must be honest, and true to their word. Additionally, on many occasions we see these characters choosing to believe in honoring friends, keeping secrets, and loyalty. Although you shouldn’t do these things just for reputation, I do think that these are important characteristics to promote to students. Seeing examples of this is readings, and how the characters actions affect the way their peers view them, is one that could be valuable to many young readers of this text. Overall I think that this text holds many impact, and intriguing themes. These themes create a gripping reading experience that causes the reader to truly think while reading. I think the themes within this novel can resonate with many young readers, which is why I believe a high school class could benefit from analyzing a text such as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”.