The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, like Frankenstein, has a variety of themes. One theme that I noticed over and over again is that curiosity is dangerous. These people seem to be consumed with curiosity and the desire to seek information. Mr. Utterson is an introvert who usually keeps to himself, but he for some reason became obsessed with finding Mr. Hyde and his relation to Dr. Jekyll. I kept thinking to myself, why the hell is so obsessed? Let it go man! I understand that Mr. Utterson is usually “the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men” (1), which clearly shows throughout the novel, but he hasn’t talked to Dr. Jekyll in a long time and it is truly none of his business! His curiosity gets the best of him and ends up consuming much of his time and got him into this strange situation that changed his life forever.
Mr. Utterson tries to find Mr. Hyde, “if he could but once set eyes on him, he thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away” (8). But that rarely happens! Curiosity will get you in trouble, it does not solve anything. There are many times when you have been so curious that you become obsess, and then once you find some answers, you are still not satisfied. So what do you do? You go and find some more answers, and that just leads to trouble. The power of curiosity is so strong, we as humans do not limit ourselves. We want to know more and more, we let curiosity consume our everyday life. We want reasonable/logical explanations and we want them at all costs.
Dr. Lanyon gave in to his curiosity and guess what? He died. At first, all he had to do was help his friend and then go on with his life. But no, he had “gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before [he saw] the end” (40). Even though Mr. Hyde warned him about what he can possibly witness and how it may change his life dramatically, he still decided to seek an explanation. He thought he was prepared, he thought that there was nothing to fear. Why are we so curious? Why do we always need an explanation? Why can’t we let go of things?
Dr. Jekyll believed that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” (43) for he felt like he lived a dual life. He believed that there was part of him who was just like any other man, and the other part was “pure evil,” (45). He was curious of that evil side, he wanted to see what would happen if he separated the two. His curiosity caused such chaos and death. Just because he could do it, it does not mean he should have, we discussed this with Frankenstein. He created a monster, whether he wanted to or not, that is what he did. And why did he create this monster? Because of curiosity!
When is it okay to give in to the curiosity? When do we go too far? How do we know we’ll go too far? We don’t. “It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it,” (24) we may be able to suppress our curiosity for a while, but it is hard to control it. We will always want answers, but we have to make sure that we are prepared for the consequences. But that does not mean that we have to stop being curious, instead let’s be curious and cautious. If you are curious, look for answers, but if you reached answers that can be potentially dangerous, stop! Know your limits.
Karen, it’s interesting that you bring up curiosity. I agree that curiosity can turn into obsession and obsession can turn into destruction. I think that’s also what we saw in Frankenstein when Victor’s initial scientific curiosity turned into an obsession with reviving the dead and creating life but eventually culminated into the destruction of himself and his family. Why don’t we know when to stop? To play devil’s advocate, in some cases, if we had halted our curiosity would we have the advancements we have today? I guess with everything, moderation is key and, to your point, so is caution. I think the struggle is knowing when to stop, especially if you feel that the answers are within your grasp.
ReplyDeleteI think curiosity is a double-edged sword. It can inspire us to do great things, such as explore space, but it can also cause us to see things we don't want to see or do things we don't want to do, simply because we either wanted an answer or wanted to find the truth - unappealing as it may be. You bring up an interesting point about Dr. Jekyll's curiosity, and what it brought the world, and in the same vein, Frankenstein's curiosity. There was not really any goal - be it good or bad - that drove these men to do what they did. Rather, they simply wanted to see if they could create life, or cause their darker side to come out. There was no rhyme or reason to their madness, and innocent people suffered because of it. Perhaps that's a metaphor for life, and how we should always consider that just because we can do something, doesn't mean that we should.
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