Science- Jekyll and Hyde

Introduction

-Presented as powerful and dangerous

-Stevenson uses science to explore human ambition, limits of knowledge and consequences of tampering with nature

-Writing at a time when scientific discovery was rapidly advancing, Stevenson captures both the excitement and fear surrounding these developments particularly when they challenged religious or moral beliefs

Jekyll’s experiments form the heart of the novel

-His scientific work goes beyond traditional medicine and enters the realm of the supernatural as he aims to separate good and evil within a person

-He describes his work as ‘profound duplicity of life’ suggesting his goal was to divide the human soul

-This ambition reflects a dangerous desire to control and manipulate human nature pushing science into forbidden territory

-Stevenson uses J to show how the misuse of science can lead to destructive consequences both personal and societal

Lanyon represents traditional, rational science.

-He calls J’s experiments ‘unscientific balderdash’ rejecting anything that doesn’t align with established methods

-Lanyons horror after witnessing H’s transformation is extreme ‘my life is shaken to its roots’.

-Stevenson uses Lanyon’s reaction to show the psychological cost of witnessing science that breaks natural law, and to highlight the tension between old, respectable science and the new boundary-breaking experiments

Science is presented as secretive and isolated

-J conducts his experiments in the privacy of his laboratory away from society’s eyes.

-The lab which used to be a place of 'cheerful open’ is now ‘worn and battered’. This symbolizes how J’s misuse of science has corrupted it

-Stevenson uses the Gothic setting of the lab to reflect society’ fear that science was becoming dark and unnatural

Conclusion

-Science is important as a tool of discovery and source of honor

-Stevenson uses it to reflect contemporary anxieties about scientific progress and its potential to disrupt natural and moral boundaries

-Novel ultimately presents science as a force that, when guided by ambition rather than ethics can unleash chaos and and lead to self-destruction