¶ … Scientist Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This is a paper that outlines the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide as a cautionary tale. It has 6 sources.

Novels or films often have several themes running simultaneously together, and authors or directors often highlight more than one theme so that they can portray a maximum amount of their thoughts to the reader. There are certain writers who portray these themes in almost all their novels, and thus earn a reputation for using them. The introduction and use of a theme often depends on the experiences of these people and their ability to put these experiences into words. In putting some of these themes into words, addition of other themes is often unavoidable (Nabokov, pp184).

The type of character that we may possess governs the decisions we take. These are decisions that one takes consciously and are aware of repercussions of them. In taking decisions one needs to consider how badly they will affect those around him or her. It is important then for individuals to be careful about whatever s/he says and does. But the problem in doing this is that it is directly related to the good and evil that is said to be present in every human being. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it can be said that the protagonist is one that exemplifies the good and evil that governs one's actions.

Since people perceive different meanings from their actions they take, it is likely that they react in particular ways to them. This is something that is seen in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Three ways in which people react to their own actions are resentment, forgiveness and love, and these are the ones that help an individual to experience a complete turn around in his or her life. In doing these, there are generally two approaches that are applied that actually govern these reactions.

There is the psychological approach and the spiritual approach. This is something Dr. Jekyll experienced and was the reason why he decided to do away with the evil person that he had become. He didn't approve of the way that his evil half was behaving in society. He resented the evil that he was capable of by setting free his evil side (Hyde) with no restraints on it. This was all a psychological unleashing of his evil side in him, which serves as an example of the evil in each human being (King, 158).

For many years now it has been known that the psychological approach has been one that has been commonly used, but now spirituality is a growing ingredient in the field of medicine. There has always been a lot of suspicion that spirituality and psychology are both linked in this respect. The reason for this dates back to the days in history during which many, many people, who were spiritually shattered because of losses in battles, suddenly came together under the teachings of a prophet and displayed their unity that brought them victory. Indeed, there was nothing that had anything to do with the hand of God. All that was really done was that the spirit of unity had been aroused, and this made the people psychologically tougher, and so, they managed to overcome their enemy. It is often that the individual will be told that God cares about him or her, and that He loves him or her, and so, the individual feels that he is really cared about. Psychologically, this makes him or her stronger, and the individual improves day by day. Some regard this all as a psychological approach rather than a purely religious and spiritual approach. It is also said that there is nothing being done by any heavenly source because all that is really being done is that the spirit of the person is being lifted so that his own mind is the source of the strength required to save him or her from the plight s/he may be in.

Presently, researchers are even trying to establish links between cure and the spirituality to cure people from their ailments. Dr. Jekyll, perhaps thought of this too, but inevitably it failed, as his evil side took over, and there was not much that he could do to regain control over his other half.

There appears that there is a strong relationship between the spirituality and the religion that an individual believes in. Basically, it is the religious approach, the faith of a person, which helps him or her to feel better about him or herself. This is what helps...

This is where the religious interception takes place and can rejuvenate the individuals to get them back on their feet. However, it appears that this was not the case with Dr. Jekyll. It appears that he was not religious and was purely an individual who based his or her life on scientific experimentation. He believed that he had found the ingredient that could separate the evil from good in a man, but his failure to control all this was his downfall (Stevenson, 1886).
Dr. Jekyll feared failure in his experiment the most, and this is the reason why he had prepared himself for this through his will. Through his will it is obvious that he probably would not have been able to control the evil side of him. And there was also no one who could really help him. There were only people around who could provide him with things that he needed temporarily, but that was all because in the end he knew that he would lose.

It is this nature or action of Dr. Jekyll that is important to focus on because it reveals how about it is to control what can make an individual lose his or her grip of his or her life. Dr. Jekyll, at the beginning and throughout his experiment, might have thought that he would have complete control over the outcome of his creation, but had probably never realized that it could get out of hand. This is where individuals have to learn to be careful, as one's actions can let an individual down if s/he is not careful. This also refers to people who have alcohol and drug addictions and cannot cure themselves (Stevenson, 1886).

Though there are certain organizations, for example the ones that are set up by Christian missionaries internationally, that are devoted to the cause of helping people who are victims of alcohol and substance abuse, these do not help certain individuals to pull out of addiction effectively enough.

In order to make these sessions stronger and more effective they also couple the medical treatment with religious approaches to addiction so that individuals may subconsciously cure themselves by wanting to be free from addiction. These are the teachings that focus on the concept of God caring for His people. Through these teachings the preachers manage to establish the feeling of love and forgiveness in the hearts of these people.

By the time that these individuals are through with all the religious drilling, they are so full up of emotions that they want to continue to be god human beings, and pull their lives together. Dr. Jekyll on the other hand did not or could not have the chance of doing something like this because his whole experiment was a secret, and admitting that the outcome of his experiment was a failure is something that would probably mean dishonor for him.

It is also likely that Dr. Jekyll realized that there was probably no cure for what went wrong with his experiment and him too. This is something that people need to take heed off so that they do not get on to something that they cannot be cured of as well. However, it is said that people can be cured and protect themselves from addiction with practicing certain ways of life. These are of course relevant to one's beliefs in those ways of life (Stevenson, 1886).

There have been clues that the regular practice of religious rituals has contributed to the maintenance of good health. This has been manifested in the health patterns that have been recorded in some of the Asian countries where these are practiced. Although there are few individuals who practice these, they serve as good evidence. This has resulted in the setup of organizations that administer alternative medicine. And indeed the trend is growing.

Three of the most common of these medicines is acupuncture, Tai Chi and Reiki. These are sometimes coupled with the use of allopathic medicine to bring relief to suffering patients. Hence, there is a lot of study going into these ways of life that have helped a lot of people pull themselves together, psychologically. But this is a little different to the way that other religions are believed to…