Salim Adamu
Gothic Literature 3407
Oct15,2020
Dr.Jekyll and M,r.Hyde/Narrator of Black Cat
In literature there are many components that make up a story and they become key components throughout. Two main components of this kind of literature called gothic literature is The spirit of perverseness and Central Gothic Irony(CGI).They two components are what help portray the stories image through characters actions and surrounding. To be more specific two stories held these components to high regard throughout its whole plot and these two were the “Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe and the “Strange Cases of Dr.jekyll and Mr.Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. The way the characters of those stories were portrayed showed a very similar mental state through out change towards the end they were similar in a lot of aspects and in the “Strange Cases of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” the two main characters showed their sides of view and the way the viewed their actions and feelings and the same occurred in the ‘Black Cat” for the narrator. The spirit of perverseness which is when a character does something bad or continues to do something bad even if they know it is harmful for others,themselves or both them and others. Then it was the Central Gothic Irony which is when the character tries to come back to a state of normalcy after they have gone through and been a source of chaos in a way. So what makes them Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde so similar to the narrator of the “Black Cat”?
In “The Strange Cases of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde are the same person. The story is about the struggle between Jekyll and his other side Hyde which was caused by a potion Jekyll made to see the other side of people, the dark and bad side, not the side made to compromise to society’s norms. At first it was him in control and he got younger when he tuned to Hyde and he was doing little mischievous stuff he always wanted to do but no one could say nothing because they don’t know him,but later he lost control and Hyde got his own consciousness some way and caused an accident and killed Sir Danvers Carew. When he came to Jekyll couldn’t stop him anymore because Hyde started to come out anytime without Jekyll’s permission and even came out when Jekyll went to sleep and continued his violence. Even though Jekyll knew what was happening he still took that potion it made him feel good and that when his addiction was shown and he saw only two options to regain control or to commit suicide and he chose the latter suicide,.His guilt came to him and he died and left a letter explaining everything about him and Hyde as a way to redeem himself and even left his close friend Mr.Utterson his will.Through that you can see the aspect of the spirit perverseness and the (CGI) from Jekyll and the cause Hyde.
In the ‘Black Cat” the story is about the narrator and his rising violent tendencies because of his drinking problem which leads to delusions. In the beginning he and his wife were people who loved animals. It was their nature but later the narrator changed. The drinking that caused him to fall into his delusions,all of his delusions were all put onto his black cat Pluto. Even though he saw what was causing him to go crazy, which was the drinking he never stopped always went back to or at the end of the day. His anger towards the cat grew which led to abuse and then even led to him killing the cat. Later on he starts to come to a realization of his actions and gets a new cat because it reminded him of Pluto but because he reminded him of Pluto when it was home he started to abuse it more and led to him trying to kill it but instead killing his wife who tried to protect the cat. In the end he looked back at his action which caused him to see his wrongs
Those parts of the story show how Jekyll Hyde are two parts of the narrator of the Black cat. They both show signs of the spirit of perverseness from an addiction which is for Jekyll him being addicted to the potion which turns him into Hyde. It is proven when Jekyll commits suicide and it says “Utterson knew that he was looking on the body of a self-destroyer”(Stevenson 52) which showed light on his suicide but as well as person who destroys his body with his addiction.Then the narrator of who is addicted to his drinking problem was shown when it stated that “my disease grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!—and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper”This showed how his addiction turned him into something else a bubble of rage as for Jekyll it turned him into Hyde who was also a bubble of rage which is why they all seem so similar(Poe). Another aspect which was similar was when they tried to return to normalcy(CGI) It was when his letter said I have brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also.(Stevenson) Showing he understood his mistake and was trying to go back to how he was in some way to redeem himself though accepting what he’s due. As for the narrator it was when he said “I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame.” (Poe) it helped to see how he started coming back to his senses and saw his wrong doing) which was just like Jekyll seeing all the bad turning into Hyde did.
That was the similarities between these three characters from, different stories How Two character rep[resented two different sides of a character from another story. Which in this case was the two from “The Strange Cases of Dr.Jekyll And Mr.Hyde” and the narrator of the” Black Cat”.It showed their likeness to one another and how one had two sides to a good which turned bad because of drinking and then one who transformed to one accustomed to society tried to escape the norm with a potion and turned into a whole another person with bad intention as his focus. The bad sides both murdered and the good both understood in the end they had ti\urned to something horrible. So yes those aspect is what made them so similar with SOP and CGI as a main point of both stories to add on it.