The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde - 1757 Words

Gain and loss are intimately connected and in a constant struggle for balance. This pair of themes is intertwined through many works of literature, such as, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, and Robert L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each of these works consists of elements of gain and loss that serve a very crucial purpose to both the characters and the plot. For instance in Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde we find that, oftentimes, in order to gain understanding about life, one loses a lot in life. And in The Taming of the Shrew, readers see that someone’s gain can be another’s loss. â€Å"I have lost everything and cannot begin life anew†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Unfortunately, his thirst for eminence clouded his practical judgment and his morality. Frankenstein made a choice. A choice that resulted in a great fall from which he was †Å"never, never again to rise† (Shelley, 188). He chose to sacrifice the world he had originally wanted to advance and abandoned his own creation in a hypercritical world and consequently lost his humanity. Meanwhile, his creation battled to understand the world around him. He hoped to gain many things from this beautiful world for he had nothing to lose besides curiosity and innocence. Sadly, the creation lost even his innocence and initial fascination and instead gained hate, anger, and vengeance on his creator. He gained an understanding of how people judge others by their appearances despite their true nature and well-intentioned actions. He realized that no one will accept him despite his efforts and so he lost the respect and compassion he had for humans and despised his creator for bringing him into such a hateful world. He was compelled to commit actions that defied his own morals and hence lost his will to be good. He once disclosed the pain he suffers when murdering h umans. Do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse?†¦ My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine† (Shelley, 195). Eventually, Dr.