Metamorphosis

Author's Note: This response to Jekyll and Hyde is a short story and was inspired by Jekyll's transformations into Hyde and also a question that I had throughout the story: if there is this evil within Jekyll, how did it get there? Obviously, we aren't born evil, but somehow we end up with all of these evil people in the world. This response is basically addressing how we obtain these bad sides of ourselves and what the transformation can do to us.

Life begins so peacefully. With their miniature hands and feet, and skin that has never seen the harsh rays of the sun, it is clear that babies are born pure, innocent, and untainted--blissfully unaware of the trials and hardships to come. Young children are like sponges; they soak up anything and everything that they can. They are not taught to lie, and they are not taught to hit other children, yet somehow when I was a toddler I would lie to my parents about whether or not I broke something, and I when was frustrated with another kid I would give them a shove--sure, these things do not really seem like big issues, but they are the beginning of a transformation, a metamorphosis if you will.

As I grew up, I always had a tendency to rebel. I shoplifted once or twice, and I had locked my younger sister in the basement overnight when we were younger, but I had no remorse for these things--in fact, I liked them. I felt a rush everytime I did something like it, I could feel the darkness wash over my body with every bad action. But now, now I can't bear it. It envelopes me, it follows me, and it haunts me every day so much that I can't help but scream. My shrieks pierce the brisk night air and send ripples through the lake that I stand in front of. The cries are soon muffled by the water, the water that I have now submerged myself in. I feel my lungs gasping for air, but I don't allow myself to reach the surface. I can feel life draining from my body as my sight goes black. I am free, and I am finally peaceful again.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Author's Note: This poem was inspired by the quote below from Jekyll and Hyde. It is about how man's curiosity is so powerful and that the search for truth can be dangerous and may not always be what we expect or hope for.

"Has the greed of curiosity too much command of you?"
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Enslaved by curiosity
Enveloped by questions
Hungering for answers

Mind filled with inquiries
Constantly a reminder
Of the pain that surrounds them

Pushing, pushing, pressing on
Driving forward for knowledge
Driving forward for truth

Answers found
Honest and odious
Painfully cutting deep within\

Desperately aching to take them back
To erase them, to wash them away
Leaving them undiscovered and unknown

We all have curiosities
That we long to be answered..



But sometimes the truth is better left unsaid

JH 2: Faces

Faces--all different, strange and intruiging--are like windows. Peering into them, a person's true nature is revealed--their personality, their fears, their past struggles. Facial features can expose the evil just below the surface, or the hapiness and light that radiates from within. Perhaps that is why our faces and our outer appearances are judged so harshly; people can see what we try so desperately to hide, the good and the bad.

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, faces are an endlessly used motif. The face of Hyde is shockingly revealing, described as beastly and malformed, giving off a sense of evil and terror that most who observe it cannot explain. Hyde savagely murders a man in a fit of rage, unknowingly leaving behind a witness. The girl, a maid, describes her experience and the prelude to the murder as, "...the moon was shining on his face, as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it, it seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindess of disposition, yet with something high too, as of a well-founded self-content" (46). The face of the old man opposes that of Hyde's so strongly, that it is no surprise that Hyde chose him as the victim of his own fury. Hyde, like the maid, could clearly see the goodness that Carew's features exuded, so his evil rose up from the depths to destroy it. There is nothing more apparent to the outside world than the personality that is emitted from our expression, the expression that evidently determines who we are.

The Evil Within

Author's Note: This is a response to the first three chapters of Jekyll and Hyde about how everyone has an evil side within themselves, and about the struggle that happens when people want to explore that darker side. The poem was inspired by the quote from chapter three, "I have a very great interest in poor Hyde. I know you have seen him; he told me so; and I fear he was rude. But I do sincerely take a great, a very great interest in that young man."

Constantly struggling, continually resisting
The wicked, dark part of my soul
Trying to escape so relentlessly

My thoughts wander
Wander to that darker side
And for a moment it is free
Free to rome, free to conquer

Conquering my mind
Subduing my thoughts
Opposites under attack

Like an inevitable battle
Good against bad
Light against dark
Fighting so desperately

Tired of the endless combat
Broken, shattered into pieces
Good giving in, giving over

Overpowered by wickedness
Letting myself turn to the shadows
Evil triumphantly reigns
No way of ever going back