Formspring
In this essay I will try to explain the influences of the Victorian world and how it links to the theme of duality in Jekyll and Hyde.
At the time that Jekyll and Hyde was written a lot was happening: the world was stepping out of globalization, the industrial revolution was changing lives and people were housing different opinions on different people from around the world. These factors affected the story of Jekyll and Hyde in some way or another. For example England and the rest of the British isles was perceived as a noble, developed and generally better place of humanity ,whereas countries like Africa, the people were perceived as under-developed and generally savage in nature; this is kind of like Jekyll and Hyde, Hyde being represented as Africa and Jekyll being represented as Britain (or vice-versa).
The industrial revolution played a part in Jekyll and Hyde as well, The industrial revolution is represented by the potion in the story, an advancement in one area and then from that advancement comes two sides good and evil. This was true in the industrial revolution in which the good thing was that there was now more jobs available and people moved to the city, and that’s where the bad thing kicks in with a mass of people becomes more anonymity in which people could become scarce in society as people may not know everyone in a large community, represented by Hyde in which he could change into Jekyll and vice-versa.
And now we move onto the psychological implications, At the time psychology was being discovered and spearheaded by a man, namely :Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychologist. Freud studied dreams and created the idea that the mind was split into three sectors: Ego, Superego & ID. The ego is the executive part of the trio maintaining the right amount of the superego and ID to apply the right reaction to the right circumstances/time and place. ID: the ID is the part of the trio that works on unconscious (perhaps animalsitic thoughts) which is needed for basic survival and what we probably received from the time of when humans weren’t as evolved as now. Superego: it is the dreams, the aspirational part of the brain that provides ideas and provides standards for judgement etc.
There may also be a link to Darwin’s work in this novel in which being the representation that Hyde may be a de-evolved part of Jekyll a physical representation of a de-evolved state (linking both Darwin’s and Freud’s work).
As the title hints the main theme of Jekyll and Hyde is Duality This is represented by a numerous amount of things: The characters Jekyll & Hyde, London by day and night (and the link between Jekyll and Hyde and night and day, and the fact that darkness can stain lightness when Hyde starts to appear during the day), And of course the industrial revolution with it’s contributions towards society with it’s help and well as it’s ability to disperse society.
First off Jekyll and Hyde: Jekyll represents good and all the things a person can be and does some the things that people can only hope to achieve, and could also be said to represent the superego. Where as Hyde represents all the evil in a person, their hell-bent destruction and general Decay in society, In the novel Hyde is described of being deformed without a deformity (like a de-evolved human) so he could represent the ID or a piece that shows that evolution (or indeed de-evolution) was, Fact (if of course the novel was true, which it isn’t).
The industrial revolution was also a part of the duality theme, as the revolution bought more efficient tools to the work place, more jobs, more money and generally more of everything in labour factors. However there are two sides to a coin, as with more jobs came an excess of jobs and not enough people so child labour ensued, and also where there is a lot of money in exchange there are going to possibly be thieves to get their share of other peoples money, this was normally the children not working in the workhouses. Also there was an incline in society, in which being the point that a lot of new people moving in, in the masses means that anyone can be anyone and get away with crimes etc.
There Is Duality in the novel, The obvious Jekyll and Hyde, The potion being the Deus ex Machina for Hyde and the cause of Hyde, Jekyll’s house being well kept on one side and on the other side a dank, dark place where Hyde resided for a while. Jekyll’s house Is in the nicer part of London and is well kept, however it has a dark room around the back of the house, Possibly representing the fact there can be evil or a bad part in everything no matter how: nice looking, cool etc.
The novels main deus ex machina and plot device is the elusive potion which Dr. Jekyll creates Dispel all the bad thoughts away from him, possibly in hopes of making the world more like a utopia (but that’s never actually said). Instead of dispelling the bad thoughts away from him Jekyll manages to create an entity from those bad thoughts which terrorises Himself and London, This concept is most likely based on Freud’s concept of the states of the mind.
Dr.Lanyon, one of Jekyll’s colleagues thought that Jekyll’s experiments of trying to find out the nature of humanity and dispelling the bad parts was unethical, which was true. So Lanyon refused to have any part in the experiments in a hope to deter Jekyll from the experiments, This however failed. From this we can believe that Lanyon wants to preserve life and not destroy a human’s humanity.
The transformation, The transformation from Jekyll to Hyde and vice-versa would have left the Victorian reader scared due to lack of scientific knowledge, and then the spontaneous lack of faith in the chemistry route of science. Because the Victorian reader or indeed anyone from the Victorian era was a believer of god,the only assumption that could be assumed is that if you delve too deep into science ‘god’ will punish you with omnipotent force or something very drastic, or something like the transformation in yourself etc. So the majority of people would be absolutely terrified.
Stevenson tried to show that Hyde was human but wasn’t humane, he tried to represent Hyde as a sort of de-evolution of human, a try at trying to represent animals as humanly as possible but keeping the animal instincts of defending Himself, which he succeeded at. First off Stevenson used words like “animalistic” and “beastial” to show that Hyde is de-evolved in some way any could possibly act on animal-like instincts.
In conclusion I think that Stevenson had achieved The theme of duality in the novel Jekyll and Hyde, He included it in a multitude of plot points, characters and settings such as: Jekyll and Hyde, the potion and the London being all in two parts, both in direct contrast to the other.
The genre of science fiction is the opposite of science fact, it has science based elements like: aliens, spaceships, monsters,military bases with labs, scientists (all that stuff), and fiction is all the stuff that is not real like :aliens, Time travel, portals, linux superiority and everything in half life.
[SPOILERS]A sci-fi film i can relate the genre of sci-fi to is H2G2. It’s has a nice story following our dressing gown clad hero as he ventures across space to try to get earth back after it had been destroyed by the vogons throughout their endeavors they discover the answer to life the universe and everything which is 42, the Magratheans rebuild earth, and after the attack of Vogon marksmen on the newly constructed earth they return to venturing and go to a restaurant, all because he hitchhiked…and another thing Vogon poetry is the third worst in the universe.
H2G2 fits into the sci-fi genre as it contains themes of space and an infinite improbability drive (futuristic and improbable technology), as well as aliens and galactic presidents (that is an alien) that push into orderly queues… that have aliens lining up in them … to be served by an alien on an alien planet.
ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX
Immanent DESTRUCTION
The films I am writing about in this essay are War of the worlds (1953) & War of the worlds (2005). War of the worlds was originally a book written by H.G Wells, then it was adapted as a radio broadcast in which many people who tuned in late thought the broadcast was real, as back then the wireless radio was a source of news and people interpreted this broadcast was real so there was a lot of confusion and panic.
The start of the book version of war of the worlds starts when meteors come down from the sky near london. the tripods in this version is fairly low tech (considering the updated versions in the films) the tripod has a heat ray and a chemical gas bomb (but that’s later on as at first the martians only have cylinders but they build them into tripods). The story takes place in europe and the narrator (main character) seems to want his group to be safe from the tripods. he eventually returns to london and in a moment of madness decides to run at the tripods and attack… only to find that the martians have died due to the common cold… and all is well (except the possible millions dead, destroyed civilization and the fact the martians had the cold).
1950′s war of the worlds
I Will explain what was happening at the time of the first movie that would have inflicted more of an effect on the audience: these are The cold war, uprising of the teenager “class” in society and economic stress from WWII.
Cold War-
The cold war was a war started after world war 2, the reason it was called a cold war was because there was no fighting going on (pretty lucky as both sides had nuclear weapons). It was between the USA and Russia who where the two major superpowers after the effect of world war 2. What induced a lot of fear was the fact that the two countries had different economic systems ,this induced so much paranoia that people-in the USA-were Blacklisted meaning that they where put on a list and they were limited to services from many things and were eventually sent out of the country for being accused oft being communist. the conflict ended in the early 1990′s (as did WWII surprisingly)
USA- a capitalist country that promoted the fact you can earn as much money as you want. Russia (USSR)- a communist country meaning everyone was equal and treated the same … some more than others.
In the movie they are trying to make the audience seem like the aliens from mars are like the communist people, and throughout they always seem to take over powerful america (you know with nukes and bombs etc.). also a colour link the aliens had red lights, Red is the colour of russia so that made the audience make more of a connection with russia.
the barn house scene, i would like to point out that the barn house scene the rooms seemed typical of the 1950′s home and with the “home sweet home sign as well” implying that the safest place people believed was their home can be invaded by the outside forces. but of course the stereotypical american male figure manages to fend off the probe and create a sense of hope amongst the audience at the time.
WWII effects on the american economy
world war 2, since america joined quite late they managed to avoid any major economical losses but the economy was still quite bad, to try to repair the economy the government tried to produce movies for the teenager who has appeared in the community making them the perfect people for action type movies (like war of the worlds). seeing movies was not a norm for the community in america so they spent money (helping the film industry and economy) and americas economy eventually became really good … then moderate, due to the film industry.
New technicolor made the new movies ground breaking and made more people watch the movie purely because it was in colour. and it enthralled people to watch more movies because the special effects like explosions which teenagers can’t experience themselves due to not being in WWII.
Director
the director was Byron Haskin who had been the head of special effects at warner bros.
War of the worlds was Byron Haskin’s first Sci-fi movie.
2005-
In the 2005 adaptation the main events that constituted towards the war og the worlds movie were the breakdown of the modern family (dysfunctionality and all that) and the threat that came from 9/11 of terrorist attack (the terrorists have won considering all this security nowadays).
9/11 shocked the world and showed America (or any other major country ) that they can be invaded by forces such as vigilante groups situated somewhere east of America … in the movie the attackers are the aliens and show a threat like the outside forces that attacked America, who then proceed to split appart civilization, and then bring them back together again by the attackers dying from a cold. Showing that the people have some sort of salvation from threats alien to them.
The breakdown of the generic family however is portrayed as civilization breaking into diarray and trying to reunite because of the alien threat, so in times of need you need to stay connected to survive, which is not like regular people who are becoming more independent (not saying we need an alien invasion but…)
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Narrative-
In the modern adaptation the scene shows the main character sleeping whilst the little girl is awake due to fear , we can hear water dripping in the background. The girl hears something, turns her head and comes face to face with the alien probe when this happens dramatic audio kick into action, then the girl screams, and continues to scream in fear, alerting the main character who then proceeds to hit the probe with the conveniently placed axe. The girl continues to scream then runs up some stairs to try to avoid the danger more-so.
This scene creates suspense & fear amongst the audience and adds to the effect the probe is an invader in a sense that terrorists are in the real world (at the time).
In the 1953 version the two characters are trying to escape the building(I’d have used the front door)
when eventually the female spots the probe in the room, waits a while then screams “look out” alerting the male character who then proceeds to hit it with an axe. Then the remnants of the probe retreat to the ship it came from… to give the audience an idea of what alien ships SHOULD look like.
This clip shows more of the fact that invader can invade somewhere where you feel safe such as your home. But the successful attack on the probe proves dominance over the attacker showing that they CAN be defeated even if they are on your turf.
The setting of the 2005 movie Is the basement of a dilapidated house possibly in or near a city. The lack of light and realism of the scene adds suspense and fear values, just because it’s scary. The 1950′s scene however is a typical home and played on the fear that peoples homes can be invaded at any moment.
Representation
2005 movie-
In the 2005 movie the male is depicted as an almost defenceless person that is running from the threat to protect himself and his family. So he is a protective person, he is also fairly brave by running and hiding and not just sacrificing himself or just staying in one place.
The Girl in this movie is depicted as a small child who is powerless against the invaders and who generally doesn’t help she is just there for plot development and a reason for the main character to keep on through the movie
!953 movie-
In the 1953 movie the main character is shown as a scientist who Is trying to and can save EVERYONE in the world from the aliens and can also protect a helpless woman (and idiotic) who is with him.
While the woman is shown as a pointless and disposable character she does act as something that makes the hero seem more heroic and as a warning system in the farmhouse scene, alerting the male of the aliens presence.
2005 movie-
In the 2005 clip the girl reaction to seeing the alien Is to scream in terror alerting the hero who then proceeds to hit the alien probe with the closest object (the axe). This reaction is expected of these character and also fairly realistic and the majority of people (who are like this) would do the same thing as what they did in real life, if this sort of event were to occur.
1953 movie-
the reaction to seeing the alien in this movie is somewhat different as the characters are walking about the room then the girl is in range of the alien … stares at it for a while (shock or bad acting?) then screams “look out” (which implies it’s moving or doing something, which it’s not) then the main character hits the alien with a single axe blow, and that destroys it. This scene is unrealistic and would not happen in real life, if realism were to kick in they’d be dead before they could say “mind that alien, what alien, ZAP!”.
Conclusion
The clip that created the most atmosphere & tension was the 2005 movie adaptation mainly due to it’s higher budget, special effects, CGI, expertise, and fantastic director. The clip incorporates a dim basement and a ominous sounds to create the build-up of tension … then the probe comes into view creating a contrast between the room and itself, with it’s lights and fancy alien metal. The fact that the probe is so detailed adds to the realism and therefore fear that the audience can almost imagine something like this being a threat to them if they are in this situation.
I don’t think the director -Stephen Spielberg- could improve on this scene, as it has fear and shows that the main character has power over the alien probe therefore showing hope of defeating the menace. The sound effects adds eeriness and perfect for the scene and the music fits well at the moment of seeing the alien. THIS SCENE IS IMPROBABLE TO IMPROVE!
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if you are looking for a nice action movie without guns but plenty of awesome fighting, swearing and bright lights (sometimes) then I recommend Sunshine. Suitable for an audience that doesn’t mind the sight of slightly burnt (by the sun) appendages … blood, frostbite and other stuff like that (because no-one cares about the label).
Anyway, the film is set in the near future of 2050 and the sun has depleted so they send a team of scientists in Icarus II to send a nuclear bomb into the sun to reignite it (HOW!?!?), 7 years after the failed first mission of Icarus I.
On the voyage the crew find the Icarus I and decide to try to pilot it in-case their bomb fails, they board the Icarus I and the plan fails and unbeknown to them they have let aboard an evil (yeah I know evil thing in space SERIOUSLY! … yes) that threatens their voyage.
After a lot of hardships (ha ha ship … space) they eventually manage to reach the deployment point of the payload (as they call it …) so the remaining crew go onto the bomb only to find out oh look there’s that evil guy again come to kill the crew even though they are about to die anyway (excuse the sarcasm), And so the bomb explodes with EPICNESS and so …
The movie was epic it used great visual effects for the genre and it created that a confusion at times but ultimately it was a good overall movie experience perfect for people that enjoy the sci-fi, action, thriller? sort of movie.
I give an 88%.
How typical are viola and Olivia of the Elizabethan woman
In this essay will I be considering the relation of the typicality of viola and Olivia from the twelfth night and comparing them to the average Elizabethan woman. the twelfth night is a comedy play, that was meant to be performed on the twelfth night of Christmas it was important is was a comedy if it wasn’t then the perceptions of the characters would be mentally ill people changing the play making bits not make sense and generally endanger the plot if the audience have different views. the plot is basically viola washes up on a beach after a ship wreck, viola takes on the role of Cesario a ,an to escape the fact she is a woman in a man’s world, then she works for duke Orsino, he then sends Cesario to ‘woo’ lady Olivia, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, (much later) Sebastian (violas brother [thought to be dead] … ) turns up and goes to lady Olivia’s manor, Olivia is all over him, Olivia and Sebastian get married, at the end Orsino thinks that Cesario married Olivia then Cesario (who is viola) reveals herself to be viola thus marrying Orsino and Olivia staying with Sebastian there then on the spot.. the two main characters I will be focusing in on this essay are Cesario/viola and Olivia.
Olivia is a lady of whom lives at a manor and in fact owns and runs it ( which is not typical of the traditional Elizabethan woman). She doesn’t like the character duke Orsino who is persistent to win her heart who keeps on failing to do so. She is of a wealthy heritage hence the manor and servants Malvoilo and Feste. Even though she acts as though she doesn’t want to marry with the events with duke Orsino it is later revealed due to her love for Cesario she was waiting for the right person to marry, however this implies that she was looking for the right personality yet when she fell in love with Cesario and eventually fell in love with Sebastian implies she was actually looking for a person of her tastes in figure.
Viola however seems causal yet unusual and brave, in the drama she poses as a male to escape the fate she would have endured as a female in Illyria (this sort of behaviour is extremely unusual of the typical Elizabethan woman). This gives the readers the idea she is a risk taker, quick thinker and generally has plans on the spot for situations. She is also emotional as she ‘lost’ her brother Sebastian to the sea as the ship they were on sunk. the stereotype for an Elizabethan woman is a woman that is deprived of any luxuries such as money , choice in the society and just generally no power over anything and totally reliant on a man for even being in society.
Neither viola or Olivia fall into this stereotypes as they are both reliant on themselves and have some sort of power over something in viola’s case he decisions and life and in Olivia’s case a manor and servants which only would be accepted if she was queen Elizabeth I at the time.
Viola–
viola at the start of the play finds herself abandoned so she dons a male outfit to find refuge in amongst men in hope of acceptance into society. That was just one of her options the other would have been take up a ‘job as a maid/ servant on low pay and never get to be in a Shakespearian play. Due to the fact she assumed the role of a man she got much further in life she was resourceful for supplying the outfit and quite clever … again not stereotypical. With duke Orsino she ‘grows’ on him first just working for him then she starts to show her emotions (still under the guise of Cesario) eventually at the end of the play she marries duke Orsino. This shows she is quite bold and perhaps a bit brave as under the guise of Cesario and getting close to Orsino is risky as it is risking her identity and acceptance in the society. With the fact that Olivia is in love with Viola or rather her alter-ego Cesario, Viola is rather taken back by the fact and tries to push Olivia away from her (Olivia’s) expression of love.
Olivia–
Olivia is adored by many men or at least was hinted (as she is rich and unmarried) however being unmarried is an extreme rarity and the quote “No, indeed sir; Lady Olivia has no folly: she will keep no fool,sir, till she be married” showing that she may be beautiful and therefore popular amongst the unmarried men. Due to the denial of marriage that is being offered by duke Orsino but is willing to marry Cesario showing that she thinks Orsino is either annoying/ unattractive or unbearable “many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage” meaning good things hanging about prevents bad marriages like the one that would have happened with viola and the Orsino annoyances. This just tells us she was waiting for the ‘right’ person. Olivia may be beautiful but like most Elizabethan women not cosmetically beautiful which Elizabethan women didn’t like (Shakespeare at least kept in the concept of the fashion idiom at the time) therefore making Olivia at least a bit stereotypical and making her think beauty is natural therefore making herself kind of vain and tries to seduce Cesario but when Viola rejects her advances that leaves her confused as of why that was. Olivia has many people that adore her even her servant Malvolio who has strong feelings for her yet is not sure if she loves him as well so declines to make any advances. But when he is tricked by Sir Toby belch and co. he is desperate to ‘give back the love’ that ‘Olivia’ has given to him. But Olivia doesn’t love love Malvolio at all as before I said she was waiting for the right person who was Cesario (later to be quietly swapped for her brother Sebastian). In act 3 scene 1 Olivia declares her love for Cesario this would be greatly frowned upon at the time as generally it was the man’s decision for marriage to a woman. The audience would probably act shocked due to the minority women were in societies hierarchy. In act 4 Olivia manages to arrange a marriage in England in Elizabethan times this woould be greatly … impossible due to the minority women were in society. Yet due to the fact she is in Illyria the rules and concepts of women in society seem much different.
In conclusion Viola and Olivia aren’t really typical of the Elizabethan woman there are bits that can relate to an Elizabethan woman but they seem more independent then most and are in charge of themselves and items (in Olivia’s case) and has ingenuity (in viola’s case). Shakespeare is trying to convey the point women would do well in society as well if given the chance
it’s posting into wordpress DAMB YOU TWITTER IT’S TURNING INTO FACEBOOK FULL OF USELESS CRAP … wait i’m using ping.fm … oh well friendfeed shall here of this
