Everyone knows the story of Jekyll and Hyde: Good doctor becomes evil grouch by means of a potion and eventually the evil grouch overtakes him. In Jekyll and Hyde, at the end Hyde kills himself. First, before we get into any real ponderings, I note that it was specifically Hyde that killed himself and not Jekyll. By the end of the book they are two completely different people, Jekyll's mind watching from afar as Hyde takes over. It's interesting that the evil character is the one that sacrifices his life for the greater good.
Now onto my question. It is invariably bad to kill oneself, yes? In many religions, this is one of the big no-no's. However, self-sacrifice is widely accepted as a noble cause. Is killing oneself a "good" think to do if you save others in the process? What if you save a pet that you loved just as much? Or would it have been a more sinless act for Hyde to continue living, even though his actions were scandalous? If Hyde had not killed Cardew but still trampled and hurt the girl, would your answer be the same?
Would Hyde eventually have changed back to Jekyll?
2 comments:
you've confused me :P
Perhaps Hyde believed that by the time Death had come, Jekyll would take his place.
To me, killing one's self isn't acceptable. One death affects many - whether one can think of reasons or not for those left behind. That, and then there's the fact that my mom's basically ingrained in my head the whole religion aspect of the reasoning.
We always think we'd give our lives in exchange for another (such is the noble clamor and allure of the deed), but how often do we appreciate the life we are given without being asked to be gifted another chance at all? I don't know. We can be our only judges of that until some faith in higher orders may enter the scene.
I never had a pet I became attached to, so I can't answer that question.
Frankly, it would have been better if Jekyll and Hyde could live in harmony without battling for dominance and control. That would've killed the story line suspense though - so meh.
More sinless act to continue living? Nah... just means more time to fill a storyline. Maybe the two personalities wouldn't have collided so badly... learned to live together somewhat. Who knows. They ought to respect each other though.
Glossing over one bad deed doesn't change the fact that I felt completely horrified once Hyde murdered the poor lady who had found hope in Dr. Jekyll. Then again, Dr. Jekyll's wife is completely boring and proper... it pays to have more interesting characters to keep audiences riveted.
And... Yes. I believe Hyde would have changed back to Jekyll. They change often enough. One cannot always be on guard if the other is so stubbornly persistent to be free. If one dies, however, both do. So, it'd be a lifelong struggle.
... Yeah. I think I answered everything. (Whew! ;D)
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