Short Stories

Librarian of lace

Many of the gothic stories that we have been studying address the idea of removing or separating the conscience from the human subject in order to remove guilt of crimes that they have committed against their social structure or culture. In Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator tries to kill his conscience by hanging the cat although he had once loved the cat. Later the narrator is trying to justify why he was trying to kill the cat but now he is haunted by the cat. I believe that this is the author trying to suggest that one cannot separate themselves from the conscience or the wrongs that they have done.

In the same light, the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde play with the idea of removing the conscience from the main character. As Mr. Hyde grows and deviates more from social normality, the more issues arise for Dr. Jekyll to clean up. Although Dr. Jekyll is a sign of a modern citizen in the 19th century, Mr. Hyde represents the evils that man attempt to hide from society and also he is the Id of the human persona. Dr. Jekyll tries to be a separate person from his Id which causes more issues. This is Stevenson addressing the dual nature of humanity and how a white knight can also be a blackened villain.

I really enjoy both books and the ideas of the changing and dual nature of humanity. I can now analysis characters better because I understand that there is a double edge sword to all people even with fictional characters. With the understanding the dual nature of humans and character we can see the changes in character development. There is no possible way for a character to function without a conscience because there would be no resolution to the story.