Comparing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Sign of Four Essay -- compar

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has left such a deeply painful mental picture on my heart that I do not know how I am ever to turn it again -- Valdine Clemens That which is willed and that which is wanted can be as different as the mind and the heart. The Victorian age in English Literature is known for its earnest obedience to a clean-livingistic and highly unified social code of conduct however, in the last decade of the 19th Century this order began to be questioned. So dramatic was the change in panorama that Stevensons The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (published in 1883) and Doyles The Sign of Four (published in 1890) can be used to display this breaking away from strict social and moral standards. Stevensons character Mr. Utterson can be used to personify the earnest social morality that the Victorian age is known for, while Doyles protagonist Sherlock Holmes personifies the conjure to more individualistic pursuits. In their search for answers, Mr. Utterson a nd Sherlock Holmes exhibit very different motivations for investigating the fulfillment of social and moral obligations, and personal satisfaction, respectively. This can be shown by comparing and contrasting these two characters reasons for getting involved, their methods of dispensing information during their investigations, and their results at the cases conclusions. The characters actions in the first paragraphs of each of these works is very revealing Sherlock Holmes is injecting himself with cocain and Mr. Utterson is described as having resisted the theater (that he enjoys) for over twenty years. From these beginnings, it is obvious who the pleasure seeker is and who adheres to a strong sense of morals. Although Mr. Utt... ... Valdine. The Return of the Repressed medieval Horror from The Castle of Otranto to Alien. Albany State University of New York, 1999. Print.Doyle, Conan. The Sign of Four in The Complete Sherlock Holmes Barnes & Noble, Dayton, New Jersey, 1988.Steven son, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales Of Horror. capital of the United Kingdom Penguin, 2003. Print.Works ConsultedCharyn, Jerome. Who Is Hyde? Afterword The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Bantam Books. Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1981. 105-114.Hume, David. Of Moral and Social order. An Introduction to Philosophy. Ed. G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. 4th ed. Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 348-352Mighall, Dr. Robert. A Geography of Victorian gothic Fiction Mapping Historys Nightmares. Oxford University Press, 1999. 166-209.