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{\parindent0pt\obeylines
Holden Rohrer
Markley
English Composition II
6 Sep 2020
}
\centerline{\large\bfseries Strangeness as Moral Hypocrisy}
In both texts, ``strange'' describes a contradiction: in {\itshape The
Strange Case of Dr.~Jekyll and Mr.~Hyde}, the contradiction is between
an upstanding member of society (Dr.~Jekyll) and his support of vice in
private; in {\itshape The Sign of Four}, the contradiction is between a
killer's cheerful and righteous demeanor and his crimes so horrible they
take away any sympathy mild-mannered Watson might have afforded him.
{\itshape The Strange Case} is literally extraordinary, since
metamorphosis from a drug is a supernatural occurrence, but most of the
strangeness derives from more ``ordinary'' facts, presented in the
detective novel genre.
Like Holmes in {\itshape The Sign of Four}, Mr.~Utterson goes on a path
of discovery which starts with a mounting number of inexplicable facts.
First amongst these is the story of the door.
``The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming
on the ground\dots it was like some damned Juggernaut\dots [on the
check was] a name at least very well known and often printed.''
\autocite[6-7]{Jekyll}
Utterson is originally alarmed by the clear disconnect between Jekyll's
upstanding reputation and Hyde's immoral and unhealthy nature.
He believes their link to be because Hyde is coercing Jekyll, which is
why he repeatedly interviews Jekyll, but, as revealed later in the book,
Hyde is Jekyll, and Jekyll is being entirely honest when he shuts down
the line of questioning with ``My position is a very strange---a very
strange one.'' \autocite[24]{Jekyll}
The case would be less strange if it were chronologically revealed from
Dr.~Jekyll's perspective because, although supernatural in nature, none
of the apparent sinister contradictions would be contradictions.
The buildup to Jonathan Small's strange story is comparable.
It has some innate strangeness and contradiction, but the progressive
development of evidence that Small is guilty of grand theft and felony
murder makes it all the more surprising that Small believes he is
justified and treats his own misdeeds that have resulted in his capture
as mere bad luck.
Small's story is so strange by another matter of contrast.
Small is a very energetic and upfront man (implying he is healthy and
moral), which contrasts with his sheer immorality---evidenced by his
killing of the merchant Achmet: ``the thought of his treasure turned me
hard and bitter. I cast my firelock between his legs as he raced past,
and he rolled twice over like a shot rabbit.'' \autocite[46]{Four}
The social aspect of the immorality of this man is obvious in Watson's
reaction to him: ``I had now conceived the utmost horror of the man,
\dots even more for the somewhat flippant and careless way in which he
narrated it\dots I felt that he might expect no sympathy from me.''
\autocite[46]{Four}
Both of these cases are really rather similar in that they contrast the
immoral with the moral to form a ``strange'' contradiction.
While the modern sense of morality has strayed from the explicit
condemnation of vice, the Victorian morality that these stories apply is
in no way implicit. %too bombastic?
Health is tied to morality, and morality is tied to restraint from vice.
Despite Holmes's cocaine's use to show his dedication, Watson
appealing to Holmes's sense of better nature (i.e. health/morality)
shows that vice, although casually accepted, is frowned upon.
Jekyll's attitude to vice shows this sort of casual distaste:
``My life [had been] nine-tenths a life of effort, virtue, and
control'' \autocite[78]{Jekyll}.
The conflation of health and morality is evidenced in Watson's pleading,
``it is a pathological and morbid process\dots why should you, for a
mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which
you have been endowed?'' \autocite[3]{Four}
Mr.~Hyde emphasizes the belief that immorality implies unhealthfulness.
``Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil,''
which is why he is unhealthy and ``gives a strong feeling of
deformity'' \autocite[78]{Jekyll} \autocite[10]{Jekyll}.
The hypocritically unhealthy characters of these stories are abnormal,
given the implicit assumption that most people follow mores, and they
are therefore surprising, difficult to explain, and ``strange.''
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