Language Liberation In The Picture Of Dorian Gray And The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
There are two ways to define language. The primary meaning, which is literal, is the object’s physical reality. The secondary meaning, which is symbolic, is the object’s representation. As an object exists in physical reality, its literal meaning cannot be changed. The symbolism, however, can only be interpreted from one perspective. A form that is “rigid” has a symbolic meaning that is stationary. All language is limited to one interpretation. Language is’readymade’ in both symbolic and literal meaning. R. L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray each offer alternate symbolic meanings of the exact, same set of words. Language is not’ready made’ syntactically. It can be developed to have symbolic meanings.
An’readymade language’ was originally designed to describe a human normative reality. The’readymade’ language is no longer adequate to describe the novel’s encounter with the other’. Freud’s Uncanny theory argues that the Uncanny is characterized by an unease in the heimlich becoming the unheimlich. Jekyll’s second is both familiar and unfamiliar due to their human resemblance. It is difficult to move from a traditional, set language to a new vocabulary. As an example of a middle-class gentleman and a reasonable man, Mr Enfield portrays the struggle to explain Mr Hyde’s features with a poor, preformed language. He seems to find this single adjective incompetent for accurately portraying Hyde. Instead of a description that describes Hyde as a strong feeling, it now transitions to one that is deformable and contains additional unidentified horrors. It becomes increasingly gross because it is impossible to give a literal description.
The only certainty in emotion is that it is’strong’. Hyde says Hyde’must’ be deformed. Emotion is limited by language, since abstract emotions must be expressed using a’readymade’ vocabulary. Enfield is unable to describe Hyde in any’readymade’ language. He addresses Hyde by his first name, rather than his second, and identifies the ‘others’ as more physically close to himself, Utterson, or Lanyon, than any other type of creature. Enfield, almost subconsciously, aligns Mr Hyde to Dr Jekyll. This forces the unheimlich’ closer with the heimlich form. Hyde initially assumes that he inhabits the unheimlich other’. This is because Hyde cannot be classified in either the ‘human’ or the ‘animal’ categories. The new language, which must be developed slightly from the existing form, is both familiar as well as unfamiliar.
Stevenson struggled to mould a’readymade language’ to Hyde’s unrecognizable form. Instead, the Picture of Dorian Gray confronts the limitations of a preformed language by the ‘other.’ The ‘other is an inanimate object that can perform human activity and does not exist as a human. This type of personification needs a new set verbs. While the portrait seems supernatural, it is limited to a human vocabulary. Wilde deliberately creates a gap between meaning and vocabulary, using ‘heimlich’ words that are pre-existing words to describe supernatural scenes that require new symbolism. Dorian is not able to identify the substance or the emotion, like Enfield. Dorian instead reverts back to asking a question to suggest that he needs to learn from outside sources. Similar struggles to identify Enfield are present. Dorian can see the “reddew”, but cannot determine the proper noun to describe it. This creates an unease in not being able to identify the “unheimlich”.
Consider first ‘dew’. It is an image of Eden that would traditionally dictate a new start. Wilde reinterprets this using irony to suggest that Wilde paints life as taking and not giving. Although the substance becomes less threatening than blood temporarily, it loses its innocence when it reaches’sweat’. Dorian only recognizes the substance’s closest resemblance with ‘blood’ mentally and syntactically. As all of these substances exist in a human environment, a’readymade’ language suffices for description. The meaning of the symbol that was previously in a fixed context is changed to something unfamiliar by the moisture’s origine. The blood has’sweated’ from the canvas, not flesh. This makes the picture’revolt’ from being an inanimate object and to become partially human. The’revolt’ is necessary from the’readymade’ language that is used to describe an earthly, mortal world. This world can not be described by the language of Hyde and Dorian.
Symons calls for a rebellion in both’readymade language’ as well as ‘form. Stevenson breaks with this conventional narrative form in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde. The novella can be read simultaneously as both a memoir and a crime report, but it doesn’t have to follow a single narrative voice. However, these categories aren’t always clear. Jekyll’s epistle interrupts Dr Lanyon’s narrative. Although it is a distinct chapter, Jekyll’s epistle is interspersed. It is clear that having a claim on an account does NOT imply that you have to view it only from one perspective. “Dr Lanyon’s Narrative” is focused on physical interpretation. He said that he saw a change in his face and that he felt like he was swelling. His face turned black (Stevenson at p.41).
If the novella is to be classified as a report on crime, the third person narration will be considered the ‘traditional form’. It is the traditional way of looking at the crime from outside. Lanyon is detached when he sees -‘I saw’ –and reporting what physical appears –’his face suddenly became black’ -infront him. This sense of detachedness is however also restrictive. He limits his identity to basic and external aspects and can only talk about Jekyll in child-like terms of colour. ‘Black’ is one-dimensionally a symbol for death. Lanyon’s view is subjective, even though Stevenson’s novella was initially classified as a crime report. He describes what he “thought” he saw as real. This suggests that it is difficult to stay within a traditional narrative format. Stevenson may view Lanyon’s story as necessary to recognize the bonds of a traditional, aesthetic third-person narrative. This form of identity is only possible to an exterior person. Lanyon’s analysis can not be extended to psychological motivations behind actions.
This fiction requires ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of Case’. Also, the title implies that a forensically correct, physical description is not an ‘full declaration’. Stevenson brings emotion to the story by switching from the detective genre that identifies the criminals to a psychological account in the first person. It is only by breaking from rigid narratives that the reader can examine Jekyll and feel empathy for his actions.
Stevenson, as we have seen,’revolts against’ traditional form through writing. Wilde also rebels from the bondage’ to traditional form via concept. The Picture of Dorian Gray uses art to interact with language. Victorian art was traditionally associated with a social or political message. Ford Maddox Brown’s Work’ is an example of this. It depicts reality in order to stimulate emotional response and then take action. Wilde broke free of this ‘bondage by introducing the aestheticism movement from the 1890’s. His novel can be described as art for art sake. It is free from any previous responsibility. Dorian’s painting is intended to stimulate pleasure and not incite social action. It kills the desire for action’ (Wilde. p.198). Wilde might condemn this absence of traditional form and the responsibility it entails. Aestheticism doesn’t just reject ‘action’; it also denies the ‘desires to act’. This is a drive that depends on future actions. It is nearly impossible to identify future actions if they are not described as good or bad. Dorian is not antithesis. However, removing this desire does not make him any less capable of taking responsibility for the consequences.
His indifference, despite not causing Sibyl Vane’s death by his own hand, inadvertently leads to her death. As such, a’revolt’ against aestheticism is dangerously liberal. Dorian rejects the traditional social responsibility associated with art and suggests that too much freedom is possible by allowing for a lack of a ‘bondage’. Dorian’s inability keep a visual perfectionism upholds the notion that aestheticism is a rebellion and cannot be developed as a new ‘traditional art form’. Wilde says that Dorian is not affected by the painting’s’revolt’. This is achieved temporarily by dividing his mind and body between painting and human form. However, this separation doesn’t take into account mental influence. Dorian keeps the painting in his mind, and it does have an ironic impact on his actions. Wilde almost returns to traditional art form by engaging with aestheticism. The picture is art with meaning and an unavoidable responsibility. Even when it is possible to break this bond, it is not easy.
Both the’revolt and the traditional form have been considered as stationary concepts. By it’s bondage’, the traditional is implied to be stationary. However, the’revolt” exists as a new, but still remains stationary. Walter Pater believes that every moment a form grows in hand or face is a form of development. Dr Jekyll considers bondage, in particular, the human body that does not change from its original, singular form. According to Dr Jekyll, the transition to Mr Hyde involves Dr Jekyll seeing it as a process of ‘perfecting’ his experience in releasing himself from a singular form. Jekyll cannot return to the singular form of his bondage because he broke free from it.
These boundaries between Jekyll’s forms will also disappear if they are not bound to one another. Jekyll can be heard in the narrative ‘I,’ but Hyde is also aware of his ‘awakening’. Ironically, Dr Jekyll’s human form is still a binding force. While he has broken free of a physical bondage but his mind is still imprisoned in another form, Pater’s emphasis on experience means that the transition takes place during’moments’ in which Jekyll is unconscious and in a doze’. The reader is denied Hyde’s narration, and therefore the experience is his. As if the reader is also in semi-consciousness, the transformation is not seen. Stevenson introduces new forms to Pater’s concept of development. “Always” implies a certain result, but not a transition to another, specific form. Jekyll must remain forever within this’moment. This action is not sustainable and cannot be escaped from the bondage’.
Both the negative and positive aspects of ‘bondage’ have been discussed. Pater defines growth as the pursuit of perfection. This suggests that any ‘bondage,’ which refuses to move, is a negative idea. The Picture of Dorian Gray identifies Pater’s notion of growth with a negative side. Wilde takes this concept to include a’moment’ and a lifetime. He defines growth as submission to the physical decay of a human body. Dorian’s realization of youthful beauty as an invaluable asset is the moment when he anticipates it.
In their claim to deformity, Dorian’s image is identical to Hyde’s future self. Deformity is a physical, degenerative form that Enfield refers to Hyde. Dorian’s deformity refers to his?grace’. This implies that Dorian is only worth what he can achieve in society. It is thus attempted to alter the ‘traditional form’. Dorian temporarily lives in a transcendent, immortal body and tries to make it his traditional human form by living through it for the rest of his life. Dorian’s social ambitions will be limited by his inability to live free of the human body. Wilde, by looking ahead to the future sees how a process will unfold after Pater has achieved perfection. It is impossible to reach the highest level perfection. The human form is unable to grow beyond the’moment’ of Pater and will soon begin to decay. Dorian’s ‘bondage’ with a particular type becomes an ambition. The ‘traditional’ form can still be considered a mortal, bodily bondage. Instead, he seeks to’revolt’ form. He does not want to follow Pater’s development. He wants to create a form that will not fall apart but that still looks human. Dorian looks forward to an impending time, and this is when he escapes the ‘bondage’ of decay that a typical human is subjected to.
Revolting from the ‘traditional form of life’ can have serious consequences. Dr Jekyll as well Dr Gray are punished by society. Dorian is made to reconcile his conscience with his physical frame and return to his human form. Parallel to this, Dr Jekyll refuses to exist in a reality where his body accepts no responsibility for social responsibilities. In order for social change in an established culture to take place, it must be gradual and collective. Both protagonists’ attempts to rebel against tradition can only exist in the form of an individual’revolt’ and will never become a reformed tradition. Dorian, Jekyll and other rebels are both punished by society.
Bibliography
W. Pater, The Renaissance (Oxford, OUP, 1986).
Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny (London, Penguin, 2003).
Stevenson, R. L. The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2004).
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the protagonist’s appearance remains unchanged while his portrait reflects his inner decay (Wilde, 1998).
