Jekyll and Hyde 3

Authors Notes: This prompt was based off the actions which took place during Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative.  The response simply shows how knowledge can be a destructive force. 

Knowledge

                Knowledge is one of the most measured elements of the human mind.  With knowledge we find the answers to enigmas which haunt us; and upon solving these riddles, we are then once again reminded of how little we actually know.  But this element of unknowingness is what holds us in balance; there are always things that must be left untouched and unknown, but even with this law in place some give everything just to know more.  In the novella Jekyll and Hyde, This sacrifice for knowledge is portrayed when Lanyon pays with his life to witness the truth behind the infamous Mr. Hyde.

                Lanyon makes the ultimate sacrifice to understand something that was never meant to be.  In the novella it is understood that Dr. Jekyll is the murderous Mr. Hyde, and that through experimentation Jekyll defied god and became something else.  Of course to the people close to Jekyll, this truth seems ludicrous.  Many people like Utterson came close to understanding the truth, but sense the answer was so inhuman, it was pushed to the side.  But when Lanyon came close to the answer he couldn’t just walk away.  After helping Hyde retrieve some objects, a moment came where Lanyon was asked to leave, or stay and be enlightened.  After being asked, he said, “I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end” (101).  This statement is where Lanyon knows too much.  Warned of the steaks, Lanyon presses forth and finds the answer, but also finds death.  He saw the hideous transformation of the Dr. and now must pay.  Much like selling his soul to the devil, Lanyon gives his away for unearthly knowledge.  His sacrifice leaves him bitter towards the end, and leaves him with nothing.  He died knowing the truth which should have stayed hidden; He died knowing something that defied the world, and god himself; He died because he had knowledge.