Development of Ideas:

Researching and Designing into the Character

To continue my research into my character I have decided to refer back to my blog post on 'creating characters' and I thought it would be appropriate to re-research into each point about my character to gain a better understanding about its background. I will be researching into the; background, story, status, characteristics, personalty, state of mind etc. 

Background/story:

In the background and story of this character it starts with a respectable doctor (Dr. Jekyll) who transforms into a savage murderer (Mr. Hyde) by the experimentation of science. Dr.Jekyll wishes to be able to separate his good from evil and be able to turn into pure evil without feeling the guilt of a good person. The story consists of Dr.Jekyll transforming between characters without anyone knowing that they are the same person, Mr. Hyde continues to do bad things and then the tale ends with the discovery of their scientific secret and ends with Dr.Jekyll committing suicide due to losing control over his other evil half.

Status: 

As the character is represent in the novel as two people they both present us with two different status values within the novel. Dr. Jekyll is represent as a respectable gentleman of science and discovery, as this was/is considered a intelligent profession he was considered of a high class as he also did many work for charity. However, Mr.Hyde (his bad half) is seen by the town as inhuman and ape like therefore they do not accept his difference and considered lower class.  

Characteristic's/Personality:

Dr.Jekyll is considered a respectable gentleman in his local area due to his work within science but Mr. Hyde is considered a threat and a freak to locals as he does not look like everyone else and is not considered normal. Dr.Jekyll is considered a higher status due to his work ethic and Hyde is considered a low life as he is different from everyone else and different was not considered normal. 

As there are one characters that are split within two characters I have found quoted from 'Robert Louis Stevenson, The strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'. 

Dr.Jekyll: 'is a tall, a commanding figure, of considerable intellect and good social and professional standing, dedicated to the advancement of science and learning'. 

Mr.Hyde:' Is a small, often described even as 'dwarfish' and 'ape-like' as if physical stature of the man reflected his lower moral standards. 

- 'Jekyll feels he can keep Hyde under control, and has considerable moral scruples when he feels Hyde taking him over. Hyde never expresses any moral viewpoint; he simply acts as his feeling lead him'. 

Planning Ideas: 

After starting the initial research I have found out more information about the characters ans their background story. Therefore I wanted to takes this information about the characters and incorporate this into my designs and to start this process again I researched into inspirational images that relate to the ideas of these characters.

  During the process of researching into inspirational images I found that their was a big theme of half and half faces which represented the two characters within one person. I really like this idea as in the novel the characters are shown as two people until they are discovered as one, I think it would be a great idea to show the both characters as one to represent the contrast in both sides of the characters themselves. As we are doing 'Continuity' as the main bases of the exam I needed to create a design that I was able to achieve actually the same for both exams with also making it relate well to my character. My first thoughts on a character design was inspired by the end of the novel when Mr. Utterson is reading the letter from Dr.Jekyll about his struggle between the switch between his other self (Mr. Hyde) which is when Mr. Utterson and everyone finds out they were the same person. The novel goes on to further explain that Dr.Jekyll no longer had control over his other self (Mr, Hyde) and he was transforming into him without any control, as he knew he was doing bad he decided it was enough. Therefore Dr. Jekyll committed suicide fighting against his transformation. I wanted to represent this struggle at the end of the novel of the two sides of the character fighting against each other. Therefore inspired by my image research I further mind-mapped and planned more ideas (shown below).

As I have planned more into my ideas I wanted to start drawing out design ideas and researching into the background of them. The main theme for my ideas are definitely based on two halves and the aspect of not being in control. As my character is a scientist this was considered a new form as in the Victorian era the 'Industrial Revolution' was happening making people very unsure of the sciences and anything new as, as humans we are creatures who don't like change. Religion was the main belief for most people in the Victorian period and Praia to that therefore the forms of  science made people unsure and this is why the character of Mr.Hyde was also judge as he was different and new as well. I want to represent this theme of the unknown in my character as again my character did not always know when he was to transform making this a big theme of the novel.