The Importance of Reputation

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It is vital to have an admirable reputation so that people will respect you. If you have ever heard someone speak ill of someone, then you would most likely not respect them. If you ever hear something bad circling about you from someone, it will most likely hurt your feelings. 

A bad reputation can make it harder to try to find a decent job, make friends and/or get into a good college. While it may seem bizarre, many life-changing opportunities depend on your reputation, so it is important to maintain a good one. The importance of reputation is a theme that I have recognized in many of the novels and poems that we have read through the course of the year.

One of the clear readings that runs with this theme is that of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. In the novella, Dr. Henry Jekyll is convinced that all men possess two personalities. So as a result of this, Jekyll creates a drug to separate these personalities, and he tests it on himself. Thus, we get Mr. Hyde, Jekyll’s ferocious alter ego.

Stevenson explores the battle between good and evil within us. He believes that each person has opposite forces within. We all wear faces. How we act outside our home is completely different than how we are when we're alone behind closed doors. This is because we care about how people view us, and this is where the theme comes into play.

As Rose mentioned in her “Case in Point” post, “Dr. Jekyll is absorbed in separating [the] two halves of himself. He is so concerned with becoming a perfect version of himself that he creates Mr. Hyde as a cover for his imperfections.” Jekyll does not want to be known for his bad qualities as a person, so he makes it his mission to try and make a perfect version of himself by creating Hyde as someone to represent all his bad qualities. 

The depth of this system of worth is apparent in the way that Gabriel John Utterson and his distant cousin and friend Mr. Enfield are scornful of gossip. Utterson is a rather unexciting character. However, he plays an important part in the story. He represents the perfect Victorian gentlemen. He preserves order, refuses to gossip and protects his friends’ reputations as if they were his own. This is evident when he suspects Jekyll of criminal activities. Instead of ruining his friendship, he decides to shake off what he thinks and has learned of his good friend. He would rather give into thinking that his friend is still a good man to his core. We can all relate to this in some form or another. Think about this, someone is always talking about you, whether it is pleasing or not, which is a scary thought. 

A bad reputation can keep you from countless opportunities, while a good one can lead you to them. I often find myself thinking about this too much. Every act or thing I say, I have to carefully think about it before doing or saying something, especially when it comes to good friends. Whenever I hear that a friend of mine has done something bad, I refuse to believe it and I talk to them about it— and whenever it is true, I don’t look at it as a big deal, or I try not to. I feel like this is how it is with most people. We will do whatever we can to protect our friends, and help them.

Mr. Enfield is the same as Utterson. However, his role in the novella is not quite as vast. Like his cousin, Enfield is rather reserved individual that avoids gossip. He even takes long walks with Utterson at times and they do not say a word to one another. I find this to be quite interesting to me because I do not speak that much unless I am really comfortable with the person. This makes me a great listener, but a terrible conversationalist. I am constantly thinking about how people view me. So when it comes to walking with someone, sometimes I feel that it is best not to say anything or nothing at all. I would rather have not said anything than to have said something that should not have been said. I feel that is how these two men feel when they walk for long stretches.

“They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly thrust down; but that glimpse had been sufficient, and they turned and left the court without a word” (Stevenson 20). In this passage from Chapter 7, Utterson and Mr. Enfield walk by the “mysterious door” and spot Jekyll in one of the windows. Utterson calls out to him and they speak briefly before the joy leaves Jekyll’s face and becomes more terrifying. Utterson and Enfield both walk away and don’t comment on the matter. They would rather refrain from speaking than talk about people— in this case, Jekyll, who is the topic of discussion within the community.

In another reading, “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” by William Butler Yeats, the poem obviously deals with one’s view of theirself. We are introduced to a speaker who is looking over his poetic career, when his motivations for writing were clearer. He believes that he is nothing “but a broken man” now. He longs to write like he used to, when he wrote elaborate poems with fun themes, like “circus animals.”

“Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot,
Lion and woman and the Lord knows what.

What can I but enumerate old themes,
First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose
Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams,
Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose,
Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems,
That might adorn old songs or courtly shows;
But what cared I that set him on to ride,
I, starved for the bosom of his faery bride.”

-       Yeats, “The Circus Animal’s Desertion”

However, all these fun thoughts and inspirations for writing have escaped him. The speaker thinks back on the work from his youth, when they were “masterful,” and questions their honesty.  As we mentioned in class when we talked about the poem, the speaker so desperately cares about his work and how people view his work that he becomes obsessed in thinking about his previous work, when everything was more lively and interesting.

In class, we also discussed how dark of a time for literature this was when Yeats wrote this poem. As Daydreamer’s mention in their post, “It seemed as if many authors had lost their trust in the beauty of nature and humanity, and that directly affect their writing styles.”

“When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain…”

-       John Keats, “When I Have Fears”

Keats’s poem, “When I Have Fears,” is a very similar piece of work to Yeats’s poem. They are both poems about poets worried about their work. In “When I Have Fears,” the speaker has a great fear of dying before reaching his full creative potential. The speaker does not want to be known for being an average poet. He wants to be known for producing great poems that can be studied, which leads to his constant worry of death. Quentin Tarantino can be placed in the same boat. If anyone is familiar with him as a person, he is obsessed with his filmography and how it needs to be perfect, so that he will always be remembered as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. That is exactly how the speaker is.

The last and final reading is “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. In this play, the upper class cares about being respectable— so much so that they lie about it. Despite how good of a man Jack may appear to be on the surface, he is a very much so a liar.

Jack thinks that the key to having a good reputation is to be rich and come from a good family. Any deviation from these value rules— being poor or having bad character— may prevent one from continuing down the noble path. So as a result, he invents an alter ego named Ernest, his fictional brother, because his life has been so monotonous. Creating Ernest allows him to go around town while protecting his reputation at his country estate.

“You have no right whatsoever to read what is written inside. It is very ungentlemanly thing to read a private cigarette case” (Wilde 59). Unlike Jack’s good friend Algernon, Jack has a sense of morality. To Jack, it is very “ungentlemanly” to pry into another person’s private life. He thinks that it is good know only what people tell you about themselves. They should never go searching, which is not Algernon’s way of thinking, as evidenced by his later desire to look in Cecily’s diary.

Reputation is quite important in our society, which is why it is the theme of many of the texts that we have read over the course of the year. “Reputation is most usefully viewed as a social construction” (Mahon). It helps people make judgments about others. Each of the characters in these readings play a significant role in determining the eventual results of the stories.

Works Cited

Mahon, J. F. and Mitnick, B. M. (2010), Reputation shifting. J. Publ. Aff., 10: 280–299. doi: 10.1002/pa.362

Photo 1: http://mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com/2011/10/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-1932.html

Photo 2:  http://theresawilliams-author.blogspot.com/2008/12/circus-animals-desertion-ii.html

The Ringmaster's Lament

In The Circus Animal's Desertion by Yeats, he starts it off with a deep look into his past works. He almost seems disgusted at how showy they were and he admits that they were actually very terrible as far as works of art.

This is also a good example of demonstrating what happens with age. In his youth he was able to create these extravagant and beautiful works whereas now he is unable to come up with anything. He is extremely apathetic and it's like he has given up hope on having any kind of influence in the world at all anymore.

I find this sad as most of the country is like this as well. They are very apathetic towards there work and anything they have accomplished in the past that they were so excited about back then, they find really had no significant value or impact what so ever. This is a prime example of dying at 40 and buried at 70.

A New Start

I cant help but draw parallels between The Darling Thrush and The Circus Animal’s Desertion. Both poems are looking back at the past with mixed emotions. The Darling Thrush glances at the entire state of literature at the cusp of a new era, and Yeats does the same thing only on a more personal level. The drive to produce something new and exciting seem to be a difficult task and they imply that past work was just good enough but needs a push in a new direction. Hardy is a little more optimistic as he stands at the coppice gate and sees the wilderness that can be cultivated into entirely new forms of literature. Yeats reflects on a past career and turns his back to the sharp horizon that he helped build. It is a much easier feat to comment on the literature in its entirety, but something completely different when putting yourself in that mix. Both men see different values of the past and both accept the challenge of starting fresh; putting pen to paper and cultivate the untouched land that stands before them.    

A Time of Lost Hope

I found it interesting how the presentations from our classmates on Monday were so related to the ideas presented in Yeats’ The Circus Animals’ Desertion. I remember the groups talking about how this time in literature was a very dark and pessimist time. It wasn’t dark in the sense that it was gothic and gloomy, but in the sense that all hope and light seemed to have been abandoned. It seemed as if many authors had lost their trust in the beauty of nature and humanity, and that directly affect their writing styles. This is clearly seen in Yeats’ poem. He writes about how he has completely lost poetic themes that once seemed to come so easily to him. Majority of the poem is spent with him reminiscing about his past poetic themes that were so purely complete. However, he quickly snaps out about the daydream of the past and comes to terms with the unfortunate present; he “must lie down where all the ladders start,/In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart”.  

Writers Block....

Writer’s block… That uncomfortable feeling where all of your ideas and thoughts seem absent once you try to write. I know for a fact I’m feeling that right now. It seems like even the noteworthy history making people experience writer’s block too. “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” is about some of the frustrations Yeats experienced because of his. The “circus animals” from the title and the rest of the poem refer to his previous poetry and works; the “desertion” part refers to the feeling of his creativity missing and his current lack of inspiration. That is partly why I like this poem though: it’s relatable.  Anyone that writes (whether it is for a living, school, or fun) can relate to how it feels to have a writer’s block. It is extremely frustrating and time consuming, and I cannot think of anyone that likes it. Throughout the length of “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” I felt like Yeats was trying to find inspiration for something new, and running short each time.  My favorite part of this poem, however, is how Yeats was able to turn his writers block into something. To me this shows that even nothingness can turn into a theme in itself.

You Poor, Poor Man

In Yeats' "The Circus Animal's Desertion," we find the speaker looking back over his poetic career, when his motivations for writing were more clear.  He is searching in "vain" for a poetic theme. He tried to find one for "six weeks or so," but was not lucky.

He believes that now that he is "a broken man," he will have to settle for writing about his heart, which disappoints him because he used to be able to write elaborate poems with fun themes, like "circus animals" - former poetic creations of his which have now "deserted" him. The speaker thinks back on three specific works that were full of images that were "masterful" and questions their honesty. He saw them as complete.

All the great images that he had in his life have been stripped away from by the decay of age.

Case in Point.

On Monday, we discussed the structure of the short novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. My group specifically discussed the choice to name the novel "The Strange CASE" in the context of a British mystery novel. The idea that it is set up as a case-study invites readers into a suspension of reality. It makes the novel seem more realistic within a time period where industrialism and reality were so pervasive in society. During the Victorian era it seems as though there were two types of novels- ones based in reality and ones based in a fairy world (i.e. Importance of Being Ernest vs. Alice in Wonderland). Within The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson brings these two worlds together. By having an outside narrator, readers view the novel through a lens of unknowing. There is "evidence" such as letters throughout the book, but readers are kept in the dark for the most part throughout the novel.

I feel as though the novel also comments on the Victorian era itself. Dr. Jekyll is absorbed in separating these two halves of himself.  He is so concerned with becoming a perfect version of himself that he creates Mr. Hyde as a cover for his own imperfections. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are separate individuals, despite being literally the same person. Within the Victorian era, Industrialization was prominent. The idea that there were new, bigger, better ways of doing things was prominent. However, ideals and values can become disturbed by this quest for power. In the same way, Dr. Jekyll's ultimate demise was trying to create a "better" version of himself by fully separating himself from Mr. Hyde.

Hidden Hyde

I must admit that when I first read "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," I interpreted the text in the most obvious ways I could. I just thought that the personalities were simply representing mental illness such as bipolarism or disassociate identity disorder, creating the archetype that would go on to inspire several famous characters such as the Hulk, Harvey Two-Face, and the alleged case of Sybil. While this is the true case about the archetype, our class discussion on Monday made me look a little deeper into the themes. Jekyll is clearly repressed and needs to escape from his repressed Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. He turns to a potion that makes him feel younger, energetic, and yet cruel and without remorse or thought of consequence. To me, this seemed like a metaphor for alcoholism. An addiction that someone disappears into to lower inhibitions and forget about their life and eventually they become consumed by the power of it and suffer horrible withdrawal without it. I never would have ever looked at this text and assumed it was about sexual politics, but now I guess I can point out the constant struggle between the id (Hyde) and Jekyll (the ego) as they battle with their desires and need to be apart of society.

Fee Fi Fo Jekyll and Hyde.

In reading Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, there is quite obviously a resounding question: what lies in the core of man, good or evil? The novella's prominent theme of dichotomy seems to answer this question in more ways than one and said answer is a long winded and deeply penetrating one: both. Since Hyde's animalistic nature comes from the very core of Jekyll himself, it could be said that one cannot survive without the other. Hyde would render himself vulnerable by not allowing Jekyll to cover his tracks, while Jekyll is seemingly trapped in his addiction to the potion and Hyde's unhinged and carnal tendencies. What popped out to me that we didn't really point out in the class is the designation of the character's names. Stevenson evokes the connection between Jekyll and Hyde by naming them each for what they don't stand for and yet what resides in the center of them both. Jekyll, alarmingly close to the word jackal is a glimpse into the animalistic core of the doctor, the one that he cannot escape and yet everything that he tries not to be when he is in control of himself. Hyde on the other hand is phonetically the same as the word hide, which is something that Hyde's character can never do, as well as what Jekyll tries to do with him. These names seem to be no accident and serve to strengthen the ties between the two parts of the same man, rendering them as a physical manifestation of the Yin Yang concept. Jekyll's character has always had that little piece of Hyde in the depths of his persona, while Hyde cannot survive without Jekyll's careful maneuvering in regards to economics and law.

Lies and Deceit

Double identities seem to be common throughout Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest. Jack's neighbors and relatives believe that he is a character of good morals. However, despite what may be on the surface, Jack has been living a lie. "... in order to get up to town [he has] always pretended to have a younger brother of the name Ernest, who lives in the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes." (83) Jack believes that his job as a guardian is incredibly monotonous and boring, so as a result, he created his "younger brother" Ernest. In this passage, Jack reveals the reason behind his life of lies to Algernon. With Ernest, he can escape his dull life and move into a more fascinating and social world.

Keats, opening lines and fear of mortality

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As most have mentioned, I read Keat’s “When I Have Fears” as a poem about poet and his fear of death, or mortality. Most of Keat’s work was about death. He was obsessed with it. Compared to most of Keat’s work, this poem paints a more vivid picture of death.

The opening lines: “When I have fears that I may cease to be / Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, / Before high-piled book, in charactery / Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain,” is quite specific. It’s about the poet’s fear of dying before feeling a sense of accomplishment— dying before reaching his full creative potential. This idea could be related to any artist, or anyone— anyone who is displeased with their current state