I am strongly for the prosecution of Sir Edward Hyde and Sir Henry Jekyll. To begin with, there is plenty of proof saying that he murdered this poor man. A woman witnessed him beating the man cruelly to his death. After that, Mr. Utterson visited the house of Hyde and found the other half of the weapon. This all shows that Mr. Hyde murdered the man and should be fully blamed for doing so. I do believe that although Mr. Hyde was “the one” who committed the crime, he wasn`t at total fault for it. Dr.Jeklly was the one who created him, and Mr. Hyde is Dr.Jekyll “evil side”. If he didn`t have the urges of doing wrong, this wouldn’t have been a problem. I feel that Dr.Jekyll is irresponsible since he knew there would ramifications for drinking this potion and he did not take the necessary precautions to prevent the events that followed by drinking the unknown substance. Had he taken these precautions and had an assistant perhaps there would have been one less murder. Even if we put away Mr. Hyde, how do we know that Dr.Jekyll will not become evil himself one day and commit such an act. After hearing Dr.Jekyll's statement,we learn that we cannot just put one away without another. Mr.Hyde could come out whenever he pleases and we do not want to have to address this situation at a future date. Therefore, the only solution is to put Mr.Hyde and Dr. Jekyll in jail together.
Cassie,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great start! You have some solid reasons for putting Hyde/Jekyll away. Some pointers: Remember who your audience is (a jury of Victorian London citizens). This affects your point of view when writing, for example, instead of saying, "I am strongly against", you want to address the jury you would be speaking to directly if it were a courtroom.
Next, remember that just like any other writing or speech, you need an introduction that capture the attention of your audience before you dive in to highlighting your reasons. Your reasons are strong, however consider being as specific as possible about the details of the murder. Instead of saying the man was murdered, say the name of the man, the murder weapon was a cane, etc. Finally, try to capture the persuasive language specific to a court of law. For example, your reason about Dr. Jekyll knowing the ramifications of letting Hyde out and deciding to do it anyway. In a court of law this would be considered negligence. I understand that you may not be familiar with this type of language but trying to include realistic word choice will certainly help your score. Watch some CSI or Law and Order over the break. Or try to find some you tube clips where you can pick up some of the lingo. Great start!!