Dr Jekyll's Monologue

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“That in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?” (Stevenson 57). This is our main character, Dr Jekyll’s, continuous inner monologue. He constantly wants to know why he’s the way he is and who the “polar twin” really is. Dr Jekyll switches between himself and Mr Hyde; one good and one evil. This can be supported numerously throughout the book. Two reasons to support this being that Dr. Jekyll shared the same handwriting as Mr Hyde; the other being that Hyde walked right over a child, harming the child, and continued walking without caring (“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground,” Stevenson 11.) Dr Jekyll …show more content…

As an example Utterson expresses his concern for Jekyll to the audience by thinking “Poor Harry Jekyll . . . my mind misgives me he is in deep waters!” He’s obviously not literally drowning but we understand that he means it figuratively and metaphorically. In fact our main characters Jekyll and Hyde are metaphors for good and evil. There’s a lot of irony in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, namely situational irony. An example would be a large part of the plot and the conflicting personalities of Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll is a good man who intends to do no harm. He wants to solve his issues with Hyde but at the same time he feels bound by him. The irony is despite that Jekyll is a good man his alternate personality is exactly the opposite, Jekyll would not harm to anyone but Hyde will and has done harm to people; “A man cannot destroy the savage in him by denying it’s impulses. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it,” …show more content…

For this reason I’ll be explaining Jekyll’s mental health. Jekyll has as what we now call Multiple Personality Disorder; “I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could be rightly said to be either, it was only because I was radically both,” Stevenson 57.) The disease was first discovered by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He would ask patients symptoms that he found common in MPD. Many patients know about their alternate personality but refuse to acknowledge it’s existence. In some cases they may even refer to it as a separate person entirely. In this case Jekyll is very much aware of his alternate personality, going as to so far as to willingly change into him. However despite this he also categorizes Hyde into a separate being. For example when Hyde does something unappealing or distasteful he blames it on a separate person. Consciously though he is aware that he is Hyde and Hyde is him. (MD, Arnold Lieber. "Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder." PsyCom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986. Vertical Health LLC, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016). Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same person all within the body of Dr Jekyll. He switches between the two willingly for science and his own personal desire. This can be proven in the last chapter of the book where we see

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