Stevenson's Use of the Double in his Portrayal of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Stevenson's Use of the Double in his Portrayal of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Many myths, legends and fairy tales include transformations. A recent

example is the relatively new children's film, "Shrek" where a

princess gets turned into a monster by a witch; but when she breaks

the spell by falling in love, she transforms from the monster to the

beautiful princess she once was. In the story of "The strange case of

Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" there is also a transformation, but it is a

respectable good doctor to a deeply evil and hated man.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh. He wrote the

novel "The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" during his time in

Bournemouth in 1885, the novel was later published in 1886. The novel

appears to be set in Old Victorian London, yet he clearly had

Edinburgh in mind as well with its twin identities (like Jekyll):

prosperous and respectable New Town, and the Old Town of poverty and

desperation.

Jekyll and Hyde is a sad tale of how a well-respected Victorian doctor

creates a potion which enables him to turn into an evil creature,

Hyde, to explore mans double nature of good and evil. His curiosity

and increased dependence on the drug results in the death of one of

the doctors close friends, and eventually his own.

All but one of the characters, Hyde, are middle aged men who want to

keep up appearances. The narrator Utterson tells the reader why he

drinks gin- to hinder what he perceives to be a sin, "Mortify his

taste for vintages". The Victorian world was one where appearances

mattered and determined whether or not you would be accepted in

society.

Robert Louis Stevenson add...

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... don't embrace and control your evil side

it will take over, and you'd be a hypocrite if you didn't. The craving

or desire to be bad never goes away, it's just like being an alcoholic

or drug addict, you just have to learn to say "no".

The story is ironic because although the whole experiment conducted by

Jekyll is a success, in the end he is killed by his invention- the

potion.

In the end Jekyll doesn't commit suicide, but simply is only able to

obtain the powder for the potion in its pure form, instead of the

impure original powder which he originally used for the

transformation. Edward Hyde is the one to commit suicide in fear of

the gallows and now unable to take refuge in the body of Dr. Jekyll's

body.

The ultimate message from Stevenson's novel is that if one gives evil

an inch, it will take a mile.