The Nature of Duality in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Nature of Duality in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

It has long been debated that there are two sides to the human mind.

Many philosophers have stressed on the fact that human beings are

'dual creatures’. There is the duality of good and evil, right and

wrong, joy and despair. There always is the desire to do something

which is against the society, against the laws, although this varies

from person to person. Robert Stevenson brings the possibility of

another self in one person to life in his creation of Dr. Jekyll and

Mr. Hyde. His novel is a rich tale of the duality of mankind. We all

have a split personality in a sense, we have two sides to us: right

and wrong. There is a Mr. Hyde in all of us: anger, frustration,

murderous thoughts all prevail in us although we have evolved so much.

Morals, education, helping and unselfishness are the Jekyll side of

us. Stevenson believed that people knew they had a bad side, but they

all refuse to accept the truth, as the ‘dark side’ is so unpleasant.

The novel demonstrates how innocent curiosity about the darker

elements of our nature can soon get out of hand, how the evil triumphs

over good if let out of control. Stevenson portrays duality in almost

all of his characters, mainly Dr. Henry Jekyll. The symbols used, the

narrative viewpoints and the language use by Stevenson also puts

forward the dual nature of man. The philosophical context of the

novella also is another factor which Stevenson cleverly uses.

Stevenson creates a novel of gothic genre, which was extremely popular

at the time of release. And the bottom line of the novel is to

entertain the reader. The nature of duality, the philosophical

context, the scientific context, symbolism, and hy...

... middle of paper ...

...onality. Darwin’s theory of evolution and Freud’s creation of

psychoanalysis are well portrayed in this novel. Overall, Stevenson

clearly implies that humans are a mixture of ‘good’ and evil’ and

challenges the ‘human perfectibility’, which was presumed for the

upper class at the time.

I particularly enjoyed this novel as it was exploring various themes

at the same time. One interesting point is that, when Jekyll made up

the ‘transforming draught’, it never was intended to turn him evil. It

was just his desires which propelled him to being Hyde. The potion

just acted as a catalyst and in the end it was Jekyll who destroyed

himself. We had discussed this in class and it struck me as it wasn’t

an evil potion. This also shows that Jekyll wanted to break through

the Victorian laws and meet his inner desires, which leads us back to

the ‘nature of duality’.