Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Duality Essay

Stevenson writes ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ with the intention of showing the reader the duality of man and explores this through the juxtaposition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this novella, Stevenson also uses the environment and setting of the story to represent the contrast between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

From the beginning of time, humans have questioned the validity of intrinsic duality of man. Are humans born with both pure goodness and pure evilness or is the latter cultivated? In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one man, a scientist named Henry Jekyll, concludes that all men are both good and evil, so he decided to separate the two natures within one body. The outcome of his experiment resulted in the formation of a somewhat different product than he had imagined a creature by the name of Edward Hyde. Although Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the souls of one body, there are differences and similarities in their appearance and personality that illustrate the natural duality of good and evil within a man.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published in 1886 as a 'shilling shocker' novella written by the young novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. At that time there was a surfeit of cheap horror novellas. Stevenson's novella was different because it explored the evil inside human kind. I will look into Victorian attitudes and how these influenced Victorian life.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one person with two distinct personalities. The author uses the theme of duality throughout the story to describe the opposite nature of the two characters and the struggle they bear. Dr. Jekyll is a kind and handsome soul, well educated and liked by his friends and colleagues. Mr. Hyde is an evil and dark individual.

In this novel, Stevenson explores the duality of Victorian society and human nature. The definition of 'duality' means being double. The example of duality in this novel is the contrasting characteristics and personality of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. As you could see the evidence of the duality in Dr.Jekyll's personality in page 151, from the quote which says "that man is not truly one, but truly two."

In “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, the author includes the important theme of duality of human nature. Every person has more than one side to them, even if you can’t always see it. For example, Dr. Jekyll had a dual personality. He was a well-respected doctor with good morals and values. Obviously, he was a perfect and noble Victorian Gentleman, right?

In the fantastique that is Robert Louis Stevenson’s, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson writes of an idea where among human nature is a quality of duality in which the “good” and the “bad” coincide and “man is not truly one, but truly two.” (Stevenson 62) The main protagonist of the piece a Dr. Henry Jekyll embodies this idea with his scientific ambitions of dichotomizing these two aspects of human nature in order to purify himself. His fate in this way is a direct result of his desires to release himself of the evils that once influenced him as a child. As Mr. Hyde Jekyll’s so called troglodytic counterpart emerges, ironically he slowly begins to take control of the doctor's moral compass.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes on the omnipresence of dualistic attitudes in the average men on a daily basis. Dualism is defined by the dictionary as the division of an item into two contrasted aspects. Throughout the novel, Stevenson elaborates on this duality of human nature by creating a character named Jekyll, a very successful and known doctor, who has a physical and metamorphic alter-ego whom he calls Mr. Hyde. In this novel: duality in the human nature, morality versus immorality, and right from wrong are aspects which are emphasized and implied on to demonstrate the overall human nature according to a Victorian perspective. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a chemist who is well-known in his town as a respectful and respected doctor.

It has been many years since the publication of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. The book explains how everyone has a dark side to their personalities and how that dark side can consume you to become insane. Many believe that there is no such thing as dissociative personality disorder, but in fact, there is; “Approximately 1% of the general population has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.” There have not been many cases of this disorder but the few that have been recorded are proof that one can have multiple personalities. Something historical that plays in motion with the story is that this was based off a real life person. An 18th century man named William Brody was a cabinetmaker and popular politician

Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde represent how people hide their true selves from society. Written in 1886 during the Victorian period, it expresses the theme of realistic representation of life by expressing how people conceal themselves to refrain from being ostracized. Dr. Jekyell was a respected doctor known for his modesty and charitable work. To the community Dr. Jekyell was a very upstanding citizen. However, secretly he is the absolute opposite.

Jean Paul Richter defines doppelgängers as “people who see themselves.” One would think that such would be the case for the two main characters in the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, but it is quite the opposite (until the end of the novel when the reader finds out that the two main characters are in fact one). Dr. Jekyll creates Mr. Hyde in the hopes of expelling evilness and temptation from himself, but is blind to the fact that he cannot truly separate himself from his original sin. Throughout the novel, Stevenson uses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to embody the archetypes of good and evil. It is not until the end of the story that Dr. Jekyll “sees

The book, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is written by Robert Louis Stevenson and is a mystery with 138 pages. Published in 1986 by C. Scribner’s Sons. It is very intriguing and interesting book that can inquisit a person to read further. Robert Louis Stevenson who is the author is a renowned author with many best sellers and popular books.

Gothic novels tackle many aspects of the Victorian era which was between 1837 to 1901. Such aspects were then translated into tropes of different gothic novels. Duality, Masculinity, Secrecy, Sexuality, Mystery, Suspense, Rationalism Vs Irrationalism and Supernatural beings Vs Human Beings and many more were all important tropes to their respective novels. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was one of the driving forces behind the trope of Duality, published in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson. The book was written in the form of an Allegorical novel, which meant that the novel had an extended metaphor. One of the main messages conveyed through the book was duality, the idea of 2 separate entities residing in the same person. Good being their gentlemanly characteristics while bad being the hidden dark pleasures. Hence, this essay will discuss the duality within supporting characters association

Many stories include a general theme of good and evil- whether it be one character’s war against his own self or two different characters against each other. In “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, both of these ideas are included through the separation of Jekyll’s “good” and “evil” sides into two different people. Dr. Jekyll’s will, Mr. Hyde’s appearance, and the incident of the letter all suggest that Jekyll and Hyde are two separate people derived from one to represent good from evil.

“ The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man” The quote pertains to this story so greatly, because it sums up jekyll. Jekyll has both a bright side and dark side, it only depended on which one he wanted to make conscious to society. This novel emphasized how greatly the author felt on morals of purity and evil. Being that this story is created by a nightmare dreamt by Robert louis Stevenson, it has his perspectives hidden in every scene created. Jekyll's experiment to free his evil side from the constraints of conscience and free is good side the temptations of evil both succeed and fail on different extents. The lead to the big question, what was Stevenson's understanding concerning the essence of human nature?