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The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Decent Essays

Robert Louis Stevenson’s masterpiece, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers around duality of humanity in nature, right vs. wrong, joy vs. despair, good vs. evil. This novella invites the reader in through techniques like flash-backs, foreshadowing and suspense. Within every person there is nature of two equal parts, whether it be obvious or not, it varies from person to person. Dualism derives from the Latin word duo, meaning two. Simply put, dualism can be understood as the existence of two different, often opposite principles. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” centers upon the conception of humanity as dual in nature. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one man’s dark desires create a case of a …show more content…

When a man’s desires over power his self-control, the malicious nature is amplified. Jekyll loves to be Hyde because Jekyll has repressed his violent and sexual urges. Hyde is Jekyll’s inner nature because he wanted to express himself and his needs without feeling any sort of remorse or guilt for it. “We had” was the reply. “But it is more than ten years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in the mind” (Norton Page 837) This quote shows that Dr. Lanyon began to see the changes in Dr. Jekyll, his mind was going even before he started taking the potion. Although, Jekyll is fully aware of what Hyde is doing, he wakes with a clear memory the morning after. One example of this is when he remembers the trampling of the little girl and the killing of Sir Davis. Jekyll could not live under societies expectations and rules which ultimately led to the evil side of himself known as Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is a socially acceptable repressed individual who still has a dark side but he does a fine job hiding it. Hyde on the other hand is completely free and liberated. “Hyde is a metamorphic creature, adhering to the elusiveness of Stevenson’s creation: the initial frames depict Hyde as a dark shadow, undistinguished from the abstract cityscape that he aims to possess” (Becoming Hyde) Hyde is not one hundred percent evil, he seems to personify the pure evil side of human nature. He does still

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