Duality of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde

Sophie Gonzalez

Mr. Antolino

AP Literature

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

7 October 2016

Duality of Human Nature

      Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the nature of man, both good and bad, and his relationship to the outside world, specifically on society. In the The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll deals with the theme of duality. This dual nature is caused by society, the consequences one faces from choices, peer pressure, emotions, risk, and religion. Man’s nature is for man to cheat life and find an easy way to solve problems to get what they want. Dr. Jekyll was pressured by society to cheat life by separating the good and bad sides within him. 

      Duality in nature is something that humans deal with. As said by Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:3, “For you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other.” Whether acted  upon or not, most are controlled by the duality of nature. Jekyll also comments on this duality of man’s nature when he states “all human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Man’s nature is filled with the desire of doing sinful things, but also filled with those of doing good things. In the bible, Paul writes on how people are constantly jealous of one another. The main cause for this duality within us is the result of society pressuring us to act or look a specific way that will please the rest of the world. This makes for peer pressure to be another cause of the duality within us. An example of this would be the incident of the man trampling over the little girl’s body. After running over the little girl, Mr. Enfield chases after the man by holding him by his collar. He later pressures the man, known as Mr. Hyde, into apologizing to the girl and her family and paying them for what he did. In the novel, Jekyll’s experiment to separate the good from the bad was the result of being pressured in doing something to please others. On page 77, the writer states how “the terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide.” This evil side of Dr. Jekyll terrified him greatly leading him to create the character of Mr. Hyde so that no one would see the evil that was living within him.

      Society is the leading agitation in the duality of man’s nature. In an article written by Valerie Mack, she states how “the need for the appearance of social perfection often caused people to cover up the things that would not have been deemed acceptable in society.” In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll feels it necessary to cover up the evil within him because society did not view it as acceptable. He cheats life by separating these two personas so that he can neglect the scandalous activities that his evil companion, Mr. Hyde, created. Towards the end of the novel, creating the potion Jekyll used to turn to Hyde became very difficult. This was so because Hyde’s began to increase in evilness causing the potion to loose effect. Mr. Hyde later takes over Jekyll causing him to stay Hyde permanently. In 1886, the rich people of  London were viewed as classy men and women who were not seen in low-class areas. Undergoing the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde allows for Jekyll to avoid being seen in these areas that rich men should not be seen at. Stevenson provides a clear perspective of the imperfections of humans and their dualities by comparing Hyde’s apartment in Soho to Jekyll’s in London. Rather than choosing to improve the unpleasant areas talked about in this novel, the people of London decide to let it stay the way it is. As a result, those bad things happening in society will continue to happen. The focal point remains on hiding the imperfections rather than changing them. Stevenson illustrates this “hiding of imperfections” by choosing Mr. Hyde, who is describes as having a “sense of deformity”, to be the purest form of evil to be seen.