Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll, who Stevenson introduced as two antagonist characters rather than one, allow him to convey his views on human duality. He conveys his ideas about human duality more vividly by using two entirely different characters with distinct appearances and titles rather than just one character whose color changes when angry. While analyzing Stevenson's Strange Case of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll, I will also conduct additional study on Victorian ideas about the duality of human nature. The study of duality as a literary tool is essential because many writers have used it in exploring various concepts relating to the unpredictability of human nature that was traditionally seen as a taboo discussion in the Victorian age. Therefore, my paper seeks to find out the reasons why the duality of human nature plays an essential role in this age.
The article will be comparing and contrasting the characters in the novel The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll by Robert L. Stevenson and analyze how it explains the idea of human duality. It will involve a study of both cultural and historical events of the late age of Victorian. Hence, analyzing such concepts will be essential in answering the question, “what contributed to the duality in the human psyche during the fin de siècle?” The article handles the cultural and psychological components of the late 19th century because the late-Victorian period had a strong influence on the Stevenson’s work. Finally, there will be a deep analysis of the concept of duality as portrayed by Jekyll and his other self. The concept was one of the common subjects and much more attention is on elements of split personality and double life.
Duality in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the “Man is not truly one, but two” (Stevenson 43) motto was a setting in the 19th century in London. The case is about Henry Jekyll who was considered as a respectable person but also led a secret double life. By the use of a chemical experiment, Jekyll realized a method could assist in separating the human’s soul into two. On one side, he remained himself, but after consuming the drink, he managed to become his other self. Mr. Hyde embodied his other self and it allowed him to address or meet the inappropriate desires that he had from any form of moral restrictions. Therefore, this section analyzes the novel while emphasizing on its illustration of the concept of duality. In the novel, Stevenson talked about his dreams and stressed that his struggle with duality always provoked his work, and anytime he was motivated, he felt like expressing his feelings in writing:
For a long time, I have been making attempts to write something on this subject, to discover a body, an object that would address that strong feeling of humankind’s double personality which always come in and can overwhelm a mind of any thinking creature. (Stevenson 41)
From the excerpt in the Chapter on Dreams, it proved that the concept of duality was a major component of the Victorian society. However, the question that I seek to analyze is why the concept was that important. The paper touches on various topics like Victorian reputations and values, and psychological issues that relate to duality. Henry Jekyll is considered as wealthy and respected Victorian man, and he upholds a high social profile. According to him, he has “an assurance of honor and a bright future” (Stevenson 42). However, this same respected and a doctor of good manners who other society members looked up to for his generosity seemed to hide some dark secret. Due to his high social status, the doctor was unable to live to ignore his secret desires that he had tried to suppress in his entire life. He was afraid that whenever the society would find out his deepest darkest desires, they would stop respecting him hence he had to continue hiding the wrong side of own self. Having a respectable reputation was an essential element within the society. It was a mean to earning the respect that implied that a person valued the ideas such as “thrift, honesty, cleanliness of an individual … sobriety … as well as chastity” (Althick 177).
The novel contains many lines that discuss Hyde’s dual character. For instance, Mr. Enfield explained his encounter with him, as he argued that attempting to kill a person’s right name is similar to having him dead:
I could see Sawbones turning white and sick and desired to kill him. I was sure that was thought in his mind, just the same way he also knew what was in my mind; and killing the human being in the question, we had to do our best. We inform the man that we were capable and would form such a scandal of the issue, as making his name stink from one part of London to the other. And in case he had any respect or friends, we could ensure that he loses all of them. (Stevenson 3)
Through the dual personality, Dr. Jekyll believed that everyone had a double life of two selves, “the right and ill sides” (Stevenson 42), and he claimed that “I am doomed to a very dreadful shipwreck: that person is for sure not one, but two in his own self” (Stevenson 43).
Jekyll decided to try the scientific way of explaining his ideas, and he conducted an experiment where he divided the “double selves that were contending in his conscious” Stevenson 43) to make them co-exist separately from each other, as explained in the excerpt:
If every person, … could be operating in two different identities, our lives would be free from our unbearable thoughts; the evil ones would go a different way, then get delivered by good thoughts of the upright thoughts; therefore, the right self could operate steadfastly in the upward path, performing good deeds where he finds pleasure, and is never exposed to the penitence and disgrace of the evil self. (Stevenson 43)
Jekyll managed to create a potion that could split his personality into two different persons and without this potion, he was just his usual self, who was the respectable doctor. By drinking the potion, he formed his dual nature that consisted of two completely different people. He released the other side of his evil self, which was always suppressed, Mr. Hyde, a total opposite of Dr. Jekyll. They differed in both characters and appearances. Stevenson talked of the second self, Hyde, as:
Hyde is Dwarfish and pale in his nature; it had a deformed appearance without any form of distortion. His smile was displeasing, was a mixture of boldness and timidity, speaking with a lot of huskiness as he whisper in a somewhat broken voice. All these were the descriptions that worked against him; but they could not the unknown disgust and fear that Utterson felt when he saw him. (Stevenson 10)
Mr. Utterson feared Hyde, and the author considered his feeling for him as normal that everyone could have for him. People like Utterson despised him due to his personification of elements that the Victorian society perceived as immoral. A Victorian gentleman was supposed to be a decent person who works hard and obeys the Christianity rules. Hyde’s character was, therefore, the opposite of the Victorian values because he was very egocentric, heartless and cruel and did not have the moral respects for the society’s values. His immoral behavior was a threat to the respectability of the Victorian society, and that made him a public enemy. Therefore, it appears like Dr. Jekyll’s experiment was successful in splitting the mind into two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. However, he was aware of his duality when he deliberately chose to divide the characters; his reasoning for the split was, as he said, “of the double self in my conscious, even if anyone rightfully believes that I can be either of them, it could because I am radically both” (Stevenson 43). Dr. Jekyll’s impression in the first instance about his other self could be seen as a positive perception of the disgusting character, Hyde. Therefore, he was not equally disgusted by Hyde; instead, he seemed to like the characters of his new self because he was aware of what he intended to achieve when splitting himself into the two parts of the mind.
I was aware that there was no repugnance; it was just a leap of welcome. The other double was also me. It looked human and natural. To me, it was full of a livelier picture of a spirit; it looks more clear and single than a divided and imperfect double personality I previously knew as mine. (Stevenson 45)
The doctor was delighted with the whole process of transformation that he could not see the sinful nature of his other self, Hyde. He was only concentrating on his personal interest and could not bother about the dangers that Hyde could bring to the society. Most of the characters in novel failed to understand why a respectable person like Dr. Jekyll managed to have a close connection with a large person as Mr. Hyde. They found it hard to describe Hyde, since he did not exist in a physical nature. He only embodied one double of Jekyll’s identity. Therefore, he was never an actual human being. His deformed nature of the body was an actual proof that he was not a real human being, but just came up as an unsuccessful attempt to disobey the values and rules of nature. While referring to the demons in the mind, Anolik noted that, “The psychological and social empathy which link individuals with the help of their shared humanity disappear at times when there is a deviation taking someone from the sense of humanity” (3). Therefore, the physical deformity of Hyde can be considered as a differentiating element of the immoral non-human character. His deformed outer look was a resemblance of his degenerated personality. Considering Darwin’s evolution theory, the characters of Hyde could be as to the doctor’s reversion to the ancient primitive origin of human species. Thus, the novel addresses the issues that surround the conflict that exist between nature and culture.
Dr. Jekyll believed that having two identities was very important, and although he planned to split his personality, he knew that they were connected as they all belonged to him. Hyde was part of himself as he claimed, “this, too, is still me”, but the only time declared that Hyde was a separate human being is when he described his evilness. He further stated that he “was at times surprised by the evil deeds of Hyde” (Stevenson 46). He was struggling to distance himself from his acts as he claimed, “it is Hyde and him alone that is guilty” (Stevenson 46). Therefore, Jekyll’s perception about his second double changed and finally declared that he was not connected to him. Therefore, he confirmed one great advantage of using a double-identity in a literacy work which is its ability to exempt a person his evil thoughts/self. The advantage is evident in the excerpt:
A double identity is a proof that the good side of every person always struggle against the will of his/her evil self. It always does this in a manner that many readers it as a fact that was very true of himself. It allowed him an opportunity to reject the evil side of his double self and make the readers sympathize with him (MacAndrew 50-51)
Dr. Jekyll lost the control of his other self, Mr. Hyde. At the beginning of the experiment, he needed the potion to form his two own-self, but after the operation was successful, he did not want the potion to turn him into Hyde, but just wanted to continue being Jekyll. Therefore, this experiment failed, as his dark side managed to take over the full control of his life. The desire he had to form two identities that were entirely independent of each other backfired; instead, he demolished all the right components of himself and created only an evil character. At last, he ran out of ingredients to form a potion that could return him to his original self. Finally, in the end, Dr. Jekyll made a decision to end the stress and decided to do away with his other self by committing suicide. Therefore, his end in the novel is described in the excerpt: “Here, then, as I put down my pen, and go on to hide my confession, I am bringing the life of the unhappy Jekyll to an end” (Stevenson 54).
Critical Analysis of the Stevenson’s Novel
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde presents the late Victorian period in regards to its values and moral restrictions. It also touches on the need for people to relieve themselves from such restraints. Dr. Jekyll repressed his evil desires but failed to in the long run and decided to split into two personalities. An individual’s image was an important component during the Victorian period. The double nature of Jekyll could not harm his reputation because no one else knew about it. He transformed into Hyde who was considered as a deformed and ugly person. The double in the story is seen as evil and a more primitive side of the human beings, while the original-self depicts the goodness. The abnormality in the appearance of the wrong side was very bestial and less human in its nature hence considered as a deteriorated body that reflects to what the Darwin’s Theory of Evolution would term as a primitive creature. The manner in which the degeneration of the people is illustrated portrays the anxiety that comes with the Darwin’s Evolution Theory. Mr. Hyde does not look like a person; he has a deformity, and his looks relate to his immoral acts. Stevenson also showed that the creation of a double-identity is just an intentional act that people choose to do. It was Jekyll’s curiosity that led to making the potion that created his double self. He was also aware of his dual nature hence wanted to have a split identity.
He was aware of his double life and at first accepted it as part of himself, until the moment when he lost the control of his double identity. From this time onwards, the main self tries to distance itself from his other self and even discard its actions. When he was unable to distance himself, he tried to destroy the other self that ultimately implies that he ended up killing himself. Stevenson had a forth and back movement from a state of conscious to a state unconscious and used the modern ideas of human nature and science in his work. Therefore, the paper has examined the elements of duality in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and discovered the components of the human psyche, specifically the duality of humankind. Henry Jekyll had to live, while suppressing a part of their inner self for him to maintain his public reputation hence forming a feeling of duality within his mind. The dual feeling could only be addressed by having the two identities separated and giving both the doubles the freedom to express their individual desires. Given the weight that both the gentleman-ship and the prominence the Victorian society had, one would argue that it was the moral restrictions of this period that led to the formation of the double and the dual identity hence a boost to the literature.
Conclusion
In an attempt to address the study’s research question, there are mixes of many factors that constitute a human psyche, precisely the dual personality. Therefore, the Victorian literature seems to be a mixture of anxieties and events. The developments in psychology and science, the modern theories of evolution, and social constraints lead to many fears and anxieties. So why focus on human duality nature? Well, focusing on the duality of human nature is direct of the mentioned combined factors. First, the developments that are witnessed in psychology and science led to the rise in the interest in the human beings and the mental science. The issue of dual personality was first diagnosed with the mental disorder, which caused the affected people even to doubt themselves in terms of their identities. Secondly, the theory of humanity of Charles Darwin contributed to the fear that people had about degenerating as they doubt their identity. Finally, late Victorian period was composed of many moral restrictions that prompted the likes of Jekyll to want to disobey them, and this led to the formation and rise of double lives that led to the doubts about identity.
Works Cited
Althick, Richard D. Victorian People and Ideas; a Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature. New York: Norton, 1973.
Anolik, Ruth Bienstock. Demons of the Boday and Mind: Essays on Disability in Gothic Literature. Jefferson: McFarland & Company INC., 2010.
MacAndrew, Elizabeth. The Gothic Tradition in Fiction. New York: Columbia University Press, 1924.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. “Chapter on Dreams.” 1892. Selected Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1991, http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/110/selected-essays-of-robert-louis- stevenson/5111/a-chapter-on-dreams/. Accessed 1 April, 2017.
