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

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,†¦show more content†¦He was a typical Victorian gentleman and is described as a ‘smooth-faced’ and ‘well made man’. He wanted good reputation and was regarded by everyone as a true gentleman. But deep inside him, he had the desire to do what he wanted, to go against the rigid rules of the society. Jekyll wanted to fulfil his desires but at the same time he wanted freedom from punishment; freedom from a tainted reputation. The wish to fulfil his secret desires without losing his status and reputation was his ultimate goal. Thus Jekyll ended up creating Hyde, which was another identity of his own and he achieved this with the help of the ‘transforming draught’. Jekyll is a mixture of good and evil but Hyde is pure evil. Everyone Hyde meets is repulsed by his appearance. The physical description of both is very contradictory as well. While Jekyll was a ‘large, well-made’ and a ‘smooth-faced’ man, Hyde was ‘dwarfish’ and ‘hardly human’. In the beginning, Hyde is shown to be small in stature but as time passes, Hyde increases in size as the evil in Jekyll overcomes the good. The two of them had more of a father/son relationship. Jekyll had known all along that by his experimenting, he was putting his life in danger and ‘risked death’. But at the same time, he was also excited by his discovery, which made him enjoy life to the fullest without the burden of responsibilities. ‘The temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame theShow MoreRelatedStevenson and Conrad: The Duality of Human Nature 778 Words   |  3 PagesThis may be why the controversial issue of the duality of human nature has been found at the heart of many Victorian works. The theme of the duality of man can be found in the works of two famous English authors, Robert Louis Stevenson and Joseph Conrad. Stevenson and Conrad both incorporate the them e of the duality of human nature within their own novellas. Stevenson employs this theme throughout his novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and similarly Conrad employs this theme throughoutRead MoreJekyll And Hyde Character Analysis968 Words   |  4 Pagesnovel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, explores the duality of human nature. He writes this novel to show us that humans have split personalities, and that there are two sides to human’s personality: good and evil. In the late-Victorian literature, duality appears to be a common theme; serving as a way for modern readers to analyze late-Victorian literature and culture. Stevenson weaves throughout the novel a theme of duality + which appears in the characters of both Jekyll and Hyde as wellRead MoreRomeo And Juliet Duality Essay1408 Words   |  6 PagesIn literature, duality is anything that has two sides, mostly dealing with good and evil. Duality plays an important role in showing who the char acters are and how the story occurs in many different books. 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At first glance the reader may think that this story would be a bit boring and drab. Stevenson’s story is far from being another dull piece of British English literature. The setting and mood of this novella are more complexRead MoreInfluence of Science and Religion on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde689 Words   |  3 PagesThe novella, ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. The author was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1850. His family included engineers, scientists, a professor of philosophy, and a religious minister. The scientific and religious sides of Stevensons family reflected in both his personal life and in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (disap proval between Dr Lanyon and Dr Jekyll). In 1859 Charles Darwin published his famous book called the ‘Origin of Species’