Explore the theme of Duality in ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ Essay

prototypical published in 1886, The Strange skid of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and iodin of write Robert Louis St evesons bestselling cleans. It is a classic slip of Gothic fiction and crimson though it may be seen as scarcely a horror account statement, with accounts of violent murders and a strike, scientific experiment g sensation wrong, the concord as salubrious as explains the cut backion of the puritanic society. Furtherto a greater extent, St so farson brought reveal further moods of hu hu piece of musicness psychology during the blue(a) times, as the bol nonpareilnessy explores the theme of triplexity in human record the idea that e actually person has 2 sides to themselves a nicer, kind side which eject likewise be seen as artificial as it is displayed in social situations, whereas the sinister, darker side of man is un copen and hidden. This pull up stakes be my main focus in the essay, analysing how Stevenson uses this theme of dual nature in his brisk.The Strange display case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has around early(a)wise unusual twist because, subsequently solely the horrendous acts that down been attached and the unpredictable demeanour of the characters, it is only in the last chapter that the plot and the professedly dual nature of Henry Jekyll atomic number 18 revealed to the ref, by dint of a letter that Jekyll leaves. It is in this letter that he describes in detail his hypothesis of total and nefariousness in one body, his scientific interests and what made him want to get such a potion that could separate his character. Jekyll starts with an hi tosh of his family buttocksground and tells us how he was innate(p) to a large fortune, endowed excessively with excellent parts showing that he had the best start in deportment and, even from an early age, it was clear that he had ein truth candidate of being roaring in the future.This hints to the predictations of h im, coming from a squiffy family with a high gear status in the nice times Jekyll had to do what was pass judgment of him and become a doctor or a lawyer, which he did achieve. He has twain the money, respect and status and from the eruptside, Jekyll seems to have the stainless(prenominal) Victorian gentlemans lifestyle. He lives up to this perfect life, putting on a show of having an honest nature, and maintaining sincere manners and respectable behaviour in public he was now no less distinguished for religion. He was busy, he was much in the open air, he did nice. However Jekyll lives a double life, in that locations more to him than the side that he displays in public.As much as he wants to be a goodish person and keep up his visual aspect, Jekyll finds it problematic to c all(prenominal)place up his sinful side, where he feels the needs to commit lamentable deeds such as visiting prostitutes and tone ending taboo drinking. It doesnt clearly defer what just now it is that Jekyll wants, so it is left to the ratifiers c one timeption. Even though it world major power not seem as bad to us in todays society to drink and have familiar urges, it came across as taboo in the Victorian times so we suck up that it was in the immoral side of Jekylls nature to go round getting drunk and having sex. Furthermore if you had a higher(prenominal)(prenominal) status, it would be required of you to suppress these timbers so you wouldnt be shunned upon for acting on your desires.Unfortunately it becomes more and more thought-provoking each day for Jekyll to go on aliveness with the ii antithetical sides deep down him, he conceals his pleasures for the ground that the position he has earned in society and his reputation, suppose on it. Jekyll learns that man is not unfeignedly one, tho actually both. establish on this speculation, Jekyll researches and develops a potion that could allow him to see and split the two parts of him, so he shadower have two separate identities one with a good nature and the other where he can give in to his darker desires with come in facing the consequences. subsequently finally finding the right chemicals and substances, Jekyll puts in concert the potion and takes a sip, awargon that he could be risking his life. As soon as he has taken the potion he benooses to experience agonise pains, the symptoms of which include a grinding in the bones and deadly nausea. However, all these pains disappear after a while and Jekyll starts to feel new, strange judgments he hasnt felt before which he finds incredibly sweet. He sees upturned sensual images in his head and he instantly feels younger, stronger and happier. It seems as if, in a centering, Jekyll has created a body to go with and fabricate his hidden personality and with sound a gulp of the potion he has the power to qualify himself into this other person, Mr Edward Hyde, whe neer he wants. He catchs that he now has an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul and so he knows straight absent that he can let out all the feelings he has kept repressed for so long, that he can carry out the acts he has al elbow rooms desired, and commit sins without feeling that he guilt that he would have, as Jekyll.At first it seems as if the baring of this potion was to Jekylls advantage now he has another(prenominal) identity which allows him to do e trulything he has dreamed of doing, without paying the consequences. However Jekyll kept his darker side restrained for such a long tip of time, and now that he can release himself through another body, the feelings that were repressed atomic number 18 now so strong that they become violent and asterisk to him causing harm to the society. Edward Hyde only appears in short throughout the novel, and is first introduced through one of the other characters, Mr Enfield, telling the story of how he witnessed Hyde carelessly trampling all over a young for no apparen t(a) reason, late at night this is what makes Hyde mechanically come across as evil from the beginning of the story, to the readers.Robert Louis Stevenson excessively leaves what it is that Hyde gets up to, to the readers imagination too, but Hydes major port in the novel is when he brutally kills an old man known as Sir Danvers Carew (the local MP) using a deposit and like the trampling of the young young cleaning woman incident, without a motive. As Sir Danvers Carew is described as an aged and beautiful gentleman who is verbalise to have bowed and accosted Hyde with a very pretty manner of politeness, it is oblivious(predicate) to us what exactly it was that provoked Hyde to run in such a frighten murder. The item that Hyde breaks out in a great flame of anger and trampled on Sir Danvers until his bones were audibly shattered and in any case that the heavy wooden cane he used to beat Sir Danvers with was broken in half, indicates the intensity of Hydes anger and how patronageful the murder really was.The murder case brings out the cruelty in Hyde, and furthermore, represents the barbarity within him and how animal like his nature is how could a person kill another man so viciously, without even feeling the slightest bit of remorse? Hydes frenzy is described as apelike and the incident that his behaviour is linked to him being a beast or a crazy animal all comes down once again, to the repression of Jekylls feelings the monster in him comes out roaring.Once Jekyll transforms back into himself he realises just how awful the murder he perpetrate as Hyde is and this leaves him feeling ball over and also worried almost the amount of knock over he give be in, so in that locationfore vows to never take the potion again. On the other pass, Hyde makes it impossible for Jekyll to stick to this vow. This is for the reason that Hyde loathes Jekyll he wants to be this free, untamed personality all the time and so the power that he has over Jek yll grows more and more until Jekyll finds himself unwillingly transforming into Hyde at random times, without even needing to drink the potion. Jekyll becomes helpless and acknowledges that the only way he will ever be able to get rid of Hyde is by ending his own life.Throughout the novel, R.L. Stevenson uses oral communication which portrays both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as two very disparate characters, both of their contrasting descriptions call down that they are cipher alike and that they have nothing in common they are both opposites. If it wasnt for Jekylls will which shows us both characters are well acquainted, we would think that they have nothing to do with each other. As soon as Hyde is just vaguely mentioned in the novel, the other characters and the narrative descriptions use shun phrase directly towards him. They act as if theyve been horrifically shocked by his facial features which makes the reader shot him as a repulsive tone creature, especially as he is v erbalize to be pale and dwarfish and that he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation.The text even indicates that in that location is something so wrong with Hydes physical appearance that he can scare away the other characters in the admit by simply looking at them but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running. to a fault Hyde is often connect to having animal-like characteristics and behaviour, linking to Darwins theory of evolution which was newly introduced in the Victorian times about the same period the story was set. The idea that humans had evolved from animals highly shocked the Victorians. On one hand it was difficult for them to get their heads around the fact that humans descended from apes and that the human mind could be composed of animal element, since they strongly believed that perfection was the creator of the world and all the species, contradicting Darwins theory which challenged concept stories and religious beliefs.On the other hand it was highly disturbing for the Victorians to acknowledge that they too had descended from apes, when they thought that every individual had been uniquely made by God. It must have been especially frightening, for a Victorian to read The Strange field of study of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and discover the beastlike aspects of Hyde which suggest that he is stuck in the phase of evolving from an ape into a human. This also reflects back to Jekyll cr feeding the potion by attempting to split his personality, he was tampering with Gods creation and going beyond the limits as a human. Jekyll goes too far with his experiments, resulting in disasters. The two different areas in Lon sham that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are associated with also differentiate from each other and reflect their contrasting personalities. Jekyll lives in Cavendish Square, a very richesy area in the west end of London, symbolising the high status of the course that Jekyll has hes a doctor who is wealthy and respectable. or else Hyde comes from Soho one of the poorest areas in London with a bad reputation, at the time the story was set. It is described as a sombre quarter with muddy ways and blowzy passengers and was household to the disreputable and indecent places in the Victorian times, such as brothels and music halls there was a dingy driveway, a gin palace, a low French eating theater, a shop for the retail of cent numbers which indicates the low wealth of Soho. The dingy streets and cheapness of Soho makes the reader imagine turbid and grubby roads in coincidence to those of Cavendish Square which are as lave as a ball-room floor.The reference some ragged children huddled in the ingressways describes the poverty-stricken and deprived state of this area. raw(a)ly this poorer area would have a higher criminal offense rate than other areas in London, which is why it was where one might go to make dodgy grips, or where a person would be most belike to bump into criminals and beggars. Soho particularly reflects Hydes personality and the reader can see exactly why he would fit in so well in such a place, as he can be defined as a criminal in many occasion of the story.The theme of duality throughout the story is also reflected in other characters of the story and the setting too, as well as just Jekyll and Hyde. There are many cases where some of the characters are shown to be hypocrites and even lead double lives. For suit, the policeman canvass the Carew murder case lit up with professional ambition when he comes to realise that it is the local MP whose death he is in looking into, and the advantages of this case for his career regardless of how brutally Sir Danvers Carew was killed. This hypocritical behaviour of the policeman clearly shows the reader his selfishness and that he cares more about what good it would do him to deal with something that would make a deal of noise than exposing a murderer. He know s that it would lead to his personal recognition within the community, as Sir Danvers was a gentleman who was highly looked up to so he seizes the chance.In appendix to this Sir Danvers was said to be walking the street alone, late at night around the time of his murder so despite the fact that he appears to be so polite and innocent, is there no chance that he could have had another unsuspected side to him, too? Another example of a hypocrite would be the old woman at Hydes household, who is even said to have an evil face, smoothen by hypocrisy. On the hearing of Hyde being in trouble with the police, a flash of odious joy appeared upon the womans face meaning that it is to her gaiety to hear about her masters sins and involvement in crime when its her job to still be loyal and trustworthy towards him, regardless of any crime he has committed. Although theres nothing more than a couple of sentences to these two little revelations in the novel, they reveal to the reader the tr ue and double natures of spate who we would expect better from.Even Jekylls house symbolises duality firstly there are two entrances, a front adit used by Jekyll and the back door used by Hyde, supporting that there are two sides to everything, and also that it seems less obvious to the reader that they are both the same person. The front section of the house consists of Jekylls general living space, and he commonly uses this area to throw dinner parties and gatherings. The hall is warmed by a bright, open fire and furnished with pricey cabinets of oak which gives the impression of being very welcoming and comforting. Jekylls elegant home echoes a great air of wealth and comfort representing the character he acts as in public.The rear door which Hyde enters and leaves from is blistered and distained and leads to Jekylls research laboratory and private room where Hyde is unremarkably seen. The back live of the house dont share the elegant privileged and hospitable atmosphere of the front rooms fashioning them seem as if they are not connected to each other. The laboratory is a sinister block of edifice with no windows which makes it significantly dark and dispirit as there is no natural light coming in to the room. The negative language used links Hyde to the back section of the building and reflects his personality. We have already acknowledged that the theme of duality is related to the suppression of the Victorian society, as we know Jekylls double nature exists due(p) to hiding his feelings. It was common for Victorians, gentlemen in particular, to suppress their feelings as status depended on reputation, making it difficult for them to give into pleasures that they desire.An example of this is shown in Mr Utterson the lawyer, who solves the truth behind the story of Jekyll & Hyde. As his profession has a high status, he obviously has to live up to the good reputation he has the quote and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years shows that he refrains from doing the things he would like to, simply concealing his emotions. Likewise, Mr Enfield subtly implies that he is also hiding something when he quotes I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three oclock of a black winter morning as he doesnt give any details about where he was and he was out so late, perhaps he was committing some type of sin, and giving into his suppression.The organise of the book continues to reflect the predominant theme of duality as it has a non elongate narrative with a number of characters narrating the different chapters of the story. This suggests that there are more than two ways of looking at something, as the reader gets to see the same floor through the eyes of different people and learn about their varying viewpoints, which backs up the authors theory that man is not truly one, but truly two. Although it is effective for us to be told the story from multiple perspectiv es, since it creates more of a mysterious tone throughout the novel and sets the suspense, it is quite biased as the accounts we are told from the different characters are based on their individual emotions and opinions regarding the events.I believe that Stevenson succeeds in getting his belief of dual nature in humans, across to the readers throughout the novel as the overall message of the book is that the human personality can be split into several parts. There is no one person who is all pure, or all evil, each and every one of us has different personalities and people living within ourselves. At one point in life, all humans will have put on a faade, pretending to be a different person in public whilst their true emotions remain hidden inside. Stevenson explores this concept in depth, and the conclusion is that there will never be just one way of looking at something there is never just one side to a story.