“One thing you learn when you’ve lived as long as I have - people aren’t all good, and people aren’t all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives.” This quote, spoken by Neal Shusterman, is exemplified so much throughout daily life. Whether the difference between the dark and light be good and evil or simply private and public, it’s inevitable to have two sides as a human being. Also, in the works of fiction Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and The Book Thief written by Marcus Zusak, many characters follow this theory that as human beings, there are two sides that exist in a person. Many people would like to contradict this theory however, saying that people are good natured and only possess one side. Realistically though, this is false. In the world of literature, many texts depict duality among people and support Robert Stevenson’s statement that duality exists in everyone.
In many different kinds of books, duality plays an important role in who the characters are and how the story occurs. One notable example is present in the character Dr. Jekyll in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll, a kind and social man continuously turns himself into Hyde to commit crimes and be evil every once and a while. Towards the end of the book, Jekyll describes his obsession, “I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as pf Hyde struggling after freedom,” (Stevenson 82). Jekyll’s desire and instinct to do evil things crosses his mind often and he can no longer hold it in. Hyde is his evil conscience that has always existed in him, but now, he is allowing it to escape in horrible manners that bring trouble among others. This is true for all who read about Jekyll’s st...
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... or desires and inner struggle to make this happen. His duality is ever present in this scene. With all of this, it is safe to say that many texts in the literature world support what Stevenson has to say and that duality exists in everyone and is unable to avoid.
As Neal Shusterman explains, people constantly shift between their inner two sides. Everyone has a light and a dark side, but the difference between the light and dark changes from person to person. Texts like Of Mice and Men as well as The Book Thief support this theory overpoweringly. No matter what people say about being good natured as human beings, there will always exist the desire to be evil or selfish. It’s part of being human. The problem is finding ways to ease this urge to do things that you will regret. Find ways to reduce the water being added to plant so it nevers grows to its full potential.
...ve duality of man;… if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” Thus, Stevenson creates in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two coexistent, and eternally opposed components that make up a “normal” individual. However, here, good and evil are not related but are two independent entities, individuals even, different in mental and physical attributes and constantly at war with each other. Evil now does not require the existence of good to justify itself but it exists simply as itself, and is depicted as being the more powerful, the more enjoyable of the two, and in the end ultimately it is the one that leads to Dr. Jekyll's downfall and death. Stevenson creates the perfect metaphor for the never-ending battle between good and evil by using Jekyll and Hyde. However, this novella is perhaps one of the few that truly show the power of Evil.
Dualities are the most elementary of comparisons, and are the easiest for the mind to comprehend in that total opposites are brought to attention. These opposites subconsciously provide one with a deeper insight of the material and consciously entertain. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, many dualisms are included both within Montag and in the outside world that provide 180 degree flip-side views, giving the book further depth and inner meaning.
Stevenson in this story uses characterization to describe that duality of human nature exists in humanity and society:
“All human beings are commingled out of good and evil” Robert Louis Stevenson once said. In this one of a kind novel entitled The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by the wonderful Robert Louis Stevenson. Throughout this literary work, the idea of good vs evil as well as your dark side being tough to handle is greatly expressed. Which is why the theme of this novel is good versus evil and having trouble controlling your dark side. Now some people may believe that your good side almost always triumphs over your bad side mnly becasue thats what wither see or hear about, the yin and yang sign for good and evil is perfectly balanced, and some others may believe that a person cannot have two completely opposite personalities.
In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author Robert Louis Stevenson uses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to show the human duality. Everyone has a split personality, good and evil. Stevenson presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as two separate characters, instead of just one. Dr. Jekyll symbolizes the human composite of a person while Mr. Hyde symbolizes the absolute evil. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who are indeed the same person, present good and evil throughout the novel.
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme. Jekyll says: "Man is not /truly one, but truly two"(125), meaning all people have both a good and a bad side. Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to fully separate good and evil, but instead it awakens a dormant character, Mr. Hyde. Throughout the novel, Stevenson uses society, control, and symbolism to tell the reader about human nature.
Throughout history, many historical philosophers have contributed as to how the human mind has two sides. Human beings tend to have good and evil within them, the duality of right and wrong, bliss and distress. There is always an impulse to act against society in terms of violence and the laws, although this varies depending on the individual. In the novella “ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a foil interconnection between moral choice and behavior through Jekyll and Hyde. However, ironically set in the Victorian era, a time when peace and prosperity took place.
Despite being published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson remains to be recognized and referred to as one of the initial studies of the duality of human nature and mans struggle between two natural forces – good and evil. The story takes place during the Victorian Era in which society is already somewhat constrained and cruel and explores the human struggle between being civilized and facing the more primitive aspects to our being. According to author Irving S Saposnik, “Henry Jekyll’s experiment to free himself from the burden of duality results in failure because of his moral myopia, because he is a victim of society’s standards even while he would be free of them.” Henry Jekyll, an English doctor faces duality when he comes into battle with his darker side. Creating a personification under the name of Edward Hyde in order to fulfill his desires, Dr. Jekyll feels as if he will be able to control the face that he wants seen to public vs. the one in which he wants to keep more private. “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me, and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (10.1) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about how people are scared to acknowledge personal duality so they keep silent and in this case, create a personification in order to fulfill evil desires without thinking through the consequences of such actions.
middle of paper ... ... As Dr. Jekyll says, “With every day and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and intellectual, I thus drew steadily to that truth by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two”(Stevenson 78). He further adds,”. that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” (Stevenson79).
Due to their concealed yet present inner evil, humans are naturally inclined to sin but at the same time resist temptation because of influence from society, thus illustrating a duality in humanity. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on how humans are actually two different people composed into one. The concept of dual human nature includes all of Hyde’s crimes and ultimately the death of Jekyll. Jekyll proposes that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and describes the human soul as a constant clash of the “angel” and the “fiend,” each struggling to suppress the other (Stevenson 61, 65). Man will try to cover up his inner evil because once it rises to the surface everyone will know the real...
It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both [. . .] If each, I told myself, could be but housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.
Personality and the Beast Within in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Everyone has a dual personality, two sides, good and evil. Robert Louis Stephenson uses the book to explain this, he wanted people to. realise that not only does Dr Jekyll carry a double personality, but the other characters in the book, too. Also the people reading it must see that they too, are a part of this frightening, uncontrollable fact.
Romeo and Juliet and Jekyl and Hyde both show duality. One example is how Jekyl and Hyde are the same person just living a double life. He wanted to be able to live a life where he was able to let loose and still be respected at the same time. So he found a way to do that by making a potion that could make him someone else. However he could change back to the other person when it was necessary. An example in Romeo and Juliet is how their deaths were tragic but without them the families aren’t fighting anymore.
This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong Calvinist beliefs, portrays his thoughts and opinion throughout the story in his characters; good and evil.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.