Comparing The Dualities Between Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

In the novel, Utterson uses a lot of his energy and time to prevent Dr. Jekyll from being dragged into the horrid affairs of Mr. Hyde. Not only would Dr. Jekyll’s Hyde identity be a scandal, but also then London would know about Dr. Jekyll’s questionable scientific work and morally despicable behavior, something would ruin an upper class man in late Victorian London. Because the novel in fact takes place in Victorian London, and that all the main characters are all male members of the British upper class, making sure that all of their reputation stays in tact is vital. For example, Enfield in the first chapter is wary of sharing his story about the mysterious door because he dislikes gossip, as it most often destroys reputations. As well as

Jekyll confesses to Utterson that he has for a long time been fascinated by the duality of his own nature and believes that this is a condition that affects all men. As he says in the novel “a man is not truly one, but truly two”. Dr. Jekyll develops an obsession with his own darker side, and the duality of their own personalities creates a tension between the good, social and moral Jekyll, and evil and amoral Hyde. A very interesting part about Jekyll’s transformation into Hyde is the psychological aspect. As you read, Hyde is portrayed as an evil looking, amoral dwarf with a violent temper, and Jekyll as a respected man of science, good-natured, social and moral, yet Jekyll describes them as polar opposites, Hyde evil and Jekyll good. In the novel, as Hyde begins to exist it seems he slowly takes over Jekyll. Could Jekyll’s theory about good and evil be too black and white? For as we see, Hyde’s takeover seems to suggest something a bit more complicated, in which the human is one of repression and dark urges. And that once the repression of those dark urges eases or breaks it become impossible to put them back into place, allowing the “true”, dark nature of man to

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde create a tension between the world of reason and science and the world of the supernatural, and show the limits of reason in its inability to understand or cope with the supernatural. In the end of the book, Jekyll confesses that he has been fascinated by the duality of men, and took to both chemical and mystical methods to get to the truth. Jekyll’s spiritual side to his philosophy shows that his mind is unlike those of the lawyers and the doctors of his society, who restrict themselves to traditional reason. As we see, the result of Jekyll’s explorations is Mr. Hyde, who is something beyond reason. This shocks and overwhelms the sensitive intellectual dispositions of the other characters, and leaves Dr. Jekyll permanently removed from his educated, medical