An Analysis Of Dr. Jekyll's 'Story Of The Door'

“Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner, and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground...It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut.(Stevenson 4)”

In chapter one “Story of the Door” of “Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Utterson and Enfield are on a walk together. While on their walk, they pass a dingy and beat up building, it reminds Enfield of a story of a man who walked right over a little girl and didn’t seem to care. The passage expresses that traumatic moment while using words with a negative connotation. Words such as “trampled”, “screaming”, and Juggernaut”. Those expressions depict an alarming image of a monster-like

man walking right over a young, innocent girl, showing no remorse. Throughout the whole book, the presence of women is quite sparse. This passage conveys the message that females are weak, irrelevant, submissive, and inferior to men; there isn’t much importance given to them. Included in, the main focus of the story wasn’t the girl and the pain she could’ve been in, but it was how Mr.Hyde had an intimidating and eerie existence. In culmination, this section’s motif is how the role of women in society was defined as the causation of an issue or a helping hand to a man’s needs.

“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; and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, i had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements. If each, I told myself, could be 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. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous faggots were thus bound together--that in the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.(Stevenson 65)”

The final chapter of the book, Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case, reveals what Dr.Jekyll does and why.

Phrases such as “primitive duality of man” and “ the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness” express the speculation Jekyll faced from a young age towards the idea of good and evil. From these wordings the reader can interpret that Henry Jekyll viewed the world as either being good or evil, as it was hard to find a balance in between. Adding on, the terminology “nature”, “daydream”,and “consciousness” provide the passage with a feeling of spiritualness and a soul beyond the normalcy of life. In the Victorian time period, appearance wasn’t considered to be crucial to everyday life, so the fact that Jekyll had to ability to manipulate appearance and thought process was fascinating to him. Another expression “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” describes how Henry Jekyll was able to appear as good and do good deeds, but when desired he could switch to a darker side, a side where his reputation of being helpful, kind, and compassionate wouldn’t be tarnished. In conclusion, these passage aides the reader in understanding Jekyll’s point of view on the creation of Mr.Hyde and his role affecting the world of good versus

evil.