Dr Jekyll And Hyde Duality Analysis

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson elicits duality to further in depth show the contrasts between good vs evil, characteristics, and before and after to the reader. Accordingly, Stevenson utilizes duality to bring light to the differences of good vs. evil. For example, in the novel, Dr. Jekyll was the better version of himself while Mr. Hyde was the “more wicked, tenfold more wicked” (Stevenson 169) of Dr. Jekyll. The reader is able to grasp the contrast of these two personalities represented by its duality. This is shown in a very blatant display that everyone has a good and an evil side to themselves. This might make the reader ponder on him or herself on the horrible aspects of their own character.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to bring clarity to the reader. The author repeatedly shows how Mr. Hyde is “dressed in clothes far too large for him” (Stevenson 52) and “gave an impression of deformity” (Stevenson 16). The reader later finds out that Mr. Hyde was wearing Dr. Jekyll’s clothes. The author captures the reader’s mind and the reader must dig further than a logical reasoning. This effect doesn’t show that Mr. Hyde is hideous and rather heavy, but that Mr. Hyde was smaller than Dr. Jekyll because Mr. Hyde only represents the evil parts of Dr. Jekyll. The reader is able to infer that Dr. Jekyll has more good than evil in him, therefore Mr. Hyde would be of a smaller size. Stevenson also implies that the deformity as much of an appearance, but a representation of the utter hideousness that evilness truly shows. Additionally, Stevenson illustrates duality to show before and after effects. The author compares the transformation of Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll writes that he feels “incredibly sweet, younger and lighter” (Stevenson 69) in Mr. Hyde’s form, however he also writes that he was “sold a slave to my[his] original evil.” The reader picks up on the duality of the Dr. Jekyll before he was Mr.