Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Duality Essay

To look at the duality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Macbeth.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
In this essay, I am going to look at the idea of duality means an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts of two aspects of something: a dualism. This is expressed in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by means of Dr Jekyll being good and gentlemanly, it is the Victorian times after all, where reputation and respect were very important, and Mr Hyde being evil and uncouth, which is the opposite of Dr Hyde. Reputation was important, if you were married you were not allowed to hire prostitutes as it would damage their reputation.
Mr Utterson:
Mr Utterson is described as lovable and friendly but also described as dreary and never lighted by a smile, this shows

the duality in his personality, which foreshadows Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Mr Danvers and Mr Hyde are two very different people, as Mr Danvers is described as ‘innocent and old-world kindness,’ and having a ‘very pretty manner of politeness,’ while Mr Hyde is described with an ‘ill-contained impatience,’ and ‘with ape-like fury.’
Mr Danvers is described as a gentleman in every possible way. He is described specifically as ‘an aged and beautiful gentleman, with white hair,’ ‘very pretty manner of politeness,’ ‘innocent and old-world kindness,’ and that ‘the moon shone on his face as he spoke,’ which makes me believe that RLS wanted him to seem very holy and blessed, like in Lombroso’s theory of criminality: if you look like a criminal, or ape-like, you probably were a criminal.
Mr Hyde however, is completely different though, being described with ‘ill-contained impatience,’ with a ‘great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing his cane,’ ‘with ape-like fury,’ and he murdered Mr Danvers, ‘trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows.’ This shows the duality between Mr Danvers and Mr Hyde and is true to the Lombroso’s theory: that if you look like a criminal, you probably were, that i mentioned earlier.
Dr Jekyll’s laboratory and Dr Jekyll’s office are just one of the many examples of duality in the novella: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Dr Jekyll’s laboratory symbolises one side of the duality between Dr Jekyll’s laboratory and Dr Jekyll’s office. It shows chaos and disorder, being described with “a distasteful sense of strangeness,” and “gaunt and silent.”
The office, however, represents Dr Jekyll, which is the good side, being described as “gay with firelight,” while the fog is personified to reflect the mood and anxiety of Dr Jekyll, with words like “slept.”

In the incident of the window, the power of duality is demonstrated by Dr Jekyll’s mood swings from his gentlemanly manner, to truly a terrified feeling. Causing him to rudely slam shut the window on his visitors.
Robert Lewis Stephenson does this to show that Dr Jekyll is facing an internal battle with Mr Hyde and he is not faring well and it is taking its toll on him.
Dr Jekyll is aware of his impending change into Mr Hyde, therefore to hide himself away so he cannot harm anyone.
RLS describes the appearance of Mr Hyde in Dr Lanyon’s narrative. Firstly he describes his reaction to him having a “shocking expression,” meaning that Dr Lanyon’s is uncomfortable with Mr Hyde deformed appearance, hinting at Lombroso’s theory. This makes me worry for Dr Lanyon’s safety as Mr Hyde is strong and get angry quickly.
RLS use of “personal distaste” shows that Dr Lanyon’s is very surprised and dislikes his appearance.

He is used to upper class and good looking citizens, which Mr Hyde is neither. This makes me have a dislike for Mr Hyde as he seems rude and Dr Lanyon’s for judging him by the way he looks. The description of his clothes being “enormously too large for him,” because of his small and ape like structure, further supporting Lombroso’s theory. This gives me an image of a small ugly person in hulk-likes clothes, hunched over, untrustworthy, a person hiding in big clothes. “Abnormal and misbegotten,” These are the words that Dr Lanyon would describe Mr Hyde, as if he is hiding something and all is not normal or right. This confirms my suspicion that Mr Hyde should not be

trusted.
His life, fortune and status in the world is a mystery to Dr Lanyon, as Mr Hyde had come out of nowhere, and mysteriously acquired a lot of fortune. In the little time he been here, he has acquired a bad reputation, being easily angered, very mysterious and rude. This makes the reader curious to find out more and suspicious of him.

Macbeth begins the play as a loyal soldier and reacts strongly to the predictions from the witches, he is in two minds what to do ‘If chance will have me king why chance may crown me.’ This shows that he believes in witchcraft. He believes the prophesies, as he lives in a time were people were very superstitions and gullible. He takes the course he does because Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill Duncan. The affect this has on the audience is one of shock as in those times the lady of the relationship where inferior, so Lady Macbeths challenging of Macbeths manhood (masculinity) was both unacceptable and unheard of back then.
Duality in Macbeth shows itself in Macbeth’s interaction with Lady Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth takes on the traditional role of the masculine, as she is the one who encourages Macbeth to commit regicide. She describes him as ‘too full of the milk of human kindness,’ Lady Macbeth says this because she wants Macbeth and her to be in power. Lady Macbeth is mocking his manhood to goad him into murdering King Duncan to assume power. The effect this has on Macbeth is a negative one, as it makes him paranoid and insane. The reason he took notice is that he could not let Lady Macbeth seem like more of a man than him, so he went through with the

plan.
As time passes in the play, Macbeth becomes more of a villain and a tyrant; he kills many men and women in order to strengthen his position. He does this because he wants to make the prophesies reality and sees everyone as a threat. Shakespeare changes the character of Macbeth as the play progresses to show the evil in humanity, which is also shown in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Robert Louse Stevenson and Shakespeare seem to be showing the same point that all men are inherently evil. The effect this has makes people realize that the nicest of people, can become the deadliest of killers, often in unexpected ways.
Macbeth shows no remorse for the murder of Lady Macduff or her children, yet duality is shown in his reaction to the death of his wife. He has become a tyrant, yet Shakespeare appears to want the audience to feel pity for Macbeth. He says ‘she should have died hereafter.’ This shows that Macbeth can’t live without Lady Macbeth, which is also shown in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as Jekyll cannot survive, mentally and physically, without Hyde. The reason Shakespeare wants the audience to pity Macbeth, is that his reaction to his wife’s death shows there is still a good person inside the monster that Macbeth has become, and is fighting, albeit a losing battle, with the monster. This is once again shown in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as Jekyll is fighting a losing battle with Hyde. Macbeth said ‘she should have died hereafter,’ because he wanted Lady Macbeth to be there with him, to celebrate the power they have amassed, and to rule by his side.