Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Duality Essay

The story The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde expresses duality because in the story Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. They just have vastly different characteristics that show at one time.We all have two different sides to us. One good and one bad side. The side that decides to show itself is the side that you have come to accept more and more over time. In the story The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde when Jekyll is talking about in the final chapter what is was like turning into Mr.Hyde he described it as “Doing the good things he found pleasure in no longer exposed themselves” (Stevenson 75) which meant he liked this feeling of being evil. Also he said “I felt younger and happier in body”(Stevenson 77) Jekyll felt like he completely recreated himself when he would

become Mr.Hyde. In the above Cherokee indian story it describes there is two wolves inside a person one wolf being good, caring and kindhearted, then there’s the bad wolf that’s angry, sorrowful and greedy.

It wouldn’t necessarily be called a daily struggle, but because there are these two sides to every person, people have a daily decision to make on which side of them do they accept the most and which side of them do they want to broadcast to the world around them. On the topic of winning this daily battle in The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde Jekyll described Hyde as being “Smaller and younger than himself.” (Stevenson 78) Hyde was smaller and younger than Henry Jekyll because Hyde was pure evil and Jekyll didn’t have much evil in him to begin with so Hyde was small because the amount of evil in Jekyll was very minimal. Once Jekyll got used to transforming into Hyde more often he “Took and furnished a house in Soho” (Stevenson 80) Hyde decided to get his own place so people didn’t see him going into Jekyll’s house and start to suspect things. At this point in the chapter Jekyll was becoming more like Hyde so he found himself growing taller than he was before when he transformed into

Hyde. Henry Jekyll was losing the battle to stay good and he was becoming more and more evil because he liked the freedom that came with that feeling. In the Cherokee story at the end the grandson asked his grandfather “Which wolf will win” and his grandfather answered “The one you feed.” What is meant by the saying “The one you feed” is the side of yourself that you spend the most time developing. For example if a person were to focus on being more kind-hearted and caring to other people’s feelings and needs then the world will see that person as more of a good person compared to someone who is not so caring. The most important thing to remember is to focus on building the side of yourself that you want to broadcast to the world