Duplicity of Man and Soul
A doppelganger by definition is a double or counterpart of a person or an alter ego of a person (Dictionary.com). Everyone has a doppelganger that influences their lives every day in their decisions they make. Their doppelgangers are their suppressed selves and, if uncovered, will reveal to the world the kind of people they genuinely are. What one may show on the outside could be completely different from what they truly feel. One can really know a person only once he fully knows the person that he is on the inside. Mr. Hyde represents the inner evil of Dr. Jekyll in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while the painting in The Picture of Dorian Gray resembles his own inner evil as well. In each of these novels, the suppressed sides of the characters are present and influence their every action thus slowly reveal the true identities of the men. The nature of man is composed of inner sinfulness that is masked by outer composure set by society, but once the suppressed half is exposed, only then will the public fully know a man.
Due to their concealed yet present inner evil, humans are naturally inclined to sin but at the same time resist temptation because of influence from society, thus illustrating a duality in humanity. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on how humans are actually two different people composed into one. The concept of dual human nature includes all of Hyde’s crimes and ultimately the death of Jekyll. Jekyll proposes that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and describes the human soul as a constant clash of the “angel” and the “fiend,” each struggling to suppress the other (Stevenson 61, 65). Man will try to cover up his inner evil because once it rises to the surface everyone will know the real...
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... at the angel in him. No one had any idea that Dorian possessed so much evil until the picture preached his soul, thus showing that they did not truly know Dorian until they discovered both sides of him.
Man may look and act a certain way on the outside but could be completely the opposite in actuality. The nature of man consists of sin, which is concealed by a mask of goodness and virtue. Society teaches humans to mask the evil tendencies we have and to only convey their angelic sides to the world. The doppelgangers that these characters carry with them do not stay tucked away forever; rather they slowly show themselves through their actions and the decisions that they make. The suppressed half is the gateway to understanding the entire person. Without the good part in people, there is no bad; without the evil, one can never fully know the person as a whole.
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 [. . .] If each, I told myself, could be but 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.
Within every being exists temptations, whether it be quiescent or dynamic, which fluctuates from one individual to another. Commonly negative, temptations ascend from lesser qualities of man and expose an individual to develop even more reprehensible ambitions. The story of a one man’s dark wishes is explored in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. Properly termed, Stevenson perused the unnerving case of a respectable, proletariat-class doctor, who becomes associated and obsessed with Mr Hyde. It is this presence of the “duality of human nature that is created consistently throughout the Gothic Literature”.
Personality and the Beast Within in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Everyone has a dual personality, two sides, good and evil. Robert Louis Stephenson uses the book to explain this, he wanted people to. realise that not only does Dr Jekyll carry a double personality, but the other characters in the book, too. Also the people reading it must see that they too, are a part of this frightening, uncontrollable fact.
This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong Calvinist beliefs, portrays his thoughts and opinion throughout the story in his characters; good and evil.
...ve duality of man;… if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” Thus, Stevenson creates in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two coexistent, and eternally opposed components that make up a “normal” individual. However, here, good and evil are not related but are two independent entities, individuals even, different in mental and physical attributes and constantly at war with each other. Evil now does not require the existence of good to justify itself but it exists simply as itself, and is depicted as being the more powerful, the more enjoyable of the two, and in the end ultimately it is the one that leads to Dr. Jekyll's downfall and death. Stevenson creates the perfect metaphor for the never-ending battle between good and evil by using Jekyll and Hyde. However, this novella is perhaps one of the few that truly show the power of Evil.
The devil is inside all of us, but the choice is yours: will he overpower you or will you overpower him? In the end we all regret the bad choices we make, so we all have to be careful no matter what we do. The novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson, portrays the regret and guilt we all face, caused by the evil within ourselves. Dr. Jekyll thought he was a good person, but he created this monster-of-a-man that overpowered his own body. Eventually all the bad things he did amounted and he wished he had never done it.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “It is much easier to suppress a first desire than it is to satisfy those that follow.” This is certainly true in the situation of Dr. Jekyll, as the temptation of becoming Mr. Hyde becomes stronger as he continually surrenders to the wickedness that is constantly misleading him. Mr. Hyde is never contented, even after murdering numerous innocents, but on the contrary, his depravity is further intensified. The significance of the repression of a desire is a prevalent theme throughout the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, as the inability to repress one’s curiosity can lead to a fatal end, whereas the repression of a desire that can no longer contain itself, or the repression of confronting a guilty conscience, will conclude in a tragic ending and in this case specifically,
One may wonder what possesses people to commit the most heinous and disgusting crimes imaginable. Man does not exist as simply evil, just as good does not exist without evil. The doppelganger, also known as the alter- ego, controls the evil in a personality. Sometimes another figure in one's life can represent the doppelganger which influences the good to do horrible, savage acts. To begin, a doppelganger can be thought of as an evil twin or evil side. Ralph and Jack are two major character in Lord of the Flies; likewise, Gene and Finny are main characters of A Separate Peace. Both sets of main characters are friends at some point; however, Jack and Gene are both the doppelganger to their friend within these two novels. The authors use their relationships to show differences in each other and how they influence one another- the bad more than the good. The doppelganger can exist within all people. Not only does the alter ego exist within all personalities, but it lives to destroy good and creates problems within man. By envying others, attempting to eliminate, and influencing the good side, the doppelganger longs for authority and ultimate control in one’s existence.
Naturally the body fights the tensions of good and evil by justifying right from wrong. The body is persuaded by one side but ends up conquered by the other. It is a constant battle of pain and pleasure: a constant desire of imperfection from perfection. Dr. Jekyll wanted evil to be completely separated from his goodness. Hyde was not considered a human. He was a creation that possessed life only when Jekyll self medicated himself as a form of release. “Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde are not one person but two, not a single individual compounded like common humanity of both good and evil traits, with the one or the other in the ascendant at any given moment” (Sanderson). As two separate souls inhabited a single body, conflict w...
The construct of a fictional doppelgänger lacks restraints of a definitive denotation, as it has often been familiarized and integrated into literature as a condition limited to the male gender, fortified by the demarcation of a gendered identity. Through the manipulation of the male lens, the feminine personality is subjugated to a classification of sheer obligation and domestication to man. Within doppelgänger narratives, such as Ligeia and Der Sandmann, the incorporation of the uncanny often institutes thematic elements concerning the anonymity of identity and the ambiguity of reality. Though the juxtaposition of the uncanny and the fallibility of vision, relative to the castration complex, denunciates femininity as the absence of the male standard, consequential of a phallocentric society, the doppelgänger’s influence as a femme fatale has revolutionized and transcended societal perceptions of femininity and womanhood.
In conclusion, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, represents many themes of duality in human nature. This is represented by the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Hastie Lanyon, and John Utterson. Some themes represented are the duality in conforming to societal conventions, curiosity, and temptation. Stevenson utilizes significant events including the deaths of Lanyon and Jekyll, and the transformations of Jekyll into Hyde to prove “that man is not truly one, but two” (125)
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme. Jekyll says: "Man is not /truly one, but truly two"(125), meaning all people have both a good and a bad side. Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to fully separate good and evil, but instead it awakens a dormant character, Mr. Hyde. Throughout the novel, Stevenson uses society, control, and symbolism to tell the reader about human nature.
The good and evil within a person was one of the main themes of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (TSCODJAMH). The main objective of Jekyll’s experiments was to
Good and evil are in every man, but most keep it hidden. Good and evil are still around today. From Victorian times to twenty-first century, evil is still coming out. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, physical descriptions are used to reflect good and evil in Jekyll and Hyde.
“We all have good and bad inside of us. It’s what we chose to follow that defines who we really are” J.K Rowling. That quote represents this novella really well by explaining that human beings can literally be whatever they please it is what you do with your “power” that makes you who you really are. In this novella The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson shows that there is a huge struggle between good and evil found in many themes present in the story such as the yin-yang, angel vs. devil and reality vs. pleasure. It clearly shows that as a human race we cannot focus with out the other emotion being present in their everyday lives.