The Strange Case by Robert Louis Stevenson

The functioning of the average human mind has intrigued and plagued philosophers and thinkers over centuries, one of the most curious and fascinating studies have been made into personages with dual personalities, schizophrenia being one of the factors. Similarly, in the book, The Strange Case, as well as in the film, Psycho, the books are taken place in late Victorian London, but Psycho is in late 60’s in the USA. The respective authors in these two texts portray that duality of human nature exists in society and humanity through the use of characterization and setting.

Stevenson in this story uses characterization to describe that duality of human nature exists in humanity and society:

“There comes an end to all things; my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul…all men's respect, wealth...murderer.”( Stevenson 51)

Stevenson uses the malaise of Schizophrenia to characterize Dr.Jekyll and his dual personality Mr. Hyde. In the above quote Dr.Jekyll realizes that he has done in justice the whole time without realizing it. Mr. Hyde’s actions have been proven to be inhumane and he has been characterized a “human juggernaut”; Dr. Jekyll is not solely responsible for his actions because of his dual mindset that precludes an individual from a rational thought process. In the quote above Dr. Jekyll had everyone’s respect and love, and now society labels him as a murderer: “clubbed him to the earth…with ape-like fury…shattered…the body.”(Stevenson 9) Mr. Hyde is malevolent in nature, “alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil”(Stevenson 45) whereas, Dr.Jekyll is a calm character. He uses “ape-like fury”, from that he shows embodiment of a murderer. In Psycho, Norman Bates is a maniac with a dual personality. Although...

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...to dark areas of the working unstable mind, and which generally are away from the norms of society and wants to experiment with other areas, this what leads to the motivation that could be the dual mindset. The exception could be for an individual who has complete control over his rationality, but is not the case in these given texts. People who have schizophrenia use violence as an essential element to soothe their mind. My reaction to both Psycho and The Strange Case has been one of horror, which I think is a normal reaction of an individual. I have experienced myself having a different personality, not necessarily a dual mindset, in and out of school. In school I tend to show less off my real emotions, than I do outside of school. Even though for me keeping up with societal norms is a ‘must do’ task, failing to keep with societies rules will fail me internally.