Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (novel) is undoubtedly a book about duality. While the obvious example of Jekyll & Hyde’s duality is the main one, there are many other oppositions. They include dark and light, private and public, animal & man, and private and publicly. This all helps to reinforce and enhance the sense of duality throughout the novella. This essay will discuss how these dualities interact with the story’s themes and message.
The story is constantly addressing the theme of light and darkness. It is a common theme in all types of novels, but it is particularly important in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because there are characters that the reader can imprint darkness and light. Hyde is frequently described as dark. Enfield recounts Hyde’s first appearances in the story. Hyde describes Enfield as having a “black-sneering coolness.” The doctor, however is described on page one as having “no particular hue”. Hyde also appears to be “sickly white” after the doctor looks into his eyes. Jekyll’s changes in behavior after the murders of Carew and Carew are also described. Hyde’s face appears to have become “sickly white” as he stares at him. The message’s content is described as “darkly secretive”, and the part that is shared with the reader reveals that Jekyll also thinks in these terms. He asks Utterson to allow him to “own dark ways” and suggests Utterson can “lighten” his destiny by agreeing to his desire for isolation. The text contains many more examples of Hyde being associated with darkness. Hyde is only once described in “light” terms. Utterson first meets Hyde and he describes him as “pale and dwarfish”. Hyde’s personality is also reflected in the characters’ evaluations. Utterson calls him “black” and then again compares him to Jekyll. Utterson claims that his worst secrets are “like sunshine”.
This applies to both the setting and place description. Stevenson writes of a “haggard beam of daylight which would look inbetween the swirling wreaths”, as well as streetlamps that illuminate the scene in “a regular, consistent pattern of light & shadow” The story is filled with examples of the close relationship between darkness and light. The novella also addresses the juxtaposition of light and darkness several times. People who look at Hyde or think about him are often described as being white or pale.
Enfield’s tale of the doctor is one example. Jekyll’s reaction after Utterson mentions Hyde’s names during their conversation about Hyde’s will is also a good example. Jekyll said that “the handsome and large face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale at the lips”. Lanyon’s reaction to seeing Hyde turn into Jekyll is similar. The effect of Hyde’s transformation into Jekyll is to make characters’ goodness more apparent. It is similar to how a lighter patch will appear lighter next to a darker one. These two concepts are interwoven to highlight the overall duality of Jekyll & Hyde. Although they are opposed by definition, both the dark (evil), and light (virtuous), sides of man are still linked by necessity. This holds true for both light and shadow, as where there’s no light, there’s darkness. So, even though they oppose each other, they are actually two sides to the same coin.
Public and private are another example of this analogy. Public and private were often very different in Victorian society. This was because of the strict distinction between lower and higher classes and Victorian society’s puritanical bent. Utterson is the first person to be mentioned as having curtailed their desires due to concerns over propriety. He is reported to have drank gin to “mortify his taste for vintages”. On the same page, it is stated that he enjoys theatre but has never been to a concert in twenty years. Utterson doesn’t exactly ‘let loose’ at home. These details suggest that his private needs are so strong that they must be controlled. Utterson is seen reading “some dry divinity”, which he apparently does for the same purpose as drinking gin. Utterson’s thoughts on the matter are blatantly expressed at one point. He is described as someone “to whom the fanciful were the immodest”.
Although the conflict between Jekyll and Utterson’s private lives is more dramatic than Utterson, the inclusion of such small details shows that even the most unlikely candidates have these aspects and creates a thread linking them together. The novella’s main theme is the gulf between Jekyll and his private and public selves. Much of the material surrounding him illustrates this. Stevenson demonstrates this by mentioning windows. A window is a gateway that allows one to view the private from a place public, and vice versa. Hyde’s house, described in the novella’s beginning as “show[ing]] no windows”, emphasizing its inability for the reader and characters to see what is going on there. Jekyll’s block at the end is also described as a “dingy windowless” structure.
Utterson & Enfield find Jekyll in the window. This enhances the effect. Their nearsightedness almost allows them to witness their transformation into Hyde or to his private self. It is the first time Jekyll is ever seen through or near a window. This also marks the end of the story’s chronology. The haste with which he shuts the window suggests that Jekyll will soon be exposed and illuminated. The story frequently mentions eyes. Characters in the story often judge others by their eyes.
This is why eyes can be thought of as windows that allow access to private information. This is the beginning of the novella’s first paragraph. Utterson sees “something eminently Human beaconing out of his eye”, which prompts the reader and Utterson to trust him. Utterson had mentioned Hyde, which led to Jekyll noticing a “blackness” around his eyes. This is consistent with Hyde as being dark. Utterson uses Lanyon’s illness to judge his health and character. Jekyll’s complete statement of the case reveals this more. When he writes about Hyde’s closeness to him, he says it is “closer than a spouse, closer than an eye”.
In the story, there is a significant dichotomy between man and animal. Hyde’s movements and speech are frequently described as animalistic. Hyde’s encounters with Utterson are the first to show these parallels. When Utterson calls Hyde by his name, Hyde shrinks back and takes a deep breath. He “snarl[s] out loud into a wild laugh” (p.17). Utterson says that Hyde is “hardly human” at the same time. These comparisons are made more prominently later in the story. Hyde attacks Carew “with an apelike fury”, Poole observes him wearing his mask, and Hyde screeches at Utterson as he opens the cabinet’s doors.
Hyde’s behavior is described in several other animalistic terms throughout the story. These points are crucial because of two factors. First, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published recently. This scientific theory suggested that humans and their animals could be indistinguishable. Secondly, Victorian society would be disgraceful of ‘animal behaviour’ and the possibility that humans might descend from animals. It can be argued that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde conveys that humankind has a dual nature. Victorians would have considered them to be opposites. But this interpretation doesn’t tell the whole story. As Patricia Ferrer Medina states in Wild Humans, “Given Hydes brutal nature, Hyde is surprising civil: he refers directly to himself as gentleman” (Ferrer Medina 2007, p.11). Multiple times throughout the story, Mr. Hyde has been shown to be capable of refinement. After meeting Utterson for his first time, Hyde agrees with him to do a favor and gives Utterson his address. This social nicety is far from animalistic.
His meeting with Lanyon is the same. He’s shown to be capable in maintaining a certain amount of decorum. Hyde is an animal, as his name is a homophone for “hide”, which means that he is an animal. His character is inconsistent with this idea. Although he can elicit very negative reactions from others, it’s not always because of his behavior. This is perhaps a comment on the fact animals don’t always have to behave like them in order to count as such.
Jekyll’s statement “man is not really one, yet truly two” is perhaps most insightful comment on the issue. It can easily be taken as meaning that humans are both cultured and have an animalistic dark side that is a remnant from our evolutionary past. Jekyll mentions “the thorough primitive duality of men”, which could refer to humanity’s animal past. It also mirrors the term ‘primitive, as they both have the same root words. Jekyll’s assertion that Hyde looked in the mirror at him is evidence of this interpretation. Patricia Ferrer Medina writes in Wild Humans that Hyde’s stature is smaller than Jekyll’s. The doctor explained that Hyde had been less active in his evil than his positive side. This led to his evil side being “less robust and more developed.” This is due to Stevenson’s evolutionary influence. Stevenson believed that man and animal were on the same wavelength.
These dualities have interesting connections. The window represents both public and private. But it also symbolizes light and dark. The dualities also have a correlation, since the darkness is often a shield that keeps private affairs from the public. One irony in the text is the discovery of Hyde dead in Utterson’s bedroom after his door is flung open by him. It would make sense for Hyde, a figure of brutishness, malice and animality to dwell primarily within the darkness, as this would fit with his character throughout the novella. Jekyll’s private lives (i.e. Mr. Hyde’s private life (i.e.
Jekyll makes use of the concepts of public, private, and moral responsibility to escape from any moral responsibility. Jekyll wrote that he had allowed himself to be disassociated from Hyde’s actions, and that Hyde was the only one responsible. Jekyll did not get worse. He was able to regain his good qualities, seemingly unimpaired.” Jekyll believes that one shouldn’t reflect on oneself in public. Ronald Thomas wrote:
“Jekyll consistently absents himself from his own text is in keeping with his purpose when creating Hyde. This is accomplished at the end Jekylls’ statement in the hopeless chaos with which the first and third-person pronouns were used. The writer finally refers to Jekyll, Hyde and “them,” in other words, as autonomous.
Jekyll cannot identify with any of these parts by seperating the private and public parts at the end.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll or Mr Hyde is filled with dualities. Although these are just three examples, many more are interwoven in a way that reinforces the text’s core meanings. The novella is filled with many opposing viewpoints. This gives it a sense of ambiguity.
Cites
Edley, N., & Wetherell, M. (2001). Jekyll and Hyde. Men’s feminism and feminist constructions. Feminism & Psychology, 11(4), 439-457. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959353501011004002)
Doane, J., & Hodges, D. (1989, October). Demonic Disorders of Sexual Identity: Dr. Jekyll and Mr/s Hyde’s Strange Case. IN NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 63-74). The Duke University Press is a publisher of scholarly and academic journals and books. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1345579)
Rose, B. A. (1996). Jekyll and Hyde adapted: Dramatizations in Cultural Anxiety. 66). The Greenwood Publishing Group is a publisher. (https://www.worldcat.org/title/jekyll-and-hyde-adapted-dramatizations-of-cultural-anxiety/oclc/32921958)
Becchio, C., Sartori, L., Bulgheroni, M., & Castiello, U. (2008). The case Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde: A kinematic research on social intent. Consciousness & cognition, 17(3): 557-564. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810007000207)
Lacey, N. (2010). Psychologizing Jekyll, and demonizing Hyde: A strange case of criminal liability. Criminal Law & Philosophy, 4, 109–133. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11572-010-9091-8)