Duality of Mind : In Novella The Strange case of Dr .Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by R.L.Steveson

Preface:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella (short novel) written in the later part of the 19th century by Robert Louis Stevenson. The impact of the story dealing with  the idea of both Good and Evil contained in the same person. Dr. Jekyll is an upstanding member of the community, repressing his desires for the darker side of life.

He creates a chemical formula that transforms him into Mr. Hyde, the embodiment of all the Evil impulses Jekyll manages to control.

Dual Nature of Human Being :

The idea of people having both Good and Evil in them is certainly not new, but has been part of most major religions for thousands of years. Christianity, for example, is based on the idea that people will always fall short even when they are trying to do right. It is not hard to understand, on a personal level, that both sides of our nature can sometimes be in control. This is exactly what happens to Dr. Jekyll.

Freudian Concepts of Conscious and Sub-Conscious mind :

According to early psychologist Sigmund Freud, the mind tries to keep away evil thoughts and desires which are then banished to the unconscious mind. Those thoughts are not gone, however, but remain to affect the thoughts and actions of the conscious mind.
In Freudian theory, a Jekyll and Hyde situation in real life creates a Dual personality in one person. Sometimes that person seems more like the good Dr. Jekyll, but at certain times, the evil Mr. Hyde emerges.
Of course, in reality, the transformation is not a physical one, and is usually not a complete separation of the good and evil sides in one person.

Dualism of the soul is what differentiates some religions especially those that believe in the existence of evil. For example during the creation of the earth, the two forces were in existence where evil was purported result from powerful forces who were bad or good depending on what brought good tidings to the community or vice versa.

The force of bad and good are always in conflict and the force of good finally overpowers that of evil. For instance Christianity a religion in which Stevenson’s belong, does not support the fact that people should have dual personalities. Never the less, the dual existence of the soul of human beings together with the body is clearly stipulated and outlined by the body.

In his novel Stevenson, brings out Dr. Henry Jekyll as a hero who understands his evil nature. Dr. Jekyll who is fed up with his dual nature of life those he posses finally succeeds in performing some experiments to himself in overcoming the complete part of evil in him that is the Mr. Hyde in order to have each of the personalities involving in a lifestyle that is independent of one another.

Henry Jekyll admits that on daily basis his intellectual as well as moral being is in agreement that a human being can not exists in one personality. Therefore, good does not need a justification from evil for its manifestation. Each of these entities exists on its own. Dr. Jekyll however notes that enjoyment of life results from the two existing solely, however towards the end, this is what his death and ruin.

This is as a result of Dr. Henry Jekyll’s knowledge of the danger posed by Mr. Hyde to the community and this leads him to bring ruin to himself. At this point it is quite clear that Robert Stevenson decides to abandon Christianity and embarks on dualism personality. The author does not only tend to consider the dualism in individuals but also societal dualism where the nobility that was distinguished and discreet had evil secretes hidden behind their mansions walls.

Much of these evil is conducted at night in London’s most poor districts which are considered a home for people who are evil. It is important noting Mr. Hide, good, who finds his way into Dr. Jekyll’s house and takes off via the hind door. This seems quite confusing for Mr. Hyde who is in charge of refinement and civilization.

Furthermore, dualism philosophy implies that the world consists of two distinct beings. For instance the old Greek differentiated the body and soul as dictum.

The body is perceived as the old Greek as the grave. Therefore evil was perceived as that soul which is in infinite state being trapped in a finite grave. For example, Plato is quite dualistic in expressing his sentiments on the fact that the soul and the body are independent.

Robert Stevenson develops a hero by use of fabrication which in his literature is compared with liquor intercedes in his mental faculties to comes up with Mr. Hyde. This person introduced by the author apart from being evil, but him also has countenance which indicates characteristics of Satanism and a troglodytic body.

In this case the psychological process is shown as that process which can be arbitrated by outward methods and this also means that any change in the mental process of an individual is correlated to variations in the body. The author tends to eschew the original dualism of the mind and the body to a non dual way of looking at the same thing.

The main issues outlined in this theme by Stevenson are in agreement with the concepts of death, life and instincts as indicated by Sigmund Freud as well as the structural model of the psyche.

Sigmund defined instincts as a concept based on the frontier Amid , Physically and Psyche.
It is the mental representation of the stimuli that connects the mind.
The characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde posses the characteristics outlined in structural theory of the psyche.

Despite the fact that Henry Jekyll never tried to lead a life of severity, the good part in him was in constant war in need of freedom. When Jekyll is peacefully relaxing  he realizes Hyde’s symptoms emerging within him without the concoction. The appearance of Hyde is as a result of Jekyll’s denial and suppression and thus subconscious desires him.

This is corresponds with Jekyll’s desire of Hyde thus he is obliged by his feelings not to deny Hyde of anything he wants. The fact that Jekyll is such a respectable man in the society he tries to hide Hyde his feelings to himself and finds a way of overcoming his dualism.

In this way ,Dualism of personalities is what makes Jekyll hate himself and tries as hard as possible to overcome this nature.
So to speak, his possessing the attributes of both good and bad makes it difficult for him to just have one component of character. The nature of human beings is such that mankind exists in dualism and that is why most of the authors confirm that both good and evil co-exist.

Works Cited

Elwin, Leon. The Strange Case of Robert Louis Stevenson. London: Macdonald, 1950.

Halt, Robinson. “Dualism.” Warfield, Stitch. The Black guide to Philosophy of Mind. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. 85-101.

Rieber, Watson. “The duality of the brain and the multiplicity of Minds: Can you have both ways ?” Hist Psychiatry (2002): 3-17.

Stevenson, Robert. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.