"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde": Breaking Free from Social Constraints
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centres on a notion of humanity being dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed, which itself is a mocking criticism of society’s willingness to believe that ‘what you see is what you get’.
There is a great irony in Stevenson’s writing that I believe enhances his criticism of society’s naivety, whereby he calls into question the judgement and knowledge of supposedly well respected men. Most of the novella, with the exception of the final chapter, is described through the eyes of Utterson, Lanyon, and Enfield, all of whom are men with respectable reputations and careers—people who are easily trusted and looked towards for their valued opinions. However, these are the people who refuse to see past the outward persona of a certain Henry Jekyll—they, and therefore the audience, do not see until the very end that Jekyll is not just a “smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast” (21), but also the very monster they fear.
Jekyll asserts that “man is not truly one, but truly two” (71), and this calls into question the battle between good and evil. Is it necessary for man to have both his good side and his dark side, for without one can you really have the other? Once Jekyll unleashes his dark side, Hyde eventually completely takes over until Jekyll ceases to exist, so if man is both good and evil, what happens to the good at the end of the novella?
Perhaps Stevenson is further mocking society’s control over people. Maybe man is not “truly two” but at its very nature primitive, only brought under control and tamed by civilisation and rules. By splitting his two personalities, Jekyll is simply removing the control that society has over his true nature.
Ultimately, Robert Lewis Stevenson questions whether human nature is a delicate balance of dual personalities, or a delicate and precarious reconstruction by society. Can man really be more than one, or are we all just moulded to fit civilisation?
