Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Good Vs Evil

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is clearly a story about good and evil and the consequences of giving wholly into one’s evil side. Dr. Jekyll experiments with this duality in human nature when he creates the persona of Mr. Hyde. When Jekyll states, “man is not truly one, but truly two,” (1709) he is referring to these two parts that make up the human conscience. Stevenson is not saying that each person has two individuals inside of them, but rather that there is always a constant struggle between good and evil present: “in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling” (1710). What Jekyll discovers is how to separate the two in order for him to live a double life with no repercussions for his actions. He is quick to discover, however, that if you give in even a little to your evil side, you become power-hungry for more until it completely takes over all that is left of the good.
Jekyll represents the good twin, while Hyde epitomizes all that is evil. Even Hyde’s appearance attributes to his evilness: “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile…but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear which Mr. Utterson regarded him” (1684). Several other times in the story, Hyde is called “deformed” and “ape-like.” In contrast, Jekyll is described as well made and having every mark of kindness. These two distinct personalities begin to merge into one as soon as Jekyll makes the conscious choice to experiment with what he named “man’s dual nature”