Duality In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Duality in the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson, born 1850, wrote many notable and well-known works that feature duality or antithesis in his characters. His fixation with duality can be traced back to his studies on the Victorian idea of the double brain. Stevenson’s fascination with dual and split personalities can be found in many of his works, including Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Stevenson’s most obvious use of duality. Dr. Jekyll, realizing that he has two parts of himself, drinks a potion to separate the more primal side from his refined persona. Images of duality run heavily throughout the story. Duality is expressed not only
As described by Friedrich Engels in The Great Towns, London is divided into two parts: the slums in which the lower classes live, and the nicer areas in which the upper classes live. The upper classes never step foot in the slums, much like how Jekyll represses Mr. Hyde, the bad side of him. Engels says that “sometimes, of course, poverty is to be found hidden away in alleys close to the stately homes of the wealthy. Generally, however, the workers are segregated in separate districts” (Engels 1833). Before Dr. Jekyll created Mr. Hyde, his inner conflict was like the first town described by Engels: the poor areas, the bad in Dr. Jekyll, are very closely connected with the wealthy areas, the good in Dr. Jekyll. After Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion and creates Mr. Hyde, the two men are like the second town described by Engels, separate and compartmentalized. Mr. Hyde is completely free of morals or rules, and Dr. Jekyll is free of the “bad” urges. The town of London itself represents the duality of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and exemplifies their differences. “London represented that division-with-essential-unity which is the very meaning of Jekyll and Hyde” (Saposnik 718). The upper classes cannot survive without the labor from the lower classes. The lower classes cannot survive without the wages from the upper classes. They require each other to survive, like how Jekyll and Hyde
Because of his close and personal connections with scientists Stevenson pulled from many case studies to form his story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, including the study of a soldier who developed two different personalities after his left cerebral hemisphere was damaged in battle (Stiles 880). Stevenson’s study of duality is expressed in Dr. Jekyll’s lament: “man is not truly one, but truly two”. It is also suggested that Jekyll and Hyde “could well have affected how some clinicians subsequently viewed their cases” (Stiles 881). Stevenson was influenced by case studies on the double brain, and in turn Jekyll and Hyde influenced other case studies on the double brain. This again is an unintentional example of duality formed by