Duality Of Human Nature Analysis

The duality of human nature
Besides being an interesting and intriguing dark novella, “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, as any piece of literature studied at school, carries a deeper meaning. In it, Robert Louis Stevenson separates the two sides of Dr. Jekyll’s personality in two different characters in order to highlight the difference between the decent and the evil one as well as the fragility of the barrier that separates them and demonstrate to the reader how important it is to constantly discipline, encourage, and develop the good one and not allow the evil one take over. Robert Stevenson achieves the effect of complete contrast between Jekyll and Hyde though making them the ultimate foil characters
Utterson and the audience, through various hints from the author – like the writing of Hyde’s ‘final letter’ and Jekyll’s invitation “there's a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped” (***), the deeds of Mr. Hyde become more and more evil - “The pleasures...were, as I have said, undignified…. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn toward the monstrous.” (***) This is a mere natural result of Jekyll’s conniving at the evil behavior of his dark side. Dr. Jekyll is a weak human who is tired of controlling the evil side of his character; the opportunity to, with surgical accuracy, separate it from the rest of his good intentions is something he fails to resist throughout the book, even when he knows which consequences it leads to. Or does he? In legal terms, Dr. Jekyll, with his impeccable reputation, is bulletproof to any accusations; in moral terms, he has an excuse of not being the person who committed the crime. As a result, even Hyde’s murder of the Member of the Parliament allows Jekyll to control himself for just two
Jekyll bursts forth and takes over the poor doctor. “I began to be tortured with throes and longings… I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught” (***). After this incident, Hyde became robust enough to overcome the physical requirements for the transformation and can come out when he desires without drinking the potion. The moment Hyde no longer need the potion to transform, the barrier within Dr. Jekyll breaks and darkness floods his mind: “There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul” (***). To make things worse, Dr. Jekyll starts to run out of the antidote, which was created with an unknown essential ingredient and thus cannot be replicated. The doctor is left without his main weapon against the other part of himself, which gets stronger every