Jekyll and Hyde - Themes - Duality
Duality
The novella is concerned with how an upstanidng member of society can become a savage criminal
Stevenson shocks the reader by first presenting Jekyll and Hyde as two seperate characters andthen revealling that they are the same perdon
Shows that a person can simultaneously poessess conflicting personalities
Stevenson presesnts a Victoriam London divided between strictly defined areas which are in close proximity to areas of poverty
Stevenson manipulates growing contemporary fears of human nature's capacity for evil
'All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil'. The verb 'commingled' is merging of 'combined' and 'mingled', it shows how it is impossible for a person to only be good or evil
'Man is not truly one, but truly two'
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Most obvious form of duality in the text
Conflict between Dr Jekyll' innermost desires and his outwars presenatin of himself
'Duality of purpose' shows that Jekyllu is divided between his duties as an upstanding member of society and his basal instincts
Stevenson uses juxtaposing imagery to emphasise the disparity between the morals of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Hyde is describe as 'that child of Hell had nothing human'. 'child' has connotations of innocence which is juxtaposed with the idea of 'hell' which is a cess-pit of sin
Stevenson's description of Jekyll and Hyde emphasises the different between the two men. 'The man was a fellow who nobody could have to do with; and the person who drew the cheque is the very pink of proprieties'
Jekyll starts to lose control over Mr Hyde which suggests there is fluidity between the state of being good and bad. 'I had gone ot bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde'. Verb 'awakened' shows the deeper association between the two
'This too, was myself' showing Jekyll's awareness of the duality in human nature
Duality with the setting
Stevenson's description of London heightens the sense of duality within the text
At the beginning, htere are alternating descriptions, the juxtaposition between having 'an air of invitation' to buildings being sinistercreates a backdrop for the conflict between good and evil in the characters
Literary techniques
Uses third person narrator aswell as Jekyll and Lanyon's perspective to tell the story
Multiplie narratives due to the test's epistolary form not only adds to the horrow of the text, but also shows the read hoe there are multiples ways of looking at things
Other Characters
The maid
Stevenson includes several characters which inhibit a from of intrinsic duality, such as Hyde's maid
Her description shows a conflict between outwards appearance and innermost voice
'She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy: but her manners were excellent'
Duality of good vs evil is similar to the conflict between Jekyll (one's desired outermost expression of morals to society) and Hyde (One's innate repressed desires, that exceed the bounds of society). Yet here the two are bound with the same person
Enfield
Potentially involved in dubious activites as her references in the first chapter that he was returnign at 'about three o'clock of a black winter morning'
This behavioiur is happening at night which symbolises secrecy through the obscurity of darkness
The reads association with the colour imagery used in 'black' would cause them to be suspicious of Mr Enfield who appears to be hiding something under the guise of darkness