The issues facing duplicity in human nature in The Strange Case of Dr Essay

The issues facing duplicity in human nature in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Essay Example â€Å"Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde perfectly captured some readers’ fears that their carefully built society was hypocritical.†4 Although the idea of man’s double nature—the good and the bad—has been a topic of countless discussions and debates for centuries, Stevenson presented it most vividly in a way that only fiction can.5 It can be said that it is even an allegory6 of a philosophical sense, illustrating what Stevenson might deem as the true nature of man. Some perceive it to be the epitome of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the subconscious—with Mr. Hyde being Dr. Jekyll’s â€Å"subconscious desire to be freed from his society’s restrictions.†7 While others view the novel as one of the first illustrations of the psychological illness that is termed split personality disorder, with the term alter ego (Mr, Hyde) popularized by Freud. Whatever the case, it cannot be denied that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sh ows, both then and now, the unquestionable duplicity of the nature of man manifested in the two sides of good and evil. For â€Å"the opposites embodied in the Jekyll/Hyde binary conform to late-Victorian ideas about the brain as a double organ,8† as it is still considered up to now. In this dark novel, Robert Louis Stevenson reveals the issues dealing with the duplicity of human nature. Through his mastery of syntax, constant change in point of view throughout the story, complex use of symbolism, supernatural writing style, and his usage of fear in the unknown, Stevenson shows what can happen if you let the evil inside take over. His example of this is the life of Dr. Henry Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde. This paper will discuss the aforementioned elements of the novel as it discusses the characteristic duplicity found in human nature. To further illustrate how Stevenson depicted the issues that come with the inherent characteristic of man’s duplicity, it is best to give a brief synopsis