Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by R. L. Stevenson; a Literary Analysis

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

by R. L. Stevenson

A Literary Analysis

I read this book a long while ago at school as per our course, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was made even more so, when my teacher explain it's complex imagery and literary details that make the book stand out even more. Thus, with the help of my own notes (and some points of elaboration from the Internet) I want to compile a bit of my analysis here for you all.

This novel, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", by R. L. Stevenson, talks of the duality of human nature; that Man is born with two fundamental personalities mingled with one another - good and evil. This is something co-existent, and thus we cannot control it. This is something Dr. Jekyll does not realise, as he thinks it can be controlled. (More on that later on.)

If we look in to the story more deeply, we notice that although Man has two personalities, both are not shown together; one personality is the true image of his, while the other is merely a form shaped by society. By saying that, it can be said that Dr. Jekyll's potion does not 'bring out' or 'summon' a personality; it merely strips away the persona that society has made, revealing the true form of Man.

That said, this story also illustrates the importance of reputation that one had to show to their society, in the typical 19th century, where this story is set. We get the idea that people had to maintain a good reputation for other people to see, and anything different would be taken against them. This might help justify Dr. Jekyll's act of maintaining his 'good' side while he did the bad, only to remain presentable for society. Other instances of this theme include when Utterson suspected Dr. Jekyll of being a part in the crime in the first chapter, when he had helped 'Mr. Hyde' financially; he knew of it even in front of Enfield, but he never spoke of it openly. This can be taken under the pretext that he did so because he cares of Dr. Jekyll's outlook to the people, and thus wants it to stay that way.

If we talk more on the personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we note remarkable descriptions, almost too vague for us to notice; on close inspection, we note that Dr. Jekyll's house is described as neat, tidy and a house that has "a great air of wealth". His laboratory, where he made his potions, however, is described as a dark, messy and sinister room. This shows us the nature of the personalities that Dr. Jekyll manifested in himself; the 'good' in him is fresh and clean from sin, while the 'bad' in him is dark and messed-up. Another amazing thing Stevenson has managed to do was to style the placement of the two structures; Dr. Jekyll's house is open and looks towards the open street for the people to see. This shows how he wants to show himself to society. But deep within the house, there is his laboratory, hidden away from the spectators; this shows how he hides his evil self under his made-up persona.

Side-by-side, it is fair to discuss the characters' names and their effects on the story. Dr. "Jekyll" is a pun itself; if taken in the literal sense, Jekyll can be pronounced as je-kyll, or "I kill". This is just me bluntly speaking, but you never know how the slightest effects can matter to the plot of the story. If we consider this vague little detail in mind, we can say that it does actually show the truth behind the acts of Mr. Hyde; that although he was the one committing all the wrongs, the actual one doing the killing was Dr. Jekyll. Maybe this is just us pushing our luck, but it could mean something to R. L. Stevenson himself. Similarly, Mr. Hyde is the more obvious pun; 'Hyde' can be taken in the sense of 'hide', meaning that Hyde is nothing but a mere persona that hides behind Dr. Jekyll's mask when his job is done, only to make Dr. Jekyll clean the blood off his hands.

Could it be right to say that this imagery sort of gives us the idea that evil acts may seem invincible at first, but such people are the ones who actually cower? It would make sense, since Mr. Hyde seems to 'hide' half of the time. Maybe this silent message is a message Stevenson wants us to understand on our own.

Moving on to symbolism, these characters symbolise their persona's properly: Dr. Jekyll is a doctor, which emphasizes his conventionally good character, who is helping of other people and people in need. It may be acceptable to say that he embodied the 'good' in him.

Mr. Hyde, however, is the complete opposite; he is the embodiment of pure evil - that was a reason why no one could pin-point the exact "deformity" in him. Hyde was purely evil which scared people who looked at him, and his eerie facial features suggest the ferocious features of evil that Dr. Jekyll embodied. Hyde's stunted growth shows how it had been suppressed under Dr. Jekyll's will; it suggests that there had been multiple times when he had to suppress his evil desires to maintain his 'good' character.

Dr. Jekyll thus wanted to hone the two desires he possessed in to two different entities, which he thought he could control. But he did not understand it's consequences; as Dr. Jekyll exercised his evil side, it started to grow larger in size, and the good side of Jekyll began weakening, both physically and mentally. This shows that exercising evil - no matter how demanding - will always end badly, as the literal ending of the story suggests.

All this leads to the readers to understand the nature of good and evil in us; it exists in everyone. A saint may have evil desires, and a criminal might have a soft spot in him. They are literally mingled together, and it is impossible to exercise both separately, as human consciousness will never allow the mind to stay in peace. The whole idea of this novel is that humans do have good and evil in them. But to find out the truly dominant side of us, is a quest we were sent here for in the first place; to find out who we are. Controlling who we are in to what we want to be, will only end badly. However, deciphering our true selves, and being honest to ourselves is the proper way in which we should discover ourselves.

This is my side of this beautifully constructed novel. How is it on your side? I do not give 100% credit to myself for this, as my school helped me along the way. I may not give it proper authenticity, but I do, however, believe that it did justice to this novel.

If you think you agree to something, or disagree to another, or believe I missed something out, then you can always comment here, or email me: mahnoor.jamil@gmail.com. I'd be happy to hear your opinion! Thank you for reading this!