Langland-Hayes 1

Kelsey Langland-Hayes

Professor Ross

ENGL 350

22 April 2020

The Duality of Human Nature

Since the Fall of Satan and the Fall of mankind, a great tension dwells between good and

evil. Adam and Eve’s consumption of the forbidden fruit led to the transition from man’s perfect

nature to man’s sinful nature, thus creating enmity between man and God. As a result of these

poor, life-altering decisions, individuals face this spiritual battle with their dualistic nature.

Whilst mankind may be capable of both good and bad, ultimately, the dualistic sinful nature of

man sets him apart from the good and perfect Creator. Robert Louis Stevenson’s work The

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explains the two split personalities of man within a

single character, Dr. Henry Jekyll. Mr. Edward Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s evil counterpart, wreaks havoc

and destroys the lives of those around him throughout the novella. Furthermore, Mr. Hyde

pursues Dr. Jekyll’s innermost, even sexual, desires. On the contrary, Dr. Jekyll represents the

“good” side of this man, yet participates in some bad acts as well. In The Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson utilizes the dichotomous characters of Dr. Jekyll

and Mr. Hyde to illustrate the dualistic, good vs. bad, nature of man and to reflect Victorian

society’s fears of potential degeneration, or deterioration, of man.

In Stevenson’s novella, Dr. Jekyll’s sexual desires and other “appetites” must remain

hidden from the other characters due to the judgmental and stuffy attitudes of Victorian society.

Within that time period, most Victorians expected people to uphold some form of a reputation,
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for Victorian values involved a sense of duty, seriousness, and proper behavior. Evil or sexual

desires do not fall under this politeness and modesty that Victorian England’s society demanded.

This concept of good and bad seemed somewhat taboo to the Victorians as individuals were

expected to suppress their twisted subconscious “appetites.” Rather than appearing to give in to

his hidden desires, Dr. Jekyll attempts to separate his evil half from his “better half.” Regardless

of their denial, most people in Victorian society and beyond can relate to Dr. Jekyll’s longing to

be evil and to give way to his “appetite,” sexual or otherwise. Even though many people try to

conceal their dualistic natures like Dr. Jekyll, Stevenson illustrates man’s innermost desires and

dualistic nature alongside the Victorians’ fears of losing morals as individuals become more open

about their evil halves.

Regarding Robert Louis Stevenson’s upbringing, he was raised within the Christian faith.

Oddly enough, Shubh Singh and Subho Chakrabarti point out, “Christianity, the religion

Stevenson was born into, rejects dualism and preaches a monistic origin to the universe from

one, infinite, and self-existing spiritual being who freely created everything” (222). Not only

does Christianity preach against this idea that there is an equal and opposite counterpart to God,

the King of righteousness, but it also disproves the idea that incarnate Jesus coexisted in two

persons, man and divine. Contrary to the beliefs in dualism, Jesus is both man and divine in one

person or being, and to argue in favor of human Jesus separate from divine Jesus would be

heresy. Moreover, God allows people to have free will and to choose between good and evil;

therefore, evil is not necessarily an accident as God’s counterpart, but a lesser match for God that

He allows to occur through free will. Of all the dualisms evident within the world, good and evil

takes precedence over the rest. According to Anna Aragno, “Of all dualities that dominate our
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existence—light and dark, hot and cold, abundance/scarcity, love and hate, 'Good and Evil' have

undoubtedly been the most instrumental in shaping our beliefs, behavior, and laws” (102). This

predominant spiritual warfare leads individuals to seek some sort of moral coherence or balance

between good and evil. As a result, this leads authors like Robert Louis Stevenson to will

dramatic characters such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into existence. Referencing Claire Harman’s

biography, Royeka Rita points out “that Stevenson used to describe two states of consciousness

that he experienced, in particular,” for “when he was in a high fever, he felt that his mind split off

into ‘myself’ and what he called ‘the other fellow’” (76). To bring clarity to this biography, it is

essential to understand that Stevenson struggled with split personality disorder, despite a lack of

cultural awareness at the time. In fact, Stevenson felt, Rokeya Rita emphasizes, “‘Myself’ was

the rational side, and ‘the other fellow’ was the sort of dark side, the creative, difficult, seething

side of his subconscious. And he loved it’” (76). Much like Dr. Jekyll, Stevenson had his own

“Mr. Hyde” within himself; he loved the complexity of his dual nature. Elaborating on his

literary inspiration, Stevenson also dreamed this story into existence while sleeping next to his

wife, Fanny (Stefan 213). Between his personal battle with this dualistic nature of man and his

dream of inspiration, it is no wonder Stevenson produced this novella within three days.

Stevenson’s personal experiences, along with his dichotomous characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde, illustrate this conflicting dualistic nature of man.

Juxtaposing Dr. Jekyll’s character with Mr. Hyde’s character helps Stevenson to

emphasize the good vs. evil, dualistic nature of man. Through Dr. Jekyll’s growing

self-awareness of man’s dualistic nature, it is apparent to readers that Stevenson understands this

conflicting nature as well. Dr. Jekyll ponders, “It was on the moral side, and in my own person,
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that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two

natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be

either, it was only because I was radically both” (Stevenson 54). Within himself, Dr. Jekyll

recognizes this deep, darker side that many people spend their lives ignorant of. Even though he

seems like a good guy who always plays by the rules, there is much more to Dr. Jekyll than he

allows others to see. Rather than running away from his evil counterpart, Dr. Jekyll privately

embraces his “appetites.” Explaining this sensation and transformation into Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll

describes feeling “younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady

recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a millrace in my fancy, a

solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul”

(Stevenson 56). Even though outwardly Dr. Jekyll seems disgusted by his supposed friend Mr.

Hyde, he loves when he has the opportunity to transform into Mr. Hyde. Essentially, becoming

Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s guilty pleasure. Contrasting the seemingly honorable Dr. Jekyll with the

animalistic Mr. Hyde effectively displays man’s dualistic nature in Victorian society and beyond.

The dichotomous personalities, or “characters,” of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reflect the

Victorians’ deep-rooted anxieties that humanity seems to be degenerating due to loosening

morals and other factors. Essentially, Victorians feared the horrifying potential of societal

deterioration leading to the loss of class, seriousness, and properness that Victorians craved. By

dehumanizing Mr. Hyde and referring to him as “ape-like,” the fearful society turns him into a

monster rather than a flawed, evil human being (Stevenson 18). Rather than viewing Mr. Hyde as

the human he is, the Victorians cast him as an outsider of the story. Furthermore, the Victorians’

emphasis on reputation plays into these deep-rooted fears of mankind’s decay. According to
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Singh and Chakrabarti, Dr. Jekyll “is widely respected, successful, and possesses a brilliant

intellect but is only too aware of the duplicity of the life that he leads, and of the evil that resides

within him” (221). In essence, the story makes it abundantly clear that Dr. Jekyll has a good

reputation and would like to keep it that way. Because of this desire to maintain his reputation,

“Dr. Jekyll covertly provides utterance to the evil in his soul by various unspeakable acts but is

afraid of doing so openly because of the fear of social criticism” (Singh and Chakrabarti 221).

The Victorians place such a high value on social norms and reputation that Dr. Jekyll feels as

though he must conceal the evil parts of himself to maintain his status in society. In addition,

Victorian society wants to suppress Mr. Hyde’s other “appetites,” including his sexual cravings.

Elizabeth Fee argues, “Historians have begun to challenge the prevalent view of Victorian

society as the epitome of sexual repression. The description of the ‘Victorian frame of mind’ is

sexual anxiety, fear, and denial” (632). The Victorians wanted control over people and their bad

choices. All in all, this desire for control stemmed from their fear of man’s deterioration and their

innate human desire to have control.

The Victorians’ anxieties with human degeneration are evident throughout The Strange

Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Erica McCrystal discusses how Dr. Jekyll loathes his existence

because of his awareness of his dualistic nature of good vs. evil (238). Dr. Jekyll wishes he could

divide these two personalities into separate people. Moreover, he goes to such an extreme that he

believes, “It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous fagots were thus bound together

that in the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously

struggling” (Stevenson 54-55). In addition to this, “Jekyll assumes he is the ‘good’ in contrast to

Hyde’s ‘evil,’ presuming a superior understanding of the composition of man” (McCrystal 239).
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Since Mr. Hyde is the evil part of Dr. Jekyll, the latter assumes this means that he is good.

However, it is impossible for man to completely separate their good parts from their bad parts

while on this earth, so it is faulty reasoning for Dr. Jekyll to presume that he can be perfectly

good and flawless. While Dr. Jekyll seems like the perfect man of his class on the outside, he

also withholds his deep innermost desires; Dr. Jekyll craves evil and the ideas associated with

bad. Regardless of the Victorians’ deep innate fears of the decay of man, the reality is that all

men are both good and evil in their own way.

Despite learning to accept evil as a part of man’s dualistic nature, the Victorians seemed

to have a difficult time welcoming disorders like multiple or split personality into their orthodox

beliefs on human nature. Even though Multiple Personalities Disorder, or Dissociative Identity

Disorder, did not make its way into the scientific realm until the late 1880s, Stevenson seemed to

have a fair understanding of man’s dualistic nature and the extremes to which this nature can go.

Within Victorian society, to openly declare one’s DID would be deemed socially unacceptable

behavior. Matters like psychological issues were not openly discussed as these were taboo

subjects. For Dr. Jekyll, “being a part of Victorian society which greatly emphasized on

reputation and social value; he didn’t have enough courage to dispose his thoughts” (Rita 77).

Thus, Dr. Jekyll “regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame” (Stevenson 53).

Rather than having the freedom to speak his mind, for the better or for the worse, the repression

of Victorian society only grew stronger (Rita 77). Victorians lacked a greater understanding of

DID, and this affected the way in which they judged and ridiculed others who fell under this

group of outcasts.
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In his novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

juxtaposes Dr. Jekyll’s character with Mr. Hyde’s character to display the dualistic, good vs. evil,

nature of man and to exhibit the Victorians’ anxieties with the potential for social degeneration.

Within Victorian society, individuals must uphold some form of a reputation with properness and

class. Even though mankind’s nature consists of both good and evil, the Victorians preferred to

refrain from speaking on such a taboo matter as DID or dualism. Contrary to the Christian home

he was born into, Stevenson supported and understood man’s dualistic nature. Between this

internal understanding, Stevenson’s personal struggles with split personality, and his inspirational

dream, these factors helped him to derive this haunting novella. Furthermore, through Dr.

Jekyll’s growing awareness of man’s dualism, it is apparent to readers that Stevenson holds his

own understanding of the dualistic nature of man. The dichotomous relationship between Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde mirrors the Victorians’ fears of social deterioration. Dr. Jekyll loathes his

existence because of his awareness of his dual nature and how it goes against what Victorian

society represses. Not only this, but Victorians did not seem open to psychological disorders like

Dissociative Identity Disorder. As a result, Dr. Jekyll felt like he had to suppress his dark

thoughts; this made his battle for good vs. evil that much more difficult. Due to the Falls of Satan

and mankind, this tension between good and evil will preside over man until the end of time on

this earth.
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