The Duality of Mankind


Photo by Derek Anderson, Joel Anderson


The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Quote Analysis


Chapter 10 of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

"...man is not truly one, but truly two."



        Through "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Stevenson delivers the message that each person alive has two complete opposites inside of him/her. In this novel, the main character Dr Jekyll wants to create an "alter ego" sort of personality because he wanted to separate his "good side" from his "evil side" but also unifying them in the same being. Dr. Jekyll represents the good and noble side, while Mr. Hyde, his "alter ego", represents the evil and monstrous side. He creates a potion and takes it; this allows him to transform into Mr. Hyde. He uses Mr. Hyde to go about life doing horrible things. He fulfills his "evil desires." Dr. Jekyll is able to transform back and forth from Hyde to Jekyll, and vice versa, with the potion. Hyde does these terrible things up until he commits suicide. He commits suicide because the potion stopped working, and therefore he was unable to control switching back. He felt he had no other choice but to kill himself. In the Victorian Era, society wanted to separate the good and the evil in mankind. However, in the novel, Jekyll wanted to merge all of his soul--the good and the evil.
        The phrase above shows readers how Stevenson believes that every person has an evil personality inside of him/her. In the phrase, he places emphasis on the duality of mankind; there are two opposite sides to the same person. It says that in every individual, there lies the notion that they are able of selfless and horrible acts. It is similar to having an angel and a devil on your shoulders speaking in your ears opposite things. Mankind is able to be respectable and irresponsible according to Stevenson. He implies that the evil inside of a person is able to come out if they let it out. He shows that is up to us by using the potion created by Jekyll in the novel.


Questions:
1. Do you think that Stevenson did a good or bad job of showing that mankind has two sides to it?
2. Do you personally believe we all have an evil personality inside of us waiting to show itself?

Comments

  1. James J.March 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM

    I think Stevenson did a great job of portraying the duality of mankind. He showed the inner conflict between the two sides and also the consequence of evil desires. I think we all have an evil side that can arise from disregarding consequences. If people think they can get away with something without consequences, they will attempt it. For example, Dr. Jekyll thought he could commit crimes and, as long as he drank the potion, there would be no consequences. His death proves that there will always be a consequence for evil.

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  2. Raegan C.March 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM

    I believe Stevenson did an excellent job of portraying humanity's two sides. Ultimately, we live in a fallen world, so deep down, none of us are truly "good." We all have a part of ourselves that falls into temptation and the way of the world, some worse than others. I think this story portrayed that idea very well through Jekyll and Hyde and the consequences they had to face for their acts.

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  3. Arnau S.March 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM

    I think Stevenson did a good job showing that people have two sides, and I agree with the message in general, but I don’t think everyone has an evil side as extreme as Hyde. I think that we all have a part that’s tempted to take the easy way, and it's our morality that stops it, but I don't think that this bad side wants to do harm just for fun.

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  4. Avery IsabelleMarch 23, 2025 at 7:48 AM

    I believe Stevenson couldn't have done a better job of showing the duality of human beings. He was able to take two characters and represent them as one human with opposing qualities. I have to agree with Arnau with the second question. I believe as humans we aren't perfect and we go through seasons or sadness or bitterness or even anger. We do have a so called "darker side" but its up to whether we lean into that personality. But I dont think everyone has a hunger to do evil.

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  5. Will's Witty AnalysisMarch 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM

    I believe that it is less of a duality and more of a spectrum. In other words, instead of having a good and bad side, we are capable of choosing to do good, bad, and neutral things, and which we choose can be affected by outside influences such as mood or friends.

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