The story is about one nice kind, innocent, helpful gentlemen Dr Jekyll who wants to try out experiments and wants to try this drug which suppose-+e to make every one hide their bad nature. Dr Jekyll had no one to try the experiment on because other Doctors didn’t wanted to interfere or play with god. Dr Jekyll had no one except himself. When he tried it the drug came out to be 100% evil therefore he named his evil character Mr. Hyde. Mr Hyde is a character who is rude, unpleasant, aggressive, animal like, liberated and hidden was hallucinating after many murders he done but it was too late to stop it because he became addicted to the drug so the only solution left was to commit suicide.
Robert Louis Stevenson made a point that, if you take drugs you don’t know the consequences of it and also once you took it, it’s too hard to stop taking it and it will still have the affect of the drug even though you haven’t token the drug.
Dr Jekyll experiments with drugs because he has explored a drug which meant to get rid of evil side of a human but he doesn’t know the side effect of it. He has no one to try it on except himself.
Dr Jekyll took the drug for fun, for pleasure, and for tasting freedom. But, it had a negative effect on him as he became drug depended. Dr Jekyll takes the drug for tasting freedom because he has been very occupied and frustrated with his work. He starts liking the condition of being half asleep and half awake or in a state of semi-unconscious. Dr Jekyll gets so use to the drug that he can’t even feel that he’s getting addicted to it.
Although Dr Jekyll was kind man he wasn’t pure good where as Mr Hyde is pure evil. After taking the drug, we observe that the positive side of Dr Jekyll changed from a nice, kind, innocent, helpful gentlemen and open character into a rude, evil, unpleasant, mean, hidden character and aggressive Mr Hyde.
Perhaps, Dr Jekyll enjoys begin Mr Hyde because he don’t have to try hard to be polite he may also be evil and enjoy the evil nature without showing his real face. We also get to know Dr Jekyll’s subdued and control side as well as the uncontrolled and liberated of Mr Hyde who shows wild emotions.
Robert Louis Stevenson is indirectly saying that everyone has a dual personality and no one is near perfect.
Perhaps that’s what Stevenson could be feeling with the use of the drug himself so whatever he writes he is describing his own conditions. Also Stevenson use to take drugs which had bad affect on him not only that he use to hallucinate as well just like Dr Jekyll.
Mr Hyde is shown as evil by his actions by the way the author has described him. For example, in the novel, it says ape like fury which means he is very angry and impatient. He has also shown is evil as it says it the book: “trampling his victim under foot hailing a storm of blows under which the bones were audibly shattered and body jumped upon”. Which shows Mr Hyde is evil and don’t know what he is doing.
Also in chapter 5 the maid couldn’t tolerate hearing and seeing the evilness that’s why as a result she fainted.
Mr Hyde is leaving evidence like the half of wooden found in his house and the cane which Mr Utterson gave to him a gift not on purpose but because he doesn’t know what he is doing, or what is going on.
Stevenson provides the reader with the horrifying details. The victim’s bones are “audible shattered” the body” jumped upon the roadway”, the body is “mangled “and murder weapon, a walking stick of “very tough and heavy wood” is broken in half.
Dr Jekyll has two doors the front door presenting good and back one which is the door Mr Hyde comes out and goes in from presenting bad.
Stevenson uses this novel to show that sometimes people get carried away by their curiosity. So its starts as fun but can end up as an uncontrollable habit or obsession.
This novel tells us about the human side of a man and the ape like nature of a person. There is always a struggle of which side will take of the other.
Everyone has a dual personality and if they choose their evil side, there are more chances of them facing trouble, pain and even death.
The moral of this interesting story is that we need to be in control of our darker side of human nature, and to stop the seed of evil from growing bigger. Perhaps, the moral is that we cannot control evil once unleashed. Jekyll tries to ‘use’ Hyde to give in to his temptations without damaging his social position. This spirals out of control. The cost of Jekyll’s curiosity turned out to be a dangerous.
The novel also shows that human beings have two sides one which is public and seen by others and the other side which is secret as it is kept hidden.
