Jekyll let this happen to himself really as he thought he was “beyond the reach of fate” and that even though he saw things were falling apart and that Hyde was beginning to become the dominant side, Jekyll didn’t try hard enough to banish Hyde and when he realised that Hyde was “ten times” the evil Jekyll originally thought he was. Jekyll didn’t have the “willpower” to contain Hyde anymore. Jekyll ended up more of a servant to Hyde that the controller of his own fate. Jekyll found out the hard way that no man is “beyond the reach of fate” and can get away with playing god with there own soul.
Even though Stevenson tries to create sympathy for Jekyll by showing the reader Jekyll losing all his friends and his death at the end is still not enough for me to judge Jekyll as a victim in this situation. The fact that Lanyon is killed by the “spirit of Satan” in Hyde's soul shows to me that we are meant to judge Jekyll as more a sinner than the innocent party. Lanyon reacts with the utmost revolution to Jekyll when he sees the transformation; Stevenson wants the reader to react in the same manner as Lanyon. Lanyon sees the pure evil side of human nature and this makes him lose all his faith in humanity and he loses the will to live. Surly Stevenson make Lanyon react this way to make it clear to the reader that what Jekyll is doing is completely wrong. Jekyll even approached his experiment hoping to gain “pleasures” from it without paying the price for those “pleasures.” I think that any man that is willing to split his own soul in two for some “bestial pleasures” deserves what he gets, even if that is death. Jekyll himself says that if he had approached the experiment in a more “upright” manner looking to become a better person maybe he would of expanded his good and giving side of his nature. Rather than create and expand the beast inside of him, and unleash his “dark side”. This is why I judge Jekyll so harshly as from the start he went into this with an evil intent and this backfired on him, but even when he lost control of Hyde it was still Jekyll fault as he was the original creator. Jekyll just couldn’t live with the fact that he had to control his “dark side” which is a part of human nature that makes us different from the “troglodytic” mammals which we once were. Jekyll didn’t want to face his dark side and limit it, and he takes the easy way out but splitting his soul and having two separate live both the extreme opposite of the other. Stevenson is trying to show the reader that this is the wrong way to do things because Jekyll dies as a result of take the easy way out, and he commits murder as well. Stevenson is trying to show us that this is the wrong path to take and it is the “cowards” way out. He is telling us that we have to live with our dark side, perhaps not lock it away eternally but restrain it and control it so we can live a civil and peaceful life. Jekyll doesn’t want to do this so he releases his dark side and he cannot control the power of it and ends up dieing because of it. This is a warning from Stevenson to the reader not to take the easy way out. It also proves that Stevenson wants the reader to judge Jekyll harshly as he was weak and took the “cowards” path out, which lead to his death.
When Jekyll is with Lanyon and is tempting him with the knowledge that would blow him away. He tells him to stop being “pedantic” to his “superiors.” Jekyll has no right to say to Lanyon that he is his superior as he in the end gets himself killed and caught. Jekyll says that he will show Lanyon the light and how Lanyon has been limited by his small minded studies but how free and better Jekyll is to him. This is not true as it turns out Jekyll ends up hiding away in his cabinet and he is really a servant to Hyde than his own man.
When Jekyll transforms into Hyde he experiences pain this is a symbol from Stevenson that what he is doing is wrong and that people should not go down this path. But eventually Jekyll gets addicted into using Hyde for these “pleasures” he wants so much. This will make the reader feel sympathy for Jekyll as he is addicted to something greater than him and he has lost all of his self control. The idea that Hyde is “evil” and should be locked away is re-enforced by other signs in the book firstly how Hyde’s aura of evil affects all decent people around him, Lanyon said Hyde Give off a “radiance of a foul soul” from even just looking at him. This is a sign from Stevenson to the readers that Hyde is evil to the core and that Jekyll has released something from the pits of hell. This would make the reader judge Jekyll for his actions not pity him. Hyde is portrayed in three different ways by Stevenson, he is shown as a Devil, an animal and there is a theme of darkness throughout the book. All the events in the book happen in “darkness” and the few that don’t all happen in “thick fog” when it seems dark anyway. Stevenson does this to show the reader that dark and dangerous things are happening and what Jekyll is doing is not good for anyone. Hyde is show as the devil through out the book, Utterson remarks he had never before seen “Satan’s signature upon a face.” This is a good representation of Hyde as he has no conscience and he commits many evil and “downright detestable” deeds. Hyde is described “hissing,” “growling” and he even “snarled aloud” these are all references to Hyde's animal side a kind of primitive “troglodytic” side of ancient humans. Hyde doesn’t have any of the self control of his animal urges that make humans civilised and decent. This makes Hyde how he is and Jekyll wrong in thinking that he is advancing rather he is regressing on evolution. Stevenson uses these three symbols to make the reader see Hyde has a devil and to make them fully aware of the suffering eh has caused. This will make the reader judge Jekyll badly and blame him for Hyde's actions as he was Hyde's creator.
Even Mr. Utterson, a boring and down to earth lawyer, is affected deeply when he discovers the truth about Jekyll and his experiment. Stevenson wants the reader to react like Utterson when he finds out the truth about Hyde, Judgemental and harsh on Jekyll. Stevenson wants the reader to think of Jekyll more as a foolish and selfish man, rather than a poor mislead and innocent school boy. This is shown when we see Jekyll’s description of his murder of Sir Danvers Carew and how he himself enjoyed the experience when Hyde was beating Carew so hard that his “strong” wooden stick snapped in two. Surely Stevenson tells us of Jekyll’s emotions so that the reader judges Jekyll as more of a partner to Hyde than a slave to his master.
