Although there are many facts relating to the duality of the nature of the human race, the full extent of this only becomes obvious at the end of the book for example when Jekyll admits ‘I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.’ By using this ‘duality of human nature’, shown when Jekyll says ‘man is not truly one but truly two,’ this shows us that the characters in the text on the outside can be quite respectable and polite and on the inside Stevenson uses subtle language such as ‘drank gin when he was alone’ (referring to Utterson) to show their inner iniquity. Maybe even the name Hyde could be a subtle hint at the hiding of Dr Jekyll’s alter ego, ‘If he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek.’
This book is said to be a good example of a gothic novel with its dark and foreboding atmosphere and its almost supernatural goings on. Throughout the novel Stevenson uses nightmarish imagery of dark streets twisting and coiling or being blanketed in fog ‘a great chocolate covered pall lowered over heaven’ ‘lamps kindled afresh to combat the mournful reinvasion of darkness.’ Stevenson must have chosen this genre because it suited the bizarre happenings of the book. Jekyll and Hyde is seen to be the classic gothic horror story that has lent itself to countless films.
The dual personality of Dr Jekyll is reflected further by the settings and surroundings used in the text. Stevenson uses an image that there are two sides to Jekyll’s house by using contrasting adjectives. The respectable ‘Jekyll’ side to the house stands out to the seediness of its surrounding structures ‘shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood’, and the ‘Hyde’ façade is bleak and neglected and stands out amongst thriving, well kept commercial structures and being ‘plunged into darkness.’ This may well be another example of Stevenson relating to the respectability of Victorian society because it mirrors how people covered and enclosed their doings behind their façade of morality. Stevenson’s opening descriptions of the street show the contrast between the ‘handsome houses’ and the houses that are ‘now for the most part decayed from their high estate’. These reinforce the idea and ‘theme’ of contrast between good and evil, decency and immorality. Dr Jekyll lives in a comfortable home described as having ‘a great heir of wealth and comfort’ which once again symbolises his respectability. In contrast, his laboratory with its decaying façade and hair of neglect symbolises the corrupt and perverse Hyde. All through the story is the continuing theme of respectability side by side with disrepair and neglect. His descriptions of the buildings and the streets show the huge diversity of the living conditions of the different classes in Victorian society.
Stevenson shows us that the hypocritical veneer of society continues even into the relationship of the two friends Utterson and Enfield when they are on a walk, they refuse to discuss what they deemed as ‘gossip’, Enfield says ‘I am ashamed of my long tongue’, and even when Utterson suspects the blackmail of Jekyll he still doesn’t discuss it because he doesn’t want to destroy respectability in society or break any of the rules of morality. Even though they are friends, Utterson and Enfield seem distant in their conversations ‘it was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks, that they said nothing, looked singularly dull, and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend. This reflects the views of the society at that time, which prised reputation above everything else. The characters would be willing to disregard the truth if it were to save their respectability.
The two acts we are shown about in detail are, the trampling of a young girl and the vicious murder of an elderly politician named Carew. At once the description of Hyde’s cruelty shows us what an awful person he is. Hyde is described as a kind of ‘inhuman’ character right from the beginning. He is the kind of person that ‘I had taken a loathing to at first sight.’ The kind of person who ‘gave me one look, so ugly that it brought the sweat out on me like running.’ From Stevenson’s descriptions of people’s reactions to Hyde, we are made to think that they instinctively know that there is something evil about him. The second attack is the murder of an elderly politician Sir Danvers Carew. As in the first murder, we are given the contrast of innocence and evil and beauty and ugliness. The picture of an innocent old man and the ‘madman’ Hyde. The beauty of the night with the fog and street ‘brilliantly lit by the full moon’ and the ugliness of Hyde and his actions ‘short and disgusting looking’. The two attacks we come across are both monstrous attacks on people that have seemingly done nothing to provoke his rage and even less to deserve death. This shows us that Hyde’s brand of evil consists of, not just a lapse from good but a decent into the far reaches of evil.
Robert Louis Stevenson uses literary techniques to illustrate the social points he is trying to convey by continuously drawing out attention to the difference of peoples attitudes to life in and out of the social limelight. He outlines the duality of human nature, that we lead a double life, one of ‘outward morality and inner iniquity’ and the social importance of obeying the ‘rules’ expected of them. At the time the book was written Victorian upper class Society was very repressed, they found it difficult to express feelings and always kept their feelings from others. Stevenson uses this ‘inwardness’ to portray the difference between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde even though they are in fact the same person.