In “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Self is personified. The name Hyde is symbolic for hidden desires. Mr. Hyde is symbolic of those unconscious memories that are the things of dreams and myths. He is the personification of all of the rage that man has in his subconscious psyche. He has all the control, and he has the power of life and death. He is the monstrous murderer. Jekyll, on the other hand would never be able to commit such acts. He wears a mask that hides his true identity. Because of the standard that society has set, Jekyll must hide behind the mask and remain a shadow. The only way that he can burst forth and show his true identity is by becoming his alter ego. His ego is represented by a person without scruples, a person that is a murderer. Hyde represents the Victorian man who cannot bear confining himself beneath the domestic covers.
From a psychological aspect, the man has a split personality. This was caused by a formula he took, but one might suggest that he wanted to allow himself to come out of the shadow and into the light. He needed an escape and a release. Jekyll had once been a recluse. He had little to do with family or friends. After a time of his regular formation into the personification of Self, Jekyll became more like Hyde. He began what some considered a new life. “…Dr. Jekyll came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once more their familiar guest and entertainer, and whilst he had always been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion. He was busy, he was much in the open air, he did good; his face seemed to open and brighten, as if an inward consciousness of service; and for more than two months, the doctor was at peace” (Stevenson 56).
In the quotation from page 89 in the text, Jekyll has become a nice gregarious person. It is apparent that Jekyll had a dark side, which came through because of the formula he had taken. Without the formula, he had a dark side, but that dark side was a shadow. It was kept from public knowledge. He may not have even been aware of the shadow of darkness that enshrouded him. Once he gave in to the darkness, even though it was through being drugged, his true nature came forth. It was as Jung suggested that the bad person will have good qualities and the shadow will develop a life of its own. Both of these things happened to the protagonist. His shadow became highly developed. The bad person started coming through as a good person until the shadow could no longer stand all of the good and he had to murder again.
Jung posited that people are driven toward wholeness. They have a destiny that must be fulfilled. Because of this, they strive to become a certain aspect of their pre-determined personality. One person may manifest this in one manner while another person may manifest this in another manner. There are many factors that determine this. They include society, the environment, and other external factors. Subconscious ness must be brought into consciousness in order for each portion of a person’s personality to fully develop. Rarely is total self-realization ever achieved (Sattler 469).
In one manner, the protagonist achieved total self-realization. He was both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was able to act out his darkest fantasies while maintaining his shadow persona. Most aspects of self are unintegrated. In another manner, because his two selves were so different, the protagonist is also an example of unintegrated self. Overall, however, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were integrated as evidenced in the passage from the text. Because of the integration of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one must wonder how this happened so easily. It is possible that the ego was closer to the surface that Jekyll dare ever admitted. It is almost as if Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were a paradigm of ego v. shadow and good v. evil.
According to Brookes, “Jung believed that the self was the organizer and supervisor of the psyche, or the sum of all mental activity” (Brookes 343). Jekyll/Hyde’s self was spilt between good and evil. Because of the struggle between good and evil within Jekyll/Hyde, his shadow gave way to his ego. All of his Hyde activity is proof of his mental state.
What is true self in the case of Jekyll/Hyde? Apparently Jekyll was the shadow and Hyde was the ego. Together they merged to become the true self of Jekyll/Hyde. Each was the half to a whole. There had to have been a shadow to compliment the ego and there had to have been an ego to compliment the shadow. Jekyll/Hyde was neither all bad nor all good. He was both good and evil. Because of restrictions, he allowed his shadow self to remained shadowed until a potion allowed his ego self to burst forth. The two parts became one. Jekyll could no longer refuse Hyde and Hyde could no longer hide. Shadow became ego and ego became self. Together they represented Jekyll/Hyde.
