As the story goes on Dr Henry Jekyll becomes an addict of his own curiosity and inquisitiveness into science. A quote which proves this comment is
“In the beginning the difficulty had been to throw off the body of Jekyll, it had of late transferred itself to the other side, that I was slowly loosing hold of my original and better self and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.”
This quotation is saying that Dr Henry Jekyll was loosing control of him self and the ability to be two personas and was being possessed by his deformed, vile alter ego.
Stevenson uses Mr Hyde to show the opposite persona of Dr Jekyll. Hyde represents a violent, deformed monster of which evil is the drive of his actions these actions make Hyde so recognisable in the book. The dominance of Hyde at first is a dormant force within Jekyll, then as a physical external force overthrowing Jekyll, this holds various accusations into our understanding of human nature. We begin to wonder whether any aspect of human nature in fact stands as a counter to an individual’s Hyde-like side, in other words human nature is not predictable and any aspect of a human’s persona would have a deeper darker side. We may recall that Hyde is described as resembling a “troglodyte,” or a primitive creature; perhaps Hyde is actually the original, authentic nature of man, a creature which has been repressed but not destroyed by the increased weight of civilization, right or wrong behaviour, and societal norms. Another few quotations which refers to Hyde’s primitive nature are
“Clubbed him to the earth.”, “ape like fury.” or“trampling his victim under foot” all these descriptions refer to primitive behaviour which would of not of been accepted in the Victorian era. Perhaps man doesn’t have two natures but rather a single, primitive, amoral one that remains bounded by the factors of civilization, such as social wellbeing and a respect for others. Hyde is also expressed as
“A fellow that nobody could have to do with.” This tells the reader of Hyde’s low popularity and hatefulness within London society. The novel suggests that once the factors of civilization are broken, it becomes impossible to re establish them within ones self; the genie cannot be put back into the bottle, and as the novel describes Hyde permanently replaces Jekyll. Even in Victorian England—which considered itself the height of Western civilization—Stevenson suggests that the darker sides of man remains strong enough to overcome anyone who, like Jekyll, proves foolish enough to unleash it.
Stevenson portrays Utterson to represent the perfect Victorian gentleman. He consistently seeks to preserve order and decorum, does not gossip, and guards his friends’ reputations as though they were his own. Even when he suspects his friend Jekyll of criminal activities such as blackmail or the sheltering of a murderer, he prefers to keep what he has learned—or what he thinks he has learned—under lock an key rather than bring ruin upon his good friend. A quote of my own which proves his loyalty is “he is secretive and keeps him self to himself.” this says that he respects his friends reputations and would do nothing to harm them. There is also a darker side to Utterson even if it’s not as severe as Dr Jekyll it is still noticeable. Stevenson shows us this with hints on what Utterson is like and who he wants to be. These accusations are that he is antisocial and he also wants to be like the criminals he defends. This is because they break rules and have no guide lines to their lives. He feels this because he has to live a very confidential life this is a result of his career of being a layer.
Utterson himself is a largely unexciting character and is clearly not a man of strong passions or emotions. Indeed, Stevenson intends for him to come across in this way: from the first page of the novel, the text notes that Utterson has a face that is “never lighted by a smile,” that he speaks very little, and that he seems “lean, long, dusty, [and] dreary.” Yet, somehow, he is also “lovable,” and dull and proper though he may be, he has many friends. His lovability may stem from the only interesting quality that Stevenson gives him—namely, his willingness to remain friends with someone whose reputation has suffered. This loyalty leads him to investigate the mystery that surrounds Jekyll. Indeed, because we see the novel through Utterson’s eyes, Stevenson cannot allow Utterson to be too unimaginative; this would affect the novels eerie. Stevenson attributes nightmares to Utterson and grants him sinister presentiment as he moves through the city at night, both of these accounts do not suit the lawyer’s normally reasonable personality. Perhaps, the novel suggests, the chilling presence of Hyde in London is strong enough to penetrate even the rigidly rational shell that surrounds Utterson.
Stevenson once again uses Enfield to show that there is more than one aspect to a human’s nature. Enfield is generally a man of great morals and outstanding behaviour. We see this behaviour when he catches Hyde or should I say Dr Jekyll other half attacking a girl and hurling her to the ground. A quote which can justify this is.
“Collared my gentlemen.” This is saying that he has captured one of his own kinds; a higher class citizen this is justified even more as the gentlemen is his friend. Enfield could be described as being noble and a man of high stature. There is obviously a contrasting persona to his good well mannered side his dark side- if that is what you want call it. Enfield’s darker self can be found wandering the streets of London committing deeds of darkness at sinister hours in the morning we know this because of a quote saying
“Some place at the end of the world.” This makes the reader think what was a gentlemen doing out at these hours? We also question his role as a gentleman-if he’s out with the scum of society then mustn’t he be scum of society. Another part of his dark side is that he is corrupt we know this when he says
“We would make such a scandal out of this” and decides to bribe another character. We generally see Enfield’s good side more often than not we only see his darker self on a minority of occasions.
The maid is only a minor character in the story but Stevenson uses her to a great significance and importance on the subject of human nature. We are introduced to her when a group of gentlemen wish to speak to Mr Hyde. She is at first presented as a well mannered human being greeting the men with great courtesy. She then becomes sly and almost deceitful as it is mentioned that Mr Hyde is in trouble her evil side becomes apparent as she stars to grass up Mr Hyde. It not only her attitude toward Mr Edward Hyde which changes but her facial expressions.
“Evil face smothered by hypocrisy.” This is saying that she nice and curtsies to Hyde's face but as soon as his back is tuned she takes on a different attitude when speaking about him. Stevenson shows the maid to have a false outer shell but a sly and defying inner one.
The police officer is very much like the maid in some aspects. Once again he only has a minor role to play but his significance is greatly needed with in the book. We first encounter the police officer when he is investigating the murder of sir Danvers. Like the maid he acts interested and deeply concerned but this is all a scam we find out that he is only into the investigation for the publicity and professional gain he would receive.
“His eyes lighted up with professional ambition” he feels he would gain from such a case. The police officer is also a fraudulent human being acting under a heroes shell.
Therefore I have shown that Stevenson uses the characters to show that there are more than one aspects or personas to human nature. He does this by illustrating different emotions and behaviours of the characters for instance Hyde’s reckless behaviour which contrasts jekyll’s calm and gratifying behaviour of which we expect of a man or women of that time. The complexity of human nature consists of the biological, social, and environmental factors which underlie human behaviour. It focuses primarily on the functional unity in which these factors are continuously and mutually interactive. This is why human beings will never be able to control human nature the man factor is that all humans have a several sides to their human nature so how could we investigate it with this in our minds. Stevenson uses the same idea in the suicide note from Dr Jekyll where it says
“All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” This confirms that all humans are capable of taking emotions or behaviour to the extreme.
