A further aspect of duality is that of Sir Danvers Carew, a man who is supposedly a respected politician and member of parliament, but who is seen late at night wandering around the streets of Soho which in Victorian times was recognised as a rather seedy district. This is perhaps evidence of a double life which in Victorian literature is very common as society at that time was very austere and demanded that everyone conform exactly to its features. Anyone who stuck out in any way would be outcast from that society immediately and as such there appeared double lives and public faces where one could roam the streets at night as Carew did and This is the second double life in the book but is presented in a much more conventional way than that of the Jekyll and Hyde double. Sir Danvers Carew is much more conventional and although he only appears in the scene which features his demise we are told that he had “an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition” (pg 21) by the maid's description. This old world ideal could also be seen as the old values of society before the scientific revolutions of the Victorian age. The scientific ideas which were put forward by Darwin and others had caused upraor in society and his theories of evolution were derided by some and taken to extreme lengths by others. One such idea was that criminals are less evolved forms of man and this may be what Stevenson is trying to get across here by having Hyde kill off those old values embodied in Carew. The theme of science is of course a main part of the book and it is the science of Dr Jekyll which allows him to unlock the part of him which is Hyde in the first place.
There is also the theme of hypocrisy running through the book; hypocrisy is a kind of duality because it concerns the rapid reversal of a personal viewpoint. one example of this is when Utterson and the police call at Mr Hyde's house and the housekeeper tells them to go away and that she hasn't seen Mr Hyde for months, when they tell her that he could be in trouble she immediately stands aside and lets them into the house. This element of hypocrisy is repeated several times within the book and it could in fact be said that moral ambivalence is a form of hypocrisy as it deals with the unwillingness to commit to one side or the other. Moral ambivalence however is more complex than this as it is an avoidance of commitment rather than a reversal of polarity in commitment.
In the case of the Gothic double duality with the characters of Jekyll and Hyde, there is a well made ambiguity in the appearances of the two characters this is done by spacing the occurrences of Hyde out down the book so that the reader gets the impression of two entirely separate people. Stevenson then brings the two together to form a more concrete duality rather than the simple contrast of the two separate characters. This in turn makes the duality all the more shocking in the end when it is revealed. Another aspect to this shock element is that in the time when the book was written it would have been even more shocking to its readers as there was nothing like this in literature of or before that period. The duality is also a contrast, it deals with one major theme within Gothic literature, the theme of good and evil. In this case Jekyll of course represents good and Hyde evil. This first inkling any character in the book or any reader has of this transformation, the double of Jekyll and Hyde, is in the chapter, “The incident at the Window”, where Jekyll sees Utterson and Enfield passing by underneath the window where he is sat, and then beings an unexpected transformation into the form of Mr Hyde. This duality is then continued to the end of the book and it unfolds further until it is explained in the last chapter by Jekyll himself as the actual Gothic double that it is. the main point here is that the duality is only described from one angle and viewpoint, that of Jekyll. This is perhaps because of the monster aspect of the Gothic double and Gothic literature in general, the monster here is Hyde and it is traditional in Gothic literature to view the monster as something to be looked at and talked about rather than to.
Stevenson uses very clever tricks in the book to make things seem much more confusing and complex than they in fact are, the incident at the window for example is the first inkling the characters in the book have of Jekyll and Hyde being one and the same “They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly thrust down; but that glimpse had been sufficient, and they turned and left the court without a word” (pg 36). This fact is not disclosed to the reader at this point and thus there is confusion and questioning created in the mind of the reader as to what Utterson and Enfield are so surprised about. The questions raised about this would have confused a Victorian reader naturally much more than a modern day reader who knows about a “Jekyll and Hyde personality” because of how it has become embedded in pop culture. Another way Stevenson brings home the point of hidden duality within society is by setting the book within London, close to the people who would be reading it, this makes the duality more real and makes a statement about society as a whole at the time the book is set. All of this confusion and complexity also adds to the darkness of the book, the Gothic theme obviously concerns ideas of dark and light and these are used in the book. One example of this is the pea-soup fog that envelops the two men in The Carew Murder Case and is a metaphor for the confusion and obscureness of the meeting and what is know about the two men as well as the mood in the whole of the book concerning Jekyll and Hyde. This obscureness is repeated in many parts of the book and of course it links in with duality as the idea of never knowing the full picture is replicated in being able to only see one side of a duality.
In the first instance it can be said that the main theme of the whole book is that of duality because it deals most obviously with they Gothic double of Jekyll and Hyde which is the central focus of the book, as well as a number of other dualities along the way which play a key part in the development of plot, for example ideas of good and evil are explored through the moral ambivalence of Utterson and the idea of hypocrisy is explored through various characters. Stevenson uses other literary devices as well, for example the potion is a physical item but it represents and idea that something can cause a split of personality like the one which occurs in Jekyll's case, it may also be seen to represent the theory of evolution which had just been announced at the time and was creating controversy in the scientific and religious world. The idea that a catalyst could change man into a monster would have seemed very intriguing at the time. The other aspects of duality are also explained clearly, the ideas of good and evil are presented through Utterson's moral ambivalence and through the staunch sense of right and wrong possessed by Dr Lanyon who features only minimally. All in all the aspects of duality are stressed very strongly throughout the book and the ideas themselves are presented well to the reader. The science overtones are very obvious throughout the book and are used very well to create a sense of mystery and horror as science was always a part of Gothic literature. It could also be said that Stevenson is exploring aspects of society, in particular the austerity of Victorian society, when he alludes to the double life of Sir Danvers Carew and the ideals of Victorian society. In conclusion the way Stevenson presents duality in “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” is varied and complex and deals with the themes of morality and human nature, in particular perhaps that there may be a bit of Jekyll and Hyde in all of us.
