The evil side of Dr Jekyll, named Hyde, is a man with distorted frame and ugly countenance. Enfield describes Hyde to Utterson by saying, "There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable." He carries an emanation about him, which is the very substance of evil. Hyde has no motive whatsoever for his brutal trampling of the girl and the trampling of Carew. I think what Stevenson is trying to portray to the reader that everybody has a good and an evil side to him or her.
Hyde's name is appropriate, for he truly hides and is hidden by Jekyll. Jekyll's name is appropriate too; Stevenson meant for it to be pronounced as if it were French -- Je KILL. "Je" in French means "I," thus Jekyll was hoping to kill off his hidden, evil self.
The refusal to judge on Stevenson's part is part of what makes the novel so powerful. Jekyll/Hyde is at once both agonized and glorious. Hyde is a part of Jekyll, and Jekyll cannot fully renounce him without losing a part of himself. Jekyll also enjoys experiencing the vices that Hyde indulges in. Stevenson is realistic in presenting a contrast between the human emotions and reactions in the two selves of his protagonist. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written over a century ago, in this time this honest novel would have left readers stunned and disturbed about what lurks within the caverns of their own souls.
Only vigorous personalities are capable of either the heights of virtue or the depths of vice, and Dr. Jekyll is such a personality. In him, both the good and the evil tendencies of human nature are very strong. His descent into extreme evil is due to the fact that he has a very high standard of virtue. He is determined to keep the two sides of his nature completely apart. But in isolating his evil side, he dooms himself.
Stevenson suggests that once one gives free rein to their evil tendencies, there is no going back. Although Dr. Jekyll believes that "The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde." However he later admits "I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse." So indeed, as soon as Dr. Jekyll creates Edward Hyde, he starts on a journey to utter moral downfall. He loses contact first with his good side and then with his friends. The more he plays at being Hyde the more he is cut off from their good influence. Finally becoming Hyde is no longer a matter of choice.
Lanyon is an extreme example of what happens to one who is unwilling to accept the existence of evil as a primal, universal force. He falls out with Jekyll over his experiments, and, when he discovers that Jekyll and Hyde are one, the shock is too great for him and he dies. Even the calm, dispassionate Utterson and his equally rational friend Enfield are unwilling to entertain the truth. When he and Enfield witness the beginning of Jekyll's transformation into Hyde, they walk hurriedly away. Neither man wishes to speak about what they have just witnessed. Although Utterson does speak to himself, "If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek." Showing his shock and disbelief.
Stevenson has added a touch of irony by depicting that the initial effectiveness of the drug is due to an impurity contained in the powder used. The pure powder that is later available is incapable of bringing about the transformation. Perhaps Stevenson wants to suggest that only evil can issue from evil.
From the very beginning, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde abounds in powerful images and symbols. Utterson is introduced to the reader as someone who is "inclined to Cain's heresy." In the Bible, Cain kills his brother, Abel. When asked by God where Abel is, he angrily replies, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Stevenson uses this story to suggest that Utterson has nothing to do with other people's private affairs. These referrals to the bible would have had a large impact on the reader as the bible was regarded as a sacred infallible source of information during the Victorian times.
After Utterson learns of Hyde's trampling of the girl, he has a nightmarish dream, in which he sees Hyde as a "juggernaut" gliding stealthily through the streets, crushing a child at every street corner. "Juggernaut" comes from "Jagannath," one of the Hindi titles for the god Vishnu. A juggernaut is an unstoppable force, and Utterson's fear that Hyde is a juggernaut hints at the universal evil force he represents. Stevenson also employs powerful imagery to describe the fog-shrouded streets of London, soon after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. They are "like a district of some city in a nightmare." Touches like these throughout the novel add to its depth, richness, and complexity.
Stevenson's style shows the kind of man he was. His writing is full of echoes from great writers and books. Like many writers of his day, the Bible was a major source of allusion and inspiration. For example, he refers to Cain's "heresy" in the first chapter of this book. In the last chapter, he makes a pointed reference to the "Babylonian finger on the wall" spelling out Jekyll's judgment. I think that his views come from his strict Calvinist upbringing.
In conclusion, I think that Stevenson believes that within every person exists good (Jekyll) and evil (Hyde) but each individual person has the choice whether to be good or evil. This co-existence in the human body creates an inner conflict. I think that Stevenson may have based the very vivid and defined character, Dr Jekyll on himself because the novel is presented as a "case" which gives it an air of reality. Stevenson was also from a very strict religious background of which he eventually rebelled against.
