Dual Lifestyle

    Duality is not a new idea by any means. In fact the earliest record of dualism or duality comes from Plato. He speaks on the duality of man, how man is a physical being, but also a mental one. One of the more well known iterations of dualism is credited to Rene Descartes. He spoke about the rift between the nature of the mind and body. His philosophy was that the mind and body were separate in that the mind could not itself move, nor could the body think. Of course, this idea is not only concerned with the split between body and mind, but also with the good and bad of human nature. “Victorians tended to think about identity in terms of oppositions: male and female, rich and poor, Black and white, and, later in the century, homosexual and heterosexual.(BABL 709) Duality as a theme is shown in Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” with the difference within Jekyll previous to Hyde, how he acts after Hyde, and how his relations with his colleagues. Freud’s Uncanny is shown in the importance of memory in the establishment of self. If the creation of worlds is akin to a dream, then the fear of the Uncanny is the fear of a skewed reality.

Dreams and reality were in flux at the end of the 1800’s as peoples desires drove a period of unbidden expression. Showalter, by analyzing George Gissing. stated “ The 1880’s and 1890’s were decades of “sexual anarchy”, when all the laws that governed sexual identity and behavior seemed to be breaking down.” (Showalter 3) Showalter also noted that sexual scandals were on the rise, with it becoming widely recognized and looked down upon publicly. Such activities were then moved from the public sphere to the private sphere. This shift ties into Stevnsons story where Dr. Jekyll’s tastes are a source of great shame for him. However, instead of quitting, he gets rid of the negative effect, his shame. The phenomenon found in the story is modeled after  how people were living at the time. Due to the stringent social norms about respectability in the public eye, there was a birth of secret lives, with people only being true to their desires behind closed doors. Stevenson goes a step further with his separation. He removes Dr. Jekyll entirely from Mr. Hyde by using a “potion”. The decay of the self that he exhibits later on in the story is the effect brought about by the stresses of keeping his two different selves apart. In theory, Jekyll succeeded in the act of creation. He turned one life into two lives, separate and distinct. “While  fantasies of male self-creation and envy of the feminine aspects of generation were not new, they reemerged with a peculiar virulence in the 1880’s” .(Showalter 78).” Showalter also studies the male driven movement of self-creation. They believed that if one could circumvent women in the act of creation, then men were no longer held down by natural order. Jekyll however did not “create” for the reason of making childbirth obsolete. Instead, he did it for more selfish reasons.

    It is only in the last chapter, Jekyll’s personal statement, that the readers get a decent view of how Jekyll was prior to splitting himself. Jekyll held himself to higher standards than his peers, so even though his “transgressions'' were seemingly slight, they brought him “an almost morbid sense of shame.”(Stevenson 79).  This did not mean that he was not himself in his moments of greatest shame. Jekyll claims that “Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest”(Stevenson 80). He was true to himself in both his academic endeavors as well as when he satiated his desires. The suppression of his darker tendencies is what led to him creating his other personality. Walkowitz had the view that “the integrity of the inner self is threatened less by social disorder or external constraint than by a failure to reach expression.(Walkowitz 39)” She supported the notion that Jekyll was most at risk when he could not express his desires, when he left either side of himself “hungry” for either knowledge or material wants. Lanyon says “He began to go wrong, wrong in mind”, and then goes on to add “unscientific balderdash”(Stevenson 21) Lanyon acts as the pure scientist in the story, Lanyon is sadly unable to cope when Jekyll forcefully broadens his worldview.

Booth looks at England as a parallel to Africa. The “Scramble for Africa” was  started in 1884, two years before the publication of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “As there is a darkest Africa is there not also a darkest England? Civilisation, which can breed its own barbarians, does it not also breed its own pygmies? (Booth). Hyde fulfills the physicalities of both as his small stature and his predisposition to violence are noted. Jekyll in contrast is noted as being larger and very calm in disposition. “Jekyll divides himself and finds his only mate in his double, Edward Hyde. Jekyll thus is both odd and even, both single and double.”(Showalter 109) Truly, Hyde is the opposite and equal to Jekyll, as good as Jekyll is, that is how evil Hyde is. There is a very nice quote by Utterson on the very first page that goes “I incline to Cain’s heresy… I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.”(Stevenson 11) In the story, both brothers gave of themselves, but while Abel gave with faith, Cain did not. In this way Hyde was doomed to be Cain from the first division. Jekyll created his double so Hyde could go to the devil in his place, and enjoy his company, without damning Jekyll. At first, Jekyll is proud of his success and is free from the shame of his less savory desires. When asked why he doesn't get rid of Hyde, Jekyll responds “I have really a very great interest in poor Hyde”(Stevenson 31). This shows that Jekyll sees Hyde as a troublemaker, but also incidentally his personal savior. Hyde saves him from being bound by his misdeeds. Hyde is also very protective of Jekyll, as they both need each other, or else they lose sync like they did in the end. 

It is only when Hyde starts to go beyond his leash that Jekyll starts to realize that having one hand on the wheel is better than none. The two major acts of barbarity that we see from Hyde are the trampling of the child and the murder of Carew, a member of parliament. The way he did each is also in contrast with each other. In the child’s case “The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground.” (Stevenson 14). However, when Hyde kills Carew, he loses his calm and lashes out in fury. Carew’s murder changes how Jekyll views Hyde, since Hyde’s deeds have made him culpable as well, “If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also.”(Stevenson 48). Likewise Utterson is concerned for his friend, musing that Hyde is “The ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace; punishment coming, pede claudo, years after memory has forgotten, and self-love condoned, the fault.”(Stevenson 28) In the later part of the story, it is seen that Jekyll loses much of his energy and spirit. This is reminiscent of the so-called “Hysterical men”. When Utterson comes to call on Jekyll, he notes that Jekyll looks sick and is very eager to not associate with Hyde ever again. He seems to have lost all interest in keeping his connection with Hyde, as he has heard about Carew’s death. While he was initially proud of his achievement, Hyde has done unspeakable acts that Jekyll was incapable of making, meaning that Hyde is off the leash. In the final confrontation, Poole recounts that Jekyll/Hyde, as I doubt that either is fully themselves, has been “Weeping like a woman or lost soul.”(Stevenson 62). I doubt the notion that solely Hyde is in the cabinet, because of the letter. It is only towards the end of the letter that the author loses his composure. In this mental state, trapped between both sides, Jekyll/Hyde is scared and highly volatile, which ultimately causes him to take his own life.

    Jekyll and his friends getgot along swimmingly, or so it seemed. The first notion nation wewhe have that something is wrong is when Lanyon says that the rift between them “would have estranged Damon and Pythias”, whowhich are friends from a play by Edwardes where the two men would die for each other. It is shown in Doctor Lanyon’s narrative that they grew estranged after Jekyll shared the theme of his research with Lanyon. Lanyon, as the pure scientist, is unable to see Jekyll's research as anything other than madness. Thus, they fell apart. 

Mr. Utterson is another one of Dr. Jekyll’s closest friends, but after Jekyll loses his faith in the potion after switching without it, he barricades himself from the world in order to allay any risk. During this time, Utterson came by almost daily. “He went to call indeed; but he was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance.”(Stevenson 49) The turmoil in their friendship came to a head with the “Incident at the window. Utterson calls on Jekyll with his cousin and friend Enfield. During conversing with Jekyll at his window, Jekyll recoils from the window with a look of abject horror. This fear is then conveyed to Mr. Utterson and Mr.Enfield on the street, who are likewise struck with terror. The fear freezes their blood, which is a lovely term that shows that no amount of courage would have broken the hold that the fear had on them. Choosing to run away from Jekyll’s house, he leaves his friend in that state of fear, alone. After coming to his senses Utterson felt he had abandoned Jekyll, as it is said that they had used to call on each other daily, but lately he had stopped going as often, until the meeting at the window. On the first page, it is noted by Utterson, that “It was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men.” (Stevenson 11). In this way, he had done the same with Jekyll, being the last good friend he had. Jekyll was once crowded by friends, but ultimately the friendships end, either by difference of belief as was with Lanyon, or death, as was the case with Utterson.

One of the themes is the basis of creative writing, which Freud believes to be dreams, specifically day dreams. The story behind the creation of The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one that deals with the meaning of dreams. It is written in the editorial note that Stevenson got the idea of the book in a dream, which then caused him to work feverishly on writing it. Supposedly it took him three days to create the world, one minute to burn it down, and three days to rebuild it.  That being said, Dreams are believed by some to be either the subconscious desires a person has, a group of unintelligible musings, or a message from a higher power. For this story, Stevenson wrote “I had long been trying to write a story on this subject, to find a body, a vehicle, for that strong sense of man’s double being which must at times come in upon and overwhelm the mind of every thinking creature.” (Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams 188). This dream provided him with the inspiration to make his desire a reality, much like Jekyll with the potion. Freud, in The Uncanny, questions the beginning of creative writing. He establishes that a child at play is one of the earliest forms of creative story building. “For all the emotion it is charged with , the child is well able to distinguish his world of play from reality and likes to connect the objects and situations he imagines to palpable and visible things in the real world” (Freud 26) Stevenson is connecting his story with the themes around him, establishing it in the surreal world. A fiction that grounds itself mostly in the real. Apart from the potion and the change from Jekyll into Hyde and vice versa, all situations could very well have happened in reality.

Next Freud discusses the importance of childhood memories, or more accurately the importance of memories in the establishment of self. Dr.Jekyll is trying to split himself so he doesn't have to be burdened with the shame of his less socially acceptable desires. “If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable.”(Stevenson 81) Jekyll’s main goal was to set both sides of himself free. His memories would not be shared and so would not cause either side to emotionally trip. Freud writes that in relation to memories, “a constant relation is established between the psychical significance of an experience and its persistence in the memory. What seems important , by virtue  of its immediate or almost immediate effects is remembered ; what is deemed of no consequence is forgotten “ (Freud 3) Before the split, Jekyll was plagued by shame during the day, and conversely plagued by his inhibitions at night. Splitting himself would let him retain peace of mind both when he is just and unjust(Stevenson 81) 
Hyde’s appearance follows Freud’s theory of the uncanny. “One such is the ‘uncanny’. There is no doubt that this belongs to the realm of the frightening, of what evokes fear and dread.”(Freud 123) In every mention of Hyde, he is described like “There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable.”(Stevenson 17). Every character that sees Hyde has the same reaction, which is one of instant anger. This happens when Mr. Enfield relays the story about Hyde and the girl to Mr. Utterson. When Enfield brings Hyde back, he notes one particular reaction, saying “I saw that sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him.”(Stevenson 14). He noted this one in particular because it was the most outright case of pure anger in the group. Utterson himself made a point to stakeout that same place and met Mr. Hyde. Hyde is described as “pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without a namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile,”(Stevenson 26) Utterson goes on to remark as to his attitude and vocal pattern, but the main point of this description is in the sentence that comes after. He labels all of the displeasing features, of which he finds many, but Utterson realizes that even with how many negatives he sees, he feels a elevated level of “disgust, loathing, and fear”(Stevenson 26). Even Lanyon, a scientist, couldn't understand the effect Hyde had on people, and believed “the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred.”(Stevenson 74) Hyde is one example of uncanny, but between Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll elicits the stronger emotional response. The strongest emotional response to a character occurs in the “Incident at the Window” chapter. In the scene, Jekyll is struck with fear and a change occurs in his face. It causes him to lose all mirth that he seemed to have beforehand. I postulate that it comes from Jekyll feeling the onset of his change into Mr.Hyde. He feels a loss of control and impending doom. The promise that he had made to Mr.Utterson earlier turns to ash in his mouth, as his worst fears are suddenly coming true. The effect this has on both Utterson and Enfield is harsh and immediate. It causes them a great deal of fear although their lives are not in any actual danger. They beat a hasty retreat and weren't able to talk until they found comfort in the company of other people.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a late Victorian novel set in London. The main character is one Dr. Jekyll who once had many friends, but lost them all in his attempt to rid himself of his shame and inhibitions. The main theme is Duality, in which the main character splits himself into the good and evil of himself. The halves of himself are seen as two distinct sleeves, but it is revealed through the destruction of both, that he split himself into two halves. He could not function well without both parts in sync. Other themes include The before and after of his split and the effect it has on his friends. Because of his pursuit of knowledge, Jekyll lost the good friends he had, both Lanyon and ultimately Utterson. Freud's “The Uncanny” is used to question the significance of dreams in creative writing. Stevenson uses the common themes of the era and the inciting action of a dream to create his own world. Then importance of memories in the establishment of self, in which while Jekyll did not innately know what Hyde did, he was still affected by it. Lastly the “uncanny” shows itself in the natural reaction people had to Hyde, and how well Dr. Jekyll conveyed his terror to Mr Utterson and Mr. Enfield. At the end, Dr. Jekyll was not undone by Hyde, but Hyde was undone by Jekyll and his haste to make a potion without testing whether or not it would create a resistance or what side-effects it had. Definitely not FDA approved.




Works Cited
Stevenson, Robert L., The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert L. “A Chapter on Dreams.” The Project Gutenberg EBook of the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Volume XVI, by Robert Louis Stevenson., 2010, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30990/30990-h/30990-h.htm. 
Showalter, Elaine. Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin De Siècle. Penguin Books, 1994. 
Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. Translated by David Mclintock, Penguin Books, 2003. 
Walkowitz, Judith R. City of Dreadful Delight Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. Univ. of Chicago Press, 2011. 
Hadžiselimović, Lara. “Exploring the Meaning of Duality in R. L. Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” University of Rijeka, 2021. 
Rita, Rokeya Sarker. “Dissociative Identity Disorder in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Ebscohost.com, 2017, https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=d4796d40-2f90-42e8-aafa-ba3e4f1c80bc%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=a9h&AN=126542533.  
Rima, ALOUANI. “The Defense Mechanism of Repression in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A Freudian Psychoanalysis of the Protagonist.” University of Biskra, 2020. 
The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Volume B - Third Edition: The Age of Romanticism - The Victorian Era - The Twentieth Century and Beyond, 3e. edited by Joseph Black, et al., Broadview Press, 2021, pp. 668-725.
Booth, William. In Darkest England and the Way Out, in Into Unknown England, ed. Peter Keating. 1976. London, UK.