A Jekyll and Hyde Analysis

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella written in the 19th century by Robert Louis Stevenson. The characters, Dr. Jekyll and his evil half Mr. Hyde, experience the behaviors of a split personality or that of the divided self. The divided self can be compared to a drug addict, where Jekyll would be the sober state, and Hyde would be the high state. Just like the contemporary drug addict, Dr. Jekyll's addiction begins with denial and quickly leads to isolation and self-destruction.

Signs of Jekyll's denial first surface at the end of his dinner party when Utterson comments that he has been becoming increasingly informed about Hyde. In Jekyll's response, he tells Utterson, "the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde" (23). Jekyll's statement is comparable to how contemporary drug addicts claim they can stop anytime they please. Oates further elaborates on this idea stating, "There is a sense in which Hyde, for all his monstrosity, is but an addiction like alcohol, nicotine, drugs" (Oates 210). Jekyll insists that Utterson be at ease about Hyde. Later the reader finds that Jekyll has not rid himself of his evil side when Hyde has been convicted for murder of a man in London. Jekyll's denial begins to foreshadow his isolation. As Jekyll pleads to Utterson, "this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep" (23) Jekyll begins shutting Utterson out of his life as he will with everyone else. As this type of behavior continues Jekyll moves closer to a state of solitude.

After a small amount of time with no reappearances of Hyde, Jekyll hosts a dinner party. A few days later when Utterson tries to visit Jekyll he is rejected admittance when Jekyll's butler, Poole, tells Utterson that Jekyll is not receiving any visitors. At the end of the story the reader finds out that Jekyll has changed into Hyde, but involuntarily. "Yes, I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was this to be explained" (67)? Now the reader knows Hyde is out of Jekyll's control and he cannot be rid of him as easily as he once thought. Jekyll's isolation can be thought to have began within him as perceived by Nabokov when he says, "Hyde is a kind of hiding place for Dr. Jekyll, in whom the jocular doctor and the killer are combined" (Nabokov 3450). At this point in the story Jekyll's addiction has gone too far and it isn't until Hyde murders that Jekyll tries to regain control, but then it is too late. The same is for contemporary drug addicts. They continually abuse until a significant negative event occurs and then they decide to recover, though it is at this point that recovery will be the most difficult. Jekyll's isolation continues for weeks as he doesn't leave his home, and no one visits him. He becomes increasingly sick during his solitude as he tries to prevent himself from permanently becoming Hyde by taking frequent doses of his potion. When a contemporary drug addict's addiction has reached a certain point, they also, enter periods of isolation and become antisocial ("Drug Addiction"). As an addict continues to abuse itself, it is also beginning to destroy itself. The longer the abuse sustains, the harder it will be to recover.

Finally, as Jekyll becomes weaker and Hyde becomes stronger, Hyde's conquering of Jekyll is inevitable, and Jekyll acknowledges this conquering in this line of his statement, "I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse" (68). Later Jekyll reveals he has deliberately once more transformed into Jekyll and reflecting on his last change he writes, "There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul" (71). In his writings, Robert Louis Stevenson was fascinated by the ideas of concealment, double life, and the broader issue of human duality (Harman 312-313). Gates explains that Stevenson is criticizing Victorian hypocrisy, and the characters in the book lead a double life that is false and suicidal (Gates). When Hyde's last spontaneous change occurs, it is assumed Hyde is the reason of the time of Jekyll's death as shown in Jekyll's statement,

Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? Or will he find the courage to release himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end (76).

He kills himself, thus killing Jekyll as well. This event in the novel could be one of the more striking comparisons to contemporary drug addicts. When 'high' on particular drugs, the abuser will do things he would not normally do. The abuser would have feelings of euphoria and sometimes invincibility, allowing them to recklessly perform dangerous actions and stunts with clouded reason and unclear logic. Jekyll would not kill himself if he were himself, but since Hyde has no one stopping him he chooses to commit suicide because he is Jekyll's wild reckless side that does things on impulse, much like a regular person under the influence of drugs. For example, LSD can give users the feeling that they are permanently severed from reality ("Drug Addiction"). As continued drug use alters the brain, the addict may even lose their will to live.

Beginning with denial and quickly leading to isolation, Dr. Jekyll and contemporary drug addicts alike, are destroyed by what they love. As Jekyll and addicts continue their drug use they also become oblivious to their developing addiction. As Jekyll isolates himself, he only worsens his psychological condition by cutting himself off from those who care about him and only wish to see him become well. Jekyll's addiction begins to destroy him as Hyde becomes stronger than Jekyll, takes over, and ultimately kills them both