Essay Example: Dr Jekyll Character Analysis

The novel The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, By Robert Louis Stevenson, follows a well-respected doctor, Henry Jekyll.  Jekyll tries to find a way to suppress his dark side by creating a serum to do just that.  He does create such a serum but, much to his dismay, comes to find out that the serum not only changes his mindset, but his physical appearance as well, turning him into his darker side Mr. Hyde.  Doctor Jekyll’s fear of losing his reputation and his shame of Mr. Hyde compels him to keep his double life a secret.  This secret creates the central mystery of the novel and ultimately leads to Jekyll’s downfall.

Doctor Jekyll lives in a very conservative Victorian era where everyone is expected to always comply with society’s standards which forces Jekyll to keep Mr. Hyde a secret.  Due to societal pressures, Jekyll uses Mr. Hyde as an escape to release his true feelings that must be kept to himself.  Hyde is the worst version of Doctor Jekyll which causes his struggles: “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.” (Page 49) He recognizes that everyone, including him, have two sides to themselves: good and evil.  This struggle is what forces Jekyll to keep Hyde hidden from the world in which people should not express negativity, anger or evil.

Dr. Jekyll keeps Mr. Hyde a secret because of his shame of how society will react which eventually leads him to his downfall.  The mystery of who Mr. Hyde is continuously allows Jekyll to find ways to fix what he started, as well as use Hyde as an outlet to release the anger that society forced him to repress.  Mr. Hyde does some many horrible things which leaves Jekyll with a sense of guilt for what Hyde does.  Mr. Utterson, a respected lawyer, goes to see Jekyll shortly after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, which was unknowingly committed by Hyde, only to see Jekyll not well; “there, close up to the warmth, sat Dr. Jekyll, looking deathly sick. He did not rise to meet his visitor, but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome in a changed voice.” (Page 21) Jekyll is completely horrified that Hyde committed this murder which not only affects Jekyll mentally but starts to affect him physically.  By not telling anyone what Hyde has done, Jekyll continues to become more and more helpless.  Jekyll unknowingly brings himself to his own downfall since he lets the situation get to the point where he can no longer bear everything that has been done that, he decides to end it all.  

Similar to most people, Jekyll has had to learn to deal with many emotions and feelings that one has, even if such feelings do not conform with society. Jekyll’s desire to suppress his anger and fears created his darker ego Hyde. He decides that rather than dealing with his emotions and feelings, he thinks he could suppress them, which make his problems worse. Jekyll uses secrecy to hide his truths which clearly result in a different outcome than had he chosen to confront societal pressures.