Jekyll’s idea that man is not one but “two” is interesting because it is as if he took the idea of the duality of human beings and turned it into a science experiment. Humans are by nature capable of both good and evil and because of this in every one human it could appear that two different individuals could come out of one singular entity – I think that Dr. Jekyll took this idea of human duality and a little too far and instead of discovering something incredible he discovered the unnatural. The reason humans are so dual is because one individual is then capable of both good and bad and thus one individual is not left wholely on one side. If individuals were defined by good and bad and incapable of being the opposite than the world would be an incredibly difficult place to live in. There would be a large distinction between people which would result in the world itself being divided into strict good and bad people (for example good people would not be able to do anything ‘bad’ and vice versa) which means that minds could not be changed and people would not longer learn to control their bad qualities and instead would begin to believe that because they were the ‘bad’ half of the unit their actions would have no consequences because it would be in their nature to be evil.
While reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel my mind kept going back to the idea of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who plagued London and walked the streets at night but was never caught. While this novel might be completely unrelated the idea of Mr. Hyde walking the streets at night and hurting first the young girl and then killing the prominent gentleman and then completely disappearing. Jack the Ripper was never found and convicted of the heinous crimes he committed he could really have been anyone. The idea that this criminal could, in the darkness, commit such crimes and yet at the same time never be found out because he could have been anyone in the daylight. This case seems familiar to that of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where Mr. Hyde disappeared and actually was Dr. Jekyll the whole time. The idea that someone who could commit those horrible crimes could at the same time be someone with such a renowned and proper reputation.
