The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and His Addiction? “Animals trapped behind bars at the zoo, need to run rampant and free! Predators live on the prey they pursue; this time the predator's me,” sung Henry Jekyll in the play Jekyll & Hyde. Although this quote is from the play, not the book, I believe it is extremely relevant. In the beginning of the book, Jekyll felt that his true self was trapped in a prison of morals. He felt like a caged animal. He wanted to be free, he wanted to do as he pleased whenever he pleased. He couldn’t do that, at least not until he figured out how to separate his dual personas. When he made the drug he was finally free. His entire figure changed and he became less than human, deformed, and he loved it.
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Jekyll described how he felt the first time he turned into Hyde; “ I felt younger, lighter, and happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness” (Stevenson, 56). This is much like the described effects of substance abuse. Often, those who use heavy drugs or alcohol experience feelings much like Jekyll. He even related his condition to that of a drunk when he said, “I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice, he is one of five hundred times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde” (Stevenson, 63). Also, like Jekyll, most of the time the substance isn’t all that a person is addicted to, it is also the effects of it. For example, a person might be addicted to alcohol or drugs because it feels as though they numb the pain that they are going through, or it makes them feel happier. They might feel as though they have the ability to do anything because their constraint is inhibited. They can engage in undignified pleasures, just like Hyde. They feel the freedom to do what society would disapprove of, whether that be sexual pleasures, crime, or even murder. Henry Jekyll believed that he needed to engage in his evil desires, he believed that the only way to be free was to find a way to engage in those desires. When he did so, he became addicted, just like many other substance
Jekyll described how he felt the first time he turned into Hyde; “ I felt younger, lighter, and happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness” (Stevenson, 56). This is much like the described effects of substance abuse. Often, those who use heavy drugs or alcohol experience feelings much like Jekyll. He even related his condition to that of a drunk when he said, “I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice, he is one of five hundred times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde” (Stevenson, 63). Also, like Jekyll, most of the time the substance isn’t all that a person is addicted to, it is also the effects of it. For example, a person might be addicted to alcohol or drugs because it feels as though they numb the pain that they are going through, or it makes them feel happier. They might feel as though they have the ability to do anything because their constraint is inhibited. They can engage in undignified pleasures, just like Hyde. They feel the freedom to do what society would disapprove of, whether that be sexual pleasures, crime, or even murder. Henry Jekyll believed that he needed to engage in his evil desires, he believed that the only way to be free was to find a way to engage in those desires. When he did so, he became addicted, just like many other substance