Similarities Between Dr Jekyll And Hyde

The character of Hyde has been viewed by different characters of the novel in various ways. Mr. Richard Enfield, gave a description of Hyde to his friend Mr. Utterson, a lawyer, ‘‘He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable’’ (2011: 8) Earlier, he also described him unlike a man rather ‘‘like some damned Juggernaut’’ (2011: 6) when he saw Hyde trampled on a child in the street. The action of hitting a child is surely an evil deed and it can’t be regarded a normal action rather downright madness. Later when Utterson himself encountered Hyde; he described him as something like ‘‘troglodytic’’ (2011: 20). The face of Hyde evoked hatred and disgust and fear to both …show more content…
Singh and Subho Chakrabarti (2008) have opined,
“….Stevenson seems to make a comment on the theories of evolution and that he considered Hyde that is savage, uncivilized, and given to passion: poorly evolved. Edward Hyde represents a regression to an earlier, less civilized and more violent phase of human development.” In the novel it is described as Dr. Jekyll was injecting some drugs and thus transforming to Hyde physically. It’s not only the physical metamorphosis but a mental one as well. But, close psychoanalytic case studies make it evident that he was rather assuming a separate identity. He was suffering from DID and according to the symptom of DID due to the distaste for food he was growing thin and ‘‘dwarfish’’ (2011: …show more content…
Jekyll’s strange case was nothing rather than DID. Authors real life sufferings can also be connected to relate Jekyll’s case of DID. Just probably one difference is found from the novel which is here Dr. Jekyll’s consciousness of his split identity. He can recall almost everything that has been done by Mr. Hyde whereas the real patient of DID remain oblivious about the distinct selves. Here it might be done by the author purposefully for the plot development and to enhance the adventurous mode of the plot. Though a lot have been talked about Dual Brain and some attempts have also been taken to rationalize the fact that human brain is controlled by two hemispheres; one controls the good action and the other bad; so in this case Hyde represents the evil dual of the brain. But by accepting this theory we can’t rationalize the criminal instincts being a normal part of us, rather it would be fruitful to consider this as a disorder which can be treated or at least minimized unlike the case of Dr. Jekyll. Stevenson might also had the same instinct to let his reader know about this disorder and by showing the outcome of it being untreated and undiscovered by the obliteration of Jekyll; he wanted to raise social awareness among the then people of his society about this psychological disorder. So, Jekyll’s