Relationship Between Light And Dark In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Enfield tells his kinsman, Mr. Utterson, the protagonist, about his horrifying encounter with Mr. Hyde: “I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o 'clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps...street after street, all lighted up...” (5-6). Mr. Enfield recalls that it is in the “black” morning, on dark streets that are “lighted up” by lamps, that Mr. Hyde commits his horrible crime of trampling over a young girl. The darkness of the “black” morning connotes a sense of evil, which foreshadows Mr. Hyde’s evil crime. In indicating the presence of light, which connotes good, Mr. Enfield expresses that even at a time of darkness, light is always prevalent. Yet, Dr. Jekyll attempts to separate his polar personalities of Jekyll, the good, and Hyde, the …show more content…
Thus, the interaction between light and dark throughout the novel demonstrates that because an individual must always maintain a balance between his opposing sides, he constantly struggles to …show more content…
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde uses the coexistence of light and dark to highlight the significance of a proper balance between Jekyll’s polar personalities. Throughout the novel, Jekyll constantly struggles to control his conflicting sides, preventing him from living a stable life. Despite Jekyll’s attempt to overcome his struggle by separating his opposing identities, he ultimately loses control over his separate sides. Humans naturally seek easy ways to overcome life’s challenges; therefore, they ignore the more difficult, yet far more effective ways to solve their problems. This desire to solve their problems in a simpler way makes their issues more difficult, interfering with their path to success. Individuals must learn to face their complex issues and take the challenging path in order to