Uncanniness plays a large part in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: that which is familiar yet mysterious, recognizable but distorted, not fully understood and therefore frightening. Using these elements Robert Louis Stevenson intentionally brings attention to the alienation of self that humans experience. As Dr. Jekyll becomes more dependent on his serum, his ideals of working through scientific method, maintaining connections with society, and caring for a clear idea of his self, all become weakened. With this dilution of the self he exposes the true duality of the doctor's mind. By keeping Dr.Jekkyl’s honest desires hidden, Stevenson is able to enhance the uncanny elements of the novel to play a lead role in exposing the growing
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Dr. Jekyll states early on that exploration into the duality of man should be done in the pursuit of scientific accomplishment. In Dr. Jekyll’s full statement of the case he explains that “it was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man… and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream, on the thought of the separation of these elements” (Stevenson 84). As is expected in any study based solely on personal experience for answers, a strong bias grows within the doctor to experience the uncanny, and frighteningly inhuman side more frequently. Here he begins to explore a fabricated extension of his personality, alleviating his own repressed anger and volatile actions on the objectification of the uncanny that is Hyde, and exposing himself without any remorse. Dr. Jekyll soon sees himself slowly diluting, a dramatized conflict between ego and id central to his individual identity. The initial desire for scientific accomplishment spiraled of control and the escalating uncanny nature of Hyde’s actions throughout the novel further reveals his desperate desire to rationalize these elements of the uncanny with the scientific method he works
Dr. Jekyll states early on that exploration into the duality of man should be done in the pursuit of scientific accomplishment. In Dr. Jekyll’s full statement of the case he explains that “it was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man… and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream, on the thought of the separation of these elements” (Stevenson 84). As is expected in any study based solely on personal experience for answers, a strong bias grows within the doctor to experience the uncanny, and frighteningly inhuman side more frequently. Here he begins to explore a fabricated extension of his personality, alleviating his own repressed anger and volatile actions on the objectification of the uncanny that is Hyde, and exposing himself without any remorse. Dr. Jekyll soon sees himself slowly diluting, a dramatized conflict between ego and id central to his individual identity. The initial desire for scientific accomplishment spiraled of control and the escalating uncanny nature of Hyde’s actions throughout the novel further reveals his desperate desire to rationalize these elements of the uncanny with the scientific method he works