Science, Reason
and the Supernatural
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde creates a tension
between the world of reason and science and the world of the supernatural, and
seems to suggest the limits of reason in its inability to understand or cope
with the supernatural phenomena that take place. Jekyll confesses at the end of the novel that he has
been fascinated by the duality of man and has taken to both chemical and mystical
methods to try to get to the truth. This inclusion of a spiritual side to
Jekyll’s philosophy shows his to be a mind unlike those of the lawyers and
doctors of his society, who restrict themselves to traditional reason. The
result of Jekyll's explorations—Mr. Hyde—is something beyond reason,
which shocks and overwhelms the sensitive intellectual dispositions of the
other characters and leaves Dr. Jekyll permanently removed from his educated,
medical self.
The
laboratory is the main setting of the mysterious events in the story, but far
from being a place of science and medicine, the lab is deserted and strange,
more Gothic than a place of science. In this setting the novel seems to hint at
the insufficiency or even obsolescence of science. Jekyll, once a man of
science, is leaving all that behind, leaving it unused, as he seeks new,
unknown knowledge and truth. Jekyll's goals frighten and disgust the men of
science, such as Lanyon, with whom he used to friends. Lanyon, in fact, is so
shocked, overwhelmed, and unable to process what Jekyll has done that he dies
soon after learning of it. He can’t bear the destruction of his stable,
rational worldview. Utterson, meanwhile, is also unable to comprehend what is
going on between Jekyll and Hyde—he thinks the relationship something criminal
but comprehensible, such as blackmail—until the truth is revealed to him.
Hyde is
described, quite literally, as being beyond rational description—his most
noticeable trait is an unexplainable air of evil
or deformity, which can neither be described concretely nor
ascribed to any medical cause. This idea of deformity, both of the body and of
the mind, fuels the power of the supernatural over the natural. And behind all
the action of Jekyll and Hyde in the novel, a fear lurks for all the characters
–the threat of madness and the threat of a new world, of new science, new
traditions, new disorders that traditional science and reason can't comprehend
or deal with.
The Duality of
Human Nature
Dr. Jekyll confesses to Utterson that he has for a long time been fascinated
by the duality of his own nature and he believes that this is a condition that
affects all men. His obsession with his own darker side gives the novel its
plot but also its profound, psychological implications. Even before the climax
of the story in which it is revealed that Hyde and Jekyll are the same person, the duality
of their personalities creates a tension between the good, social Jekyll and
Hyde who seems to revel in causing harm and mayhem, and it looks like it is
Jekyll who will be overtaken somehow by Hyde.
One of
the most interesting things about Jekyll’s transformation is its psychological
aspect. Hyde is portrayed as an evil-looking dwarfed man with a violent temper, while
Jekyll is a respected man of science, good-natured and leader of his circle of friends.
Not only are these men two halves of the same person, but Jekyll describes them
as polar opposites, one good and the other evil. What does it mean, then, that
once Hyde exists that he slowly seems to take over, to destroy Jekyll. Is
Jekyll’s theory of good and evil too neat and clean? Hyde's takeover of Jekyll
seems to suggest a less clear-cut explanation, in which the human condition is
not in fact double but rather one of repression and dark urges, and that once
the repression of those dark urges eases or breaks it becomes impossible to put
back into place, allowing the "true", dark nature of man to emerge.
Jekyll’s
disorder also reflects on the other characters, and raises the question of just
how upright, moral, and governed by reason they truly are. Utterson for example
is introduced as a lawyerly, kind man, and seldom seems to stray from that
description. But his character is so rigid and unmoving, and even impersonal,
that one could imagine he too is strenuously repressing a world of darker urges.
Reputation,
Secrecy and Repression
Much of
the suspense associated with the mysteries of the novel are suspenseful solely
because they are deliberately kept secret or repressed by the characters. The
novel's secrets come out in spits and spurts. Enfield shares his story with Utterson, but he is only persuaded to share Hyde’s name at the end. Utterson, upon hearing Hyde's
name, does not reveal that he has heard it before, in Jekyll's will. From that
point on, most of the story’s revelations are made not through conversation
between characters but rather through a sequence of letters and documents, addressed, sealed and
enclosed in safes, so that they need to be put together like a puzzle at the
end. The dependence on these sheets of paper for the unraveling of the mystery
creates a sense of silence and isolation about each character, and leaves the
reader not really sure how much we have been allowed in to the intimacies of
their minds. Each man seems to be isolated from every other, and there is a
sense that this masculine world has been hushed by the need to maintain social
reputation. The men avoid gossip, seem almost to avoid speaking completely
about anything of substance, and while many of the men describe themselves as
friends, their relationships are most defined by the things they keep secret
from each other. There are many occasions in which one man will start to talk
and then silence himself and keep the remainder, often the most important or
personal detail, to himself. The weight of unsaid information is heavy.
Jekyll's
actions suggest the possible outcome of such self-repression. He ultimately
feels compelled to find a secret outlet for the urges he cannot share—Mr. Hyde.
Through Mr. Hyde, Jekyll believes he can maintain his reputation while enjoying
his darker urges, but Hyde's takeover of Jekyll suggests that repression only
strengthens that which is repressed, puts it under higher pressure so that it
explodes.
Innocence
and violence
Utterson and Enfield’s Sunday walk is a comforting, habitual practice
of theirs, but as they pass the fateful street with the strange facade jutting
out before them, their quiet is ended. This begins the pattern in the novel of
innocence being rudely interrupted by violence. First, the little girl is
trampled by Hyde. Then the maid witnesses and is shocked into a
faint by Hyde's murder of Carew. The maid also effusively describes the goodness
of Hyde’s victim, the old man, whose hair glows like a halo.
The
innocence of all of the characters, as they learn more about the awful truth
of Jekyll’s condition, is tarnished. They see Hyde and feel
a deep personal hatred for him, suggesting their own dark inner urges. Further,
as the secret of Jekyll’s split personality is revealed, the theme of innocence
and violence becomes more complex, and the characters must face the prospect
that the violence and evil that attacks innocence comes not from some outside
source, but from within. And it is only tenuously held back.
Bachelorhood
and Friendship
Like
many stories of Robert Louis Stevenson’s era, Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows a world dominated by men and most of
the featured characters are male. The streets of London, where all this
violence takes place, are painted by the writer as a masculine society,
particularly full of academic, well-educated men who keep in each other’s
confidence and entertain a certain level of professional respect. Utterson and Jekyll are old friends, for example, and see
each other often socially, but Jekyll also entrusts Utterson with his financial
affairs, and so the relationship is both personal and professional. Lanyon and Jekyll are also old friends and dine
together, but are first and foremost important to each other as professional
rivals.
But
though the male oriented society is perhaps not surprising for the time period,
all of the main male characters are single bachelors. Traditional family life
is unexplored in the book. This gives the personal lives of Utterson, Jekyll
and others a lonely, isolated feeling. They live alone. They visit each other
and then depart, but even their social calls have something that feels official
about them. It is implied that the social constructs for these men, who have to
deal with money, law, and science, may be taking them away from the communal
traditions of family and friendship, and perhaps even religion, so that these
men must relate to each other in a different, distanced way rather than talking
face to face.
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