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Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is arguably the single most famous metaphor that Western literature has bestowed upon the public conscience, and certainly the most ubiquitous metaphor for duality of personality. But what of the artistic quality of the novella itself? The outer plot -- involving the detection of Henry Jekyll's double identity by his friend and lawyer Gabriel Utterson -- is the least interesting facet of the story; Stevenson's concept, inspired by a nightmare, and the vivid language he uses to convey it, are what impress the most upon the reader. The respected London scientist Henry Jekyll seems normal enough, but he is fascinated by what he considers to be two distinct sides to his (or, he believes, anybody's) personality, which can be described crudely as good and evil. He furthermore believes these sides are physically separable, just as water can be separated into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, by electrolysis; and so he invents a potion that essentially splits his personality so that only one side will manifest itself while the other becomes latent. In this way, Jekyll reasons, the "good" side may be an agent of good works without being burdened by the disgrace of an inherent evil, and the "evil" side is free to do his damage without the pangs of remorse he would inherit from the conscience of his good twin. In Freudian terms, Jekyll is the ego, Hyde is the id, but unfortunately -- and this is the point that drives the story -- Jekyll has no superego to tell him that the potion is an irresponsibly bad idea in the first place. In society Jekyll retains his high esteem, but his mutation, the sinister, deformed Edward Hyde, whom he names as an heir as a further disguise of his own identity, is cursed to live in ostracism for his hideous appearance, cruel behavior, and disregard for the law. The fact that Hyde is physically smaller than Jekyll could be symbolic of his moral deficiency or merely reflect the notion that he is only a "part" of Jekyll; but the difference in size is convenient as a plot device because it prevents others from suspecting that Hyde and Jekyll are really the same person. One should not approach "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" as if it were just a primitive example of generic horror. Stevenson excels as a prose writer, suffusing his story with the kind of descriptive nuances that successfully evoke Victorian London at its darkest and most ominous contrasted with the civilized society of gentlemen and otherwise benevolent scientists. I was aware that Stevenson was an essayist, but I was unprepared to find that "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is really an illustrative essay at its base, dressed in monstrous fashion.
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